Scimitar SL-2

Patrick Robinson's newest naval thriller builds on one of his most unsettling hypotheticals. On the southwestern tip of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, sits the huge crater of Cumbre Vieja. Scientists suspect the volcano will erupt someday, and that nine hours later a tsunami over 150 feet tall will strike the American coast. The novel asks what would happen if someone fired a nuclear missile into the volcano and set off that disaster early.

The mastermind is Ravi Rashood, the most wanted man in the world and America's chief enemy, who first appeared in Barracuda 945. He has devised a scheme to destroy cities from Miami to Washington, D.C., and Boston, along with everything in between.

Standing against him is US Admiral Arnold Morgan, who faces the toughest adversary of his career. With time running out, he must race to stop Rashood before the unthinkable occurs.

Robinson brings the same careful research, accurate military hardware, and command of geopolitics that define his work, combined here with recent science. The result is a story readers may hope never comes true.