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Title: Kraken Rising
Series: Alex Hunter #6
Author: Greig Beck
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 449
Format: Digital Edition




Synopsis:

The Chinese try to kidnap Alex's son. They fail. The Chinese are “secretly” mining in Antarctica and come across a signal from a long lost sub that was an American stealth prototype. They send in their version of Elite Special Forces and also send warships. The Americans aren't going to let them steal even more technology and send in Alex Hunter and then another HAWC's team AND warships.

World War 3, with nukes, is about to happen.

Aimee Weir knows what's under the ice and she is supposed to guide the HAWC's team. Alex is on his own and the Chinese Special Forces have NO idea what they are in for. The mimic from Under the Dark Ice isn't dead, isn't stupid and it wants to play with its food. Eventually, all the survivors band together and flee in the missing sub. The kraken follows and fights the chinese fleet. They destroy it but are so hurt that they can't stand up to the American fleet. Everyone goes home. Just like that. Really.

Alex and Aimee and their son are all reunited and the glimmer of a family life for all 3 is possible.

The End of the Series.



My Thoughts:

This series comes full circle. In the first book Alex Hunter meets Aimee Weir and the monster under the ice and they barely escape with their lives. This time around they have something to live for, namely, their son.

My biggest complaint was how stupid 2 of the characters acted. The leader of the Chinese Special Forces was such a fanatic that everything was an American plot meant to trick him, somehow. He was almost a caricature instead of a viable human threat. The other problem character was one of the HAWC's who won't take orders from Casey and constantly questions her and undermines her. The HAWC's are supposed to be the Special Forces of the Special Forces and this guy comes across as a green marine just out of boot camp with a huge chip on his soldier. I can't see Jack Hammerson allowing someone like that into his elite unit.

Really good fights and some “old favorites” of the monster variety. The black worms that eat you from the inside out make a dramatic visit and were probably more memorable to me this time around than the kraken.

The overall plot wasn't as lean or taut as some of the others and while nothing felt like padding per se, there were times that some movements/actions/descriptions felt unnecessary.

This book ends on such a note that it could be considered the end of the series. While there might be future Alex Hunter or Son books, this was a good place for me to end. Beck hasn't written any new Alex Hunter books since this and has written other books in other series, so I suspect his interest in this character is done. It is always better to wrap things up while they're still fresh than to let them sit and stink like a week old fish.

★★★☆ ½ ( )

Kraken Rising by Greig Beck is a very highly recommended action-packed military-adventure-terror-thriller. It kept my total attention from the beginning to the end.

We know several things from the opening chapters: a sub has been attacked by some huge, mysterious creature; Alex Hunter, the Arcadian, is still alive and working for the US military; an emergency beacon signal is being picked up by bases on Antarctica; and Chinese operatives have tried to capture Joshua, Alex's son and Aimee, his mother. This should tell all you action/adventure junkies that Kraken Rising will be an adrenaline-packed-thrill-ride of a novel.

In 2008 a top secret US prototype submarine goes missing off the coast of Antarctica in the Southern Sandwich trench. The area is also known as the Southern Sea's Devil's Triangle. Thinking it was lost in a deep trench, the USA is surprised when the emergency locator beacon is discovered to now be sending a signal - a signal located deep underneath Antarctica. But the race is on because the Chinese, who have been illegally mining for precious minerals nearby have also heard the emergency beacon and are determined to claim the missing sub. Several different groups of soldiers with some scientists mixed in, are on the hunt and the situation is quickly turning political and the potential for an exchange of military fire is increasing exponentially.

Alex Hunter, the Arcadian, is a super soldier. An experimental treatment after he was mortally wounded in a previous assignment has left him with super-human powers/skills, but he also has a dark side. Alex is sent in to find the sub on his own, but at the same time a team of HAWCs is also on the mission. Adding to the tension is the fact that Joshua's mother, petrobiologist Aimee Weir, is also on the mission since she has had previous experience dealing with the terrifying creature they must all now face.

You really don't have to read any of the previous books to enjoy this one. I could swear I've read the first book in this series, the book which presents the first assignment in Antarctica, but although I kept remembering facts as I read this book, I couldn't find a review of it. Now it does resemble some other books set in the same geographical area with similar scenarios, so perhaps I was thinking of one of those books. Setting all that aside, I was totally engrossed in the story from beginning to end. Even though I think I read the first book, I know I haven't read any of the adventures in-between the first and this, the sixth, but still I had no trouble following the story.

If you like skirmishes between super-human combatants and military novels with an element of sheer terror as both sides face the unknown as well as each other, Kraken Rising should make you happy. It's all about the action. I mean, come on, there's a kraken. This is a perfect stuck-over-night-at-the-airport book.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Pan Macmillian for review purposes.
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