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Red Metal
BY Mark Greaney and Lt Colonel H. Ripley (Rip) Rawlings IV

Berkley Press
July 16, 2019/ ISBN 9780451490414
War Thriller

Reviewed by  Elise Cooper

Red Metal by Mark Greaney and Lt. Colonel H. Ripley (Rip) Rawlings IV fills the void of military thrillers left by Tom Clancy’s death. This novel combines the great story-telling of Greaney with the Lt. Colonel’s vast experience, serving twenty-two years as a reconnaissance and infantry officer. The result is an action-packed realistic plot.

The authors noted, “Russia treated Poland and Germany as transient zones. They left behind destruction. They used a 1-2-3 punch to overcome the US military might. The first punch was to get America preoccupied with Taiwan and China, drawing a huge body of forces into the Pacific. The second attack was in Europe that drew the residual of our armies. The last punch is moving into Africa for the mineral mine. The Russian justification made sense to them because many times the bad guys don’t think they are the bad guys.”

The book begins when a desperate Kremlin takes advantage of a military crisis in Asia to simultaneously strike into Western Europe and invade east Africa in a bid to reoccupy three Rare Earth mineral mines that will give Russia unprecedented control for generations over the world's hi-tech sector. While America and her allies are concentrated in Asia, countering a Chinese threat, Russian troops and armament are racing through Poland on their way to the heart of Germany. They are determined to win back Russia’s dominance on the geopolitical stage. This mine contains 60% of the world’s known supply of essential minerals and would give Russia a much-needed upper hand in its dwindling economy among world super powers

Special Forces Spetsnaz Commander, Colonel Yuri Borbikov designed a plan, “Operation Red Metal,” to regain the mine of rare earth ores found in only a handful of places around the world and essential for production in today’s hi-tech world. The plan calls for a Russian raid into Europe to destroy America’s Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and a simultaneous attack to retake the mine. Besides killing many of NATO’s troops, they also kill Western satellites to take out GPS and make Europe deaf, mute, and blind. There is hope after Lt. Colonel Dan Connolly figures out what is happening, comes up with a plan to fight off this Russian threat, and depends on the many heroes and heroines that step up to the plate including Poland resistance fighter Paulina Tobiasz, US Submarine commander Diana DelVecchio, US tank commander Tom Grant, and US Apace pilot Sandra (Glitter) Glisson.

The action never stops in this war-time thriller. The various battles fought on land, sea, and in the air are exciting, realistic, and technically detailed. Readers take the journey with the US forces along with the high emotions experienced. There are up-close battles fought, with tanks, artillery, air support, machine guns, carbine rifles, even at one-point hand to hand combat. This story brings home what could actually happen in a WWIII scenario.

Reviewed 2019