Published by St. Martin's Press on April 23, 2024

I love submarine novels. I don’t know why. I just do. When Rick Campbell writes scenes on submarines, I am tense and fully alert, as if I am anticipating the need to dodge a torpedo. When he writes scenes that take place on land, my response is more ho-hum.

In The Bin Laden Plot, Campbell tries to spice the story with political intrigue that is completely over the top (meaning it is fairly routine by modern thriller standards). The idea of a “rogue U.S. organization covering its tracks, operating outside the law, willing to murder anyone who threatens to expose what they’ve done” is just another Tuesday in Thrillerworld. A bit more original is the premise that Osama bin Laden might have been taken prisoner rather than being killed. Anything can be true in Thrillerworld, so I decided to roll with it until Campbell got me back into a submarine.

Many of the protagonists, including Director of CIA Christine O’Connor and action hero Jake Harrison, have appeared in Campbell’s earlier novels. Another returning character is the mysterious Khalila, who is working for the CIA despite the fact that nobody trusts her, probably because she makes a habit of killling her partners. This novel reveals Khalila’s true identity which — no shock here — is over the top. Intelligence agencies make unintelligent decisions all the time, but bringing Khalili into the fold is too incompetent to pass as credible.

Central to the story is Brenda Verbeck, the Secretary of the Navy. Her brother made a secret deal to sell certain goods to Iran that violate American law. Verbeck learned about the deal from communications intercepted by a clandestine program that she oversees. To protect her brother, Verbeck has arranged to kill everyone who has knowledge of the communication. Over the top much? Oh, we aren’t even close to the pinnacle yet.

Verbeck also has to destroy a data archive that holds the communication, which involves destroying a small autonomous submarine and a rather larger one. She tasks Capt. Murray Wilson with destroying the subs. Wilson commands a submarine that has appeared in earlier novels in this series. Oddly, when Verbeck orders him to destroy submarines with the flimsiest pretext, Wilson obediently says yes without asking deeper questions about the necessity of sinking them. I guess following orders is more important than questioning bizarre orders.

I learned something from this novel that I probably would have learned by paying attention to the real world. I didn’t know that the military buried bin Laden’s body at sea, supposedly to prevent it from becoming a shrine to his followers. That was a convenient ruse if bin Laden was captured alive. Campbell has given conspiracy enthusiasts something new to get excited about, although I suppose they were blogging about it years ago.

The rest of the plot is standard. Iran is doing evil things. Russia is helping. America saves the day with torpedoes and manages to avoid political ramifications that, in the real world, would probably lead to war.

Harrison is a standard action hero, meaning one who is devoid of personality. He had a thing once with Christine but she kept putting him off so he married someone else. Christine regrets her decision. Harrison doesn’t. Campbell pushes that subplot forward in an unexpected way and promises to resolve it in the next book. I’m looking forward to it for the submarines, not for the romance story.

The ending features a typical villain who can’t stop boasting about his vengeful genius as he holds multiple people hostage. If bad guys would just shut up and be bad, they’d be a lot more successful. Still, I give Campbell credit for not forcing a happy ending.

For action fans, a prolonged fight scene near the novel’s end is a payoff that’s worth the wait. The submarine warfare scenes that usually enthrall me are a bit perfunctory, but the story moves quickly and — for readers who are willing to tolerate unlikely plots — it achieves a reasonable level of excitement.

RECOMMENDED

This is a well written and gritty noir tale of betrayal and vengeance. This action filled, suspenseful edge-of-your-seat thriller that will leave you breathless at times in anticipation of the next twist in the plot. It has an interesting premise and well-developed, and sometimes stereotypical characters.

The story grabs you from the first page and the many twists and turns in the story make it a real page turner that makes it hard to put the book down. Don’t start reading it if you are not prepared to stay up all night!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Military themed thrillers are not my typical, everyday choice for reading and Rick Campbell is a new to me author. The synopsis of THE BIN LADEN PLOT piqued my interest, one of my favorite books is HUNT FOR THE RED OCTOBER, so I thought I'd give it a try. After deep diving....get it?.....into the story, Campbell has earned a spot on my followed authors list. Not only is the story realistic as the chase to find a terrorist before he can cause major casualties and damage, Campbell applies the tension and the characters react with some intense reactions that kept me reading long into the night. Rick Campbell's writing compares to the early Tom Clancy books.

Good guys bad guys and military technology combine in this latest page turner from Campbell. There's a rogue UUAV, there's someone killing members of the Seal Team that went after bin Laden, and there's Jake Harrison. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is long on propulsive plot and short on character development but it's a fun read for fans of the genre.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story begins with the destruction of a destroyer in the Persian Gulf. The explanation that POTUS receives is that it was the result of a rogue UUV. A decision is made that it needs to be destroyed and Murray Wilson, USS Michigan Captain, is directed to destroy the UUV. As he attempts his mission, he learns that another submarine mother ship is in the area. Advising the Sec. of the Navy, his orders now advise hime that he needs to destroy both of them. As he again begins his search and once more finds them, he proceeds to follow his orders, but his new discovery has him wondering why he was told to destroy both.

In the meantime, the CIA director has contacted Jake Harrison for his help relating to another matter. Jake has learned that two of his Seal mates have died. It seems that an old friend of Jake's has been identified as the killer of one of the Seals and he has been brought in to find him. Jake is once again assigned to work with his former partner on this case. Later, Jake receives an envelope from the last Seal's wife that was killed. In the envelope was a thumb drive and once the information was revealed, a new mission was then assigned. It seems the file contained information to a mission Seal Team 6 performed for the killing of Ossama Bin Laden. As a side note, it was learned that all of the Seal Team members on that mission were dead with the exception of Jake. This nes mission now brings Jake and his partner to Kuwait where an unknown party was brought after the raid and this info had been hidden.

Two events were now planned as a result of the information that Jake learned, one involving a Seal team and another that involved the CIA director. After each event was concluded; they were more confident with the earlier conclusion of the Bin Laden raid. They once more reviewed the file given to Jake and proceeded with a new follow-up on what they discovered.

This now brings the reader back to the destroyer destruction as to who was responsible and what the reason was, To discover this answer, learn who was responsible for the Seal Team 6 deaths and why Jake was on the list, then you need to read this book. The ending will almost answer everything except it once more leaves a question unresolved about Bin Lden.

An exciting and thrilling read. Great suspense and sure to grab your attention. The use of modern-day realistic weapon systems really drives home that this could be possible scenario. A great book in the series! I cannot wait to read more.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Bin Laden Plot is a GREAT read. Campbell taps into raw emotion on multiple levels that engage the reader and pull one into the storyline by the throat. This is the stuff that begins to separate good writers from great writers hence my first four star rating for a book in this series. I may, however, never forgive him for his "resolution" of the Angie plot line. How fast can I get my hands on the next installment!

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

An extremely fast-paced “what if” political thriller with plenty of twists and turns. I am totally hooked and cannot wait for the next installment of the Chris and Jake story. I received an ARC from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are my own.

When a US Navy ship is sunk by a rogue US submarine, the hunt is on to locate the sub before it can do any further damage. Simultaneously, an assassin is hunting down US SEALs who all have one thing in common - they were all part of the team that killed Bin Laden. The Bin Laden Plot suffers from trying to do too much; there are so many things going here - rogue subs, assassins, arms dealing, shady government leaders, etc., that the overlapping plots are confusing, and coupled with an extremely large cast of characters, it’s just too difficult to keep track of events. Trying to juggle all the moving parts causes the reader to lose focus, and when the action ramps up, it’s too late to recover interest and it was a difficult book to get through. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"The Bin Laden Plot," by Rick Campbell, and published by St. Martin's Press. is a strong addition to his literary canon. I am working from an ARC provided to me by the publisher (for which I am very grateful). For those of you not familiar with Campbell's work, he has largely concentrated in the area of modern submarine warfare although his most recent works seem to be moving in a somewhat different direction as they increasingly focus on political machinations as well as the consequences of them for the United States Navy, most especially the submarine force. Campbell's writing in this book, as in his others, is tight and well developed. Don't let the title mislead you; Bin Laden and his minions are a motivational force that propels, in an historical sense, much of the narrative but they are not really the core of the work. Terrorism and greed, as well as political corruption at the highest levels, are really the center of this complex and compulsively readable thriller. Mix in the undersea combat scenes which are as finely drawn as ever and you have a formula for sleepless nights as you move to a fantastic and unpredictable conclusion. The narrative structure reflects the firm hand of a mature writer at the height of his powers, and I can only wait with bated breath for the next book presently in the planning stages. Incidentally, while this book clearly belongs in a canon and does include recurring characters, it is easily a stand alone read. Want to try something a little different, give it a shot; you won't regret it.