Book Description

Saudi Arabia, the world's leading producer of oil, is on the brink of revolution.

Inside the opulent palaces and lavish mansions, the royal family is ransacking the country's dwindling coffers while the desert kingdom seethes with unrest. Appalled at his family's extravagant lifestyle, Crown Prince Nasir vows to end the careless and destructive rule, and sets in motion a top-secret operation to destroy the Saudi oil industry and bankrupt the monarch. To do so, he must enlist the help of an ally, a naval power willing to help in return for a share of the wealth.

Nasir turns to France, with its fleet of lethal Hunter Killer submarines, capable of inflicting devastating damage on the massive oil installations along the shores of the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf. Objective: To shift the power structure of the world's oil giant.

Under the command of the mysterious and lethally effective Colonel Jacques Gamoudi -- nicknamed "Le Chasseur," or "The Hunter" -- the ferocious battle for the desert kingdom begins. As the world's oil markets plunge into chaos, Admiral Arnold Morgan, former Security Adviser to the President, and Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Ramshawe are summoned to the White House, where they learn that Gamoudi has been joined by none other than Morgan's archenemy, Hamas General Ravi Rashood, in the battle for the capital city of Riyadh.

Now Le Chasseur becomes the hunted, by both French and American Special Forces -- one trying to assassinate and silence him forever, the other desperate to take him alive and to force a public confession of France's subversive actions.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Inside the opulent palaces and lavish mansions, the royal family is ransacking the country's dwindling coffers while the desert kingdom seethes with unrest. Appalled at his family's extravagant lifestyle, Crown Prince Nasir vows to end the careless and destructive rule, and sets in motion a top-secret operation to destroy the Saudi oil industry and bankrupt the monarch. To do so, he must enlist the help of an ally, a naval power willing to help in return for a share of the wealth.

Nasir turns to France, with its fleet of lethal Hunter Killer submarines, capable of inflicting devastating damage on the massive oil installations along the shores of the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf. Objective: To shift the power structure of the world's oil giant.

Under the command of the mysterious and lethally effective Colonel Jacques Gamoudi-nicknamed "Le Chasseur," or "The Hunter"-the ferocious battle for the desert kingdom begins. As the world's oil markets plunge into chaos, Admiral Arnold Morgan, former Security Adviser to the President, and Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Ramshawe are summoned to the White House, where they learn that Gamoudi has been joined by none other than Morgan's archenemy, Hamas General Ravi Rashood, in the battle for the capital city of Riyadh.

Now Le Chasseur becomes the hunted, by both French and American Special Forces-one trying to assassinate and silence him forever, the other desperate to take him alive and to force a public confession of France's subversive actions.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Talk about "ripped from the headlines": bestseller Robinson's latest international political thriller (after 2004's Scimitar SL-2) reads like the evening news on speed. In 2009, Saudi Arabia's Prince Nasir plans to overthrow his country's royal family-a popular target, especially since Farenheit 9/11-with the French government's help. In order to make the coup d'etat appear an exclusively Arab job, the French hire a Moroccan, Col. Jacques Gamoudi (aka Le Chasseur or the Hunter), to lead the operation. Joining Gamoudi is a notorious Hamas terrorist (the killer of the title). Foreseeing all that Saudi oil flowing away from American gas stations, U.S. Adm. Arnold Morgan has to find a way to stop the coup without making the French hate us more than they already do. If the surfeit of military detail tends to slow the action, the main characters come across as real people caught up in a frightening scenario-one that's perhaps a bit too close to reality to make this novel completely comfortable as escapist fiction. Agent, Ed Victor (U.K.). (May 1) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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