Marcinko and DeFelice deliver another high-octane entry in the long-running Rogue Warrior series (Vengeance
, etc.), starring a fictional Dick Marcinko, who battles and wisecracks his way through the world's bad guys. At a NATO conference in Vatican City, "Demo Dick," in his role as CEO of the Red Cell International security firm, delivers a get-serious-about-terrorism speech. Distracted by a waiter at the back of the room about to lob a grenade into the assembled dignitaries, Dick interrupts his remarks to nail the guy with a single pistol shot through the forehead. Shortly thereafter, Dick is caught up in a running battle with a dozen submachine gun–firing terrorists (minions of the shadowy Arab warrior known as Saladin) who are trying to seize St. Paul's Cathedral. The action—also featuring female Delta Force fighter Trace Dahlgren—catapults to Sicily, Cairo, Shanghai and the Thailand jungle, continuing almost nonstop to the final climax back in Rome. Once again, Marcinko and DeFelice's iconoclastic hero takes no prisoners while kicking terrorist butt in this breezy techno-thriller. (July)
