War Breaker

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and spectacular!
Review: A highly original and very much inspired thriller which might well come true! Although set in 1997 and written before then, the India-Pakistan war threat angle is a fact of real life. Especially with the nuclear testing and the fighting in the Kashmir province. This is portrayed in the narrative and has since come true. In the book, ex CIA agent Michael O'Connell has to get his hands on some souped-up B-50 bombers which the CIA built for Pakistan some time back, complete with stealth technology and nuclear armaments. He recruits a pilot who knows the planes well, and an arms tycoon living in southern Iran. Along the way, the story takes you through the war from both sides, with a subplot of the kidnapping of American politicians in New Delhi by Indian mercenaries, and even an Indian general having a religious experience in his dreams! This book is definitely not to be missed if you can get hold of a copy! The airborne action is as good(if not better) as anything Dale Brown has written, the characters are well crafted and deFelice does not bog the reader down in too much personal detail, the various 'near-future' technologies are well but easily explained and the background research into India and Pakistan is so brilliant you feel you're there. Overall, hard to fault.

Rating:
Summary: People interested in India & Pakistan should read this book
Review: BOOK REVIEW ARCHIVE: "WAR BREAKER" BY JIM DeFELICE (1993)

A future India-Pakistan war (of 1997) is detailed in this fictional thriller as Jim DeFelice sketches a frightful scenario of possible nuclear conflict in South Asia. Published in 1993, one is not surprised that this book has generated more curiosity after the events of May 1998, when first India demonstrated it's nuclear muscle followed by Pakistan's response. The veil of secrecy has now been raised from the nuclear programs of both countries, but in "War Breaker" a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan becomes reality. For fans of flying, aircraft buffs, and avid readers of espionage, especially those who are interested in South Asia, this book has a lot to offer. One has to look a little beyond the main character of down and out, on again off again CIA Agent Michael O'Connell to find a much more interesting array of characters that give this book a unique flavor. There is African American, James Greely, retired from the US Air Force who has never really ever flown the plane that he has been recruited to fly back on this mission (one of three Kahuta upgraded old US B-50 Bombers now nuclear ready named "Golden Bears", once secretly supplied to the Pakistanis by the Americans). The goal here is to prevent renegade elements in the Pakistani Military from using these planes now parked in Gilgit to drop nuclear bombs on Indian cities. Then there is Captain Sayyid "Rocket" Khan the Pakistani Air Force aerial combat expert, the other hero of this novel, who flies a mysterious stealth aircraft developed at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra called the "Snow Leopard". Captain Khan accompanied by the haunting thoughts of his soon to be wife Hir Ranjha and other pilots from the Pakistani Air Base at Sargodha make quite an impact in this book. There is also the confusing character of Lt. General Arjun Singh who leads a branch of the Indian Army that has invaded Pakistan and literally cut it in two, but who really just wants to advance to Lahore to fulfill his dream of a reunited Punjab ( but is wounded badly in the process and does much mystical soul searching in this book). Beyond these, the American President, the US Secretary of State captured in India by extremists, a CIA Director whose intentions are suspect and Morena Kelso, a O'Connell love interest feature prominently. And then there is the mercurial Princess Ghazzala Nizam Pakistan's Interior Minister, a powerful character who works for the Americans under the code name of "Blossom". Overall the plot of this novel tries to cover too vast an area yet the entertainment potential is hardly ever lost except for the difficulty in following Lt. General Arjun Singh's out of body experiences. Many generalizations are used in this story line, but they do not completely overwhelm it. The Pakistan Army gets a thorough drubbing in this book through the character of General Chenab yet the Air Force, well represented by Captain Sayyid Khan gets extremely high marks as do Pakistani scientific community in general. The Indian leadership comes off as reasonable but the vexing problem of Kashmir continues to project itself as a major irritant to the relationship with Pakistan. In light of the nuclear developments of 1998 in India and Pakistan, this book brings forth the possibility of a nuclear nightmare, which all rational people in both India and Pakistan and around the world would do anything to stop. Though the heroics of the CIA and Michael O'Connell make it all seem somewhat too easy to diffuse such a crisis, credit goes to the author for bringing this very serious subject to the curious reader.

Ras H. Siddiqui A Pakistani-American writer and journalist based in Sacramento, California.