Arctic Wargame by Ethan Jones

This new author has written a good introductory war / spy novel that has some very good points to it but also has a few rough spots in the writing.  I personally don't let the rough spots bother me as I believe each writer gets better with each book.

Ethan did send me a copy of this book in advance of it being published, so if you go out to purchase the book it is not yet available.  It will become available at Amazon on May 22, 2012.  His blog is at http://ethanjones.blog.com

Now for a review of the book.

Justin Hall and Carrie O'Connor work for the Canadian Secret Service.  Their task, find threats and eliminate them before they can harm the country of Canada.

Their task in this book is to stop an invasion of Canada by the country of Denmark.  Now if that doesn't make you stop and ask the question, "Really?"  Why would Denmark want to invade Canada?  Well they have a very specific reason, they want to control the shipping routes through the North Arctic sea lanes.

What's interesting is that it really isn't Denmark that is trying to invade Canada.  The group is really from Russia, but they are using Denmark as the 'fall guy' for the invasion.

Justin and Carrie along with several co-workers must unearth the threat, find a way to resolve the threat and do all of this without bringing Canada into any real political, military or economic turmoil.  I mean, really, how would it look for Canada to attack Denmark to stop an invasion on their Arctic soil?  Who would believe it was necessary?  But that's just the point.  If they do nothing then Denmark (or is it Russia) will invade, take control of several towns and the shipping lanes and bring economic havoc upon the country of Canada.

So, with the help of villagers who live in the Arctic region (Eskimos) they must stop an invasion.  But they also must battle the hostile environment of the Arctic.  Could you effectively fight off an invading force when it's 20 degrees below zero?

Justin and Carrie fight off all odds, bring about a decisive victory and do it all while on shaky ground with their own country who doesn't believe that there is a threat.

But in doing all this several good people will give up their lives, even close associates will be harmed and even one associate will turn out to be a traitor.

Now back to a review of Ethan Jones writing style;

Ethan develops each of his characters well.  He develops the plot of the book well.  He has his technical material down pat.  There may be some scenario's that seem implausible, but he makes you believe that they can happen, do happen and that the human spirit can overcome all obstacles.

As I said earlier, Ethan hits a few rough patches in the writing.  Some times I felt that we were jerked from one scene to another and then back again.  But I believe that his writing style is good and should improve well with future writing.

At the end of this book he will give you a preview of his next book involving Justin and Carrie.  I found that for me it appeared the writing was improving, the story was interesting and I can't wait for it to get published as well.

I'm excited for Ethan and believe that he will become one of my author's to follow in the years to come.

If you like military / spy type novels you will enjoy Ethan's book.