Vancouver, B.C. lawyer-turned-author Richard Aaron brings his international terrorist chase ‘Gauntlet’ to Silverdale Barnes and Noble.
Just how big a crater would it make if you blew up more than 600 tons of explosive in the middle of the desert? That’s the opening question of Vancouver, B.C.-based author Richard Aaron’s debut novel “Gauntlet: A Novel of International Intrigue.”
It’s what one of the book’s lead characters Richard Lawrence, a special agent with the CIA, wonders about 660 tons of Semtex which the military unit he’s accompanying has been tasked with getting rid as the governments of the western world seize control of Libya’s assets.
And the answer is: “about as big as would a small nuclear explosion.”
With a 100-man crew, they’re planning to blow up all the explosive at once in the middle of the Sahara Desert where there will be no people around. But soon, of course, the nearest town is swallowed by a media frenzy as word about the explosion gets out. Even movie crews are coming to shoot stock footage for future pictures.
Just as the fireworks are set to blow, Lawrence discovers that one shipment of the explosives being delivered to the detonation sight — enough to dwarf any terrorist attack that had come before it — had been hijacked. Days later, a glory seeking guy who calls himself “Emir” broadcasts to the world that he’s planning an attack on a U.S. landmark, giving a timeline of one month. And a hi-tech cloak and dagger international terrorist chase ensues.
Aaron, however, is a burgeoning Northwest novelist and this is his debut.
Though he just recently found his calling as a writer after going to law school and running his own private practice for than 15 years, Aaron’s already been called “a stunning new voice in international intrigue,” garnering rave reviews from some of leading authors in the thriller genre including David Morrell and John Lescroart.
Aaron shines with a cutting edge style of research that brings his first book to the borderline of character-driven action journalism, set in a hypothetical future not too far off, in the high stakes world of international police.
RICHARD AARON will be reading from his debut “Gauntlet” at 6:30 p.m. tonight (March 13) at Barnes and Noble in the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale. Plus local authors Gregg Olsen (of the ‘Starvation Heights’ fame) and Patrick Jennings will each be signing their new books March 14. Info: www.bn.com or call the store at (360) 698-0945.
