Cirrus@Austlit

'Amid the dust, death, and chaos of Iraq, an American soldier on a routine patrol is killed by an unseen enemy. It's a tragedy but not a crime - until it's linked to the bizarre death of a decorated four-star general who happens to be the dead man's father?and the son-in-law of history's most feared and powerful U.S. vice president. Major Vin Cooper of Air Force Special Investigations is the kind of loose cannon no commanding officer can completely control?or survive without. Cooper's a man whose capacity to absorb grief is matched only by his ability to dish it out. And this case - which will be either his most important or his last - has plenty of both. Scarred by battle and a recent divorce, Cooper answers to no one but his own tough-as-nails female general. She knows there's no one as relentless, as insubordinate, and as effective in prying out the truth as Cooper - no matter where it leads or who it angers. Reluctantly paired with Special Agent Anna Masters, Cooper begins his search at the scene of a suspicious crash at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. There they uncover a trail of inexplicable ?accidental? deaths that leads from the war-torn streets of Baghdad to sex slavery in Latvia and a marriage that began in the White House Rose Garden and disintegrated into bitterness and infidelity. And with every step they take, Cooper and Masters come closer to the shocking truth about the biggest and most murderous lie of all.' (Publication summary)

'When the US Attaché to Turkey, Colonel Emmet Portman, is found butchered in his Istanbul residence, Special Agents Vin Cooper and Anna Masters are sent to investigate. Within days of their arrival, Portman's associates begin to die gruesomely.

'There's a serial killer at large.

'But there are inconsistencies. Why does one murder appear to have religious symbolism, while the next doesn't? Why do the slayings appear to have been executed with military precision? And why has Portman's email inbox been tampered with and whole days' worth of communications apparently wiped out?

'Nothing is making a hell of a lot of sense to Cooper - not least, Anna's plan to marry JAG lawyer Colonel Richard Wadding, known to everyone who has ever come into contact with him as Colonel Dick Wad.

'Cooper and Masters find themselves hunted, smacked around, shot at, buried alive and blown up from Turkey to Iraq, to Egypt to Oak Ridge. It would be helpful if they were on speaking terms.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Special Agent Vin Cooper is feeling reckless. He volunteers for the dumbest and most dangerous job going: personal security operations in Afghanistan protecting bent politicians.

'But when his principal is killed in a suicide bomb attack, Cooper is reassigned to a cushy job nursing a couple of needy African-American entertainers putting on a show for US military advisors at a secret base in Rwanda.

'Or so he thinks.

'Things go horribly wrong when their United Nations chopper is forced down in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the middle of an all-out firefight by opposing forces. The nightmare only intensifies when some of Cooper's people, including one of the entertainers, are captured.

'While risking his life to rescue his principals, Cooper spies a US DoD advisor in the enemy encampment, which is awash with American weaponry. It seems that their forced landing in this inhospitable place was no accident... (From the publisher's website.)

'OSI Special Agent Vin Cooper is brought to the scene of an airport massacre in El Paso, Texas, to investigate the death of a USAF airman, AWOL from a nearby Air Force base.

'When a survivor of the chilling massacre crawls out of the desert, Cooper comes to the obvious conclusion with major cartels just across the border in Juarez, this has to be about drugs.

'As he begins to piece together the case, Cooper is drawn into a world of violence and treachery. Soon he finds himself on the run, framed for murders he didn’t commit. But being a fugitive just happens to be the perfect cover for his most dangerous mission yet crossing the border and infiltrating the cartel.

'Coming face-to-face with a terrifying madman, Cooper soon realizes that the airport massacre was just a dress rehearsal for something even worse …' (Publication abstract)

'A helicopter with the Russian President aboard is shot down over northern Syria and captured by the Scorpion, the last remaining and most feared ISIS combat commander. The only person who could possibly effect a rescue is former OSI Special Agent Vin Cooper. But unfortunately for the President, Cooper's not in the saving-the-world game any more.

'A small US Special Ops unit witnesses two Russian Hinds downed over northern Syria. The last remaining and most feared ISIS commander known as the Scorpion captures the survivors - the Russian President, his entourage, and the briefcase containing the launch codes for Russia's nukes.

'And those missiles are still mostly aimed at US cities.

'With this haul in his possession, the Scorpion is proclaimed the Madhi, the final caliph of the Koran's apocalyptic legends who will defeat the West and usher in the End of Days - when the dead shall rise and walk the earth.

'As millions of Muslims flock to the Scorpion's black standard and corpses rise from their graves, it's left to that lone US Special Ops unit to sort shit out. Only it's led by Major Vin Cooper, who is now a reservist and not into the whole saving-the-world thing any more.'  (Publication summary)