Task Force Desperate - Peter Nealen

Alone, Outnumbered, Outgunned.

Jeff Stone and his team of Praetorian Security contractors are marking time on counter-piracy duty aboard a freighter in the Gulf of Aden when the boredom ends abruptly. A major US base on the Horn of Africa is overrun in a well-coordinated terrorist attack, and those base personnel who survive are taken hostage. With the world economy tanked, and most of the Western militaries dangerously thinned, the Praetorian operators find themselves to be the hostages’ only hope of rescue.

The mission wasn’t going to be simple, or easy. But as events in East Africa accelerate, and outside players start to show their hand, the Praetorian shooters start to realize just what a desperate gamble they are embarked upon, and what this particular job is going to cost…

This near-future thriller is a prime example of the new wave of excellent military adventure novels coming out these days, most of them independently published. It's also a debut novel from a very promising writer. I'm especially impressed by the way Nealen set himself the difficult job of writing TASK FORCE DESPERATE in first person, from the point of view of Jeff Stone. It's really not easy to write a large cast book with a lot going on in the plot and make it work when you have to stick with one narrator. Nealen succeeds admirably in that. This is a well-written, literate thriller, and I really enjoyed it. Recommended for any and all action fans, and available in both print and e-book editions.