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Product Description
Area 51: America's top-secret advanced military testing ground, hidden away in the Nevada desert, where the awesome weapons of tomorrow are being developed. But a mole inside the impregnable facility has been leaking highly advanced killing technology to America's worst enemies . . . who intend to turn its destructive power on an unsuspecting nation before the day is out.
Agent Jack Bauer has a mere twenty-four hours to derail a horrific plot, as a deadly endgame takes shape in the neon glare of nearby Las Vegas. But to do so, the rogue CTU operative will have to lead an impossible assault on Area 51 itself—and expose a lethal string of betrayal and corruption that leads from the terrorists to the underworld and all the way into the heart of the U.S. government.
About the Author
Marc Cerasini's writing credits include The Complete Idiot's Guide to U.S. Special Ops Forces and Heroes: U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor Winners and several projects for Tom Clancy, including creating the bible for the Clancy Power Play series, writing the YA action/adventure thriller The Ultimate Escape for Clancy's NetForce series, and writing a major essay on Clancy's contribution to the technothriller genre for the national bestseller The Tom Clancy Companion. Among the movie tie-in novelizations Marc has written are Wolverine: Weapon X, based on the popular X-Men series, the USA Today bestseller AVP: Alien Vs. Predator, based on the motion picture from 20th Century Fox, as well as five original novels based on the Toho Studios classic "Godzilla," and co-authored (with J.D. Lees) a nonfiction look at the film series, The Official Godzilla Compendium. Marc's other credits include the book 24: The House Special Subcommittee Investigation of CTU, which he co-authored with his wife, Alice Alfonsi, and the previous 24 Declassified novels Operation Hell Gate, Trojan Horse, and Vanishing Point.
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After an *explosive!* prologue (yes, this is a pun) set in Central America, Jack discovers that terrorists are buying up high-tech secrets that could help them do damage to America and its populace.
CTU plants Jack undercover in Las Vegas. He takes on the persona of an actual gangster (one who is now in custody). Jack builds up a plausible rep as a bad guy managing a casino. A high-tech device had been found on a gambler in this very casino. The dude was using it to cheat the machines--but after he was arrested and let out on bail, he was shot execution style before CTU could quesiton him. In other words, the guy had bought the technology from someone--someone who didn't want him alive to talk about it.
Now Jack and others on his CTU team are watching and waiting for more stolen technology to surface. Meanwhile, Tony is planted undercover, too, but not in Vegas. He's placed nearby in Groom Lake's Air Force Base (Area 51) as a "new member" of the civilian research team. He does his best to appear geeky and non-threatening as he tracks down who on the team has been selling secrets.
During the same time period, David Palmer arrives in Vegas for a splashy international conference, looking for supporters in his bid for the presidency. Hiw wife Sherry is with him and *Lady Mac* is as cunning and sly as ever, too. When David Palmer is brought to Groom Lake to observe the testing of new high-tech bio weapons, his wife makes what she thinks is an innocent deal for a campaign contribution with a diplomat from China. She's going to give him info about the testing that David is witnessing in exchange for big bucks. (Of course, David has no idea his wife is making this deal!)
And the deal is far from innocent. The Chinese diplomat has more on his mind than contributing to David Palmer's presidential run. He has his eye on that secret technology being tested.
By the end of the book, these subplots all come together. It's worthy of an entire 24 season--but in just one book. Vanishing Point also reminded me of the earlier, better-written 24 seasons. It makes Tony Almeida and other CTU members as important to the story as Jack Bauer (who plays a big role, too, don't get me wrong). But I appreciated reading Tony especially because when the TV show killed him, they killed a great character.
As the number of 24 seasons and books mount up, repeat scenarios are a huge issue. The TV show is definitely getting repetitive, leaning into formula plotting and similar types of Jack Bauer scenes. An unimaginative or lazy novelist could've spewed out more of same. But Vanishing Point doesn't. It's not formula. It's not predictable. And it gives well-written storylines to an ensemble of 24 characters that we've become attached to over the years, not just Jack!
For instance, I appreciated seeing David Palmer again. In Vanishing Point, he's portrayed with the kind of strength and dignity that makes me miss him all the more now that he's been killed off the television show. Sherry's in this book, too, and up to her highly entertaining tricks. Tony and Curtis are also given important roles. Miles O'Brien, who we learned had been at CTU long ago before returning to the Unit in Season 6, is actually quite amusing in his Vanishing Point role.
I noticed one reviewer of this book had a problem with Jack's going undercover for a long period of time. But if you're a fan of the earlier "Days" of the series, then you know that Jack did exactly that in Latin America in order to bust the Salazars for bio-terrorism (that background is in Day 3, an excellent season to watch, either in syndication or on DVD 24 - Season Three)
Jack even carried on an affair during the course of that lengthy undercover work in Latin America, while still married to Teri Bauer. So some of the things that Jack does in Vanishing Point (his affair with Stella) are right in line with what Jack has done in his past on the TV show, and I found it very very entertaining to see Jack Bauer in this nefarious bad-a** undercover role in Vanishing Point.
All in all, I agree with the other positive reviews of this novel. It's a good, fresh 24 tale, and I recommend it for any fan of the TV series 24, especially the earlier "Days" of the series.
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