Chuck Holton, Island Inferno

Island Inferno

Chuck Holton

Multnomah, May 2007, $12.99

ISBN: 1590525035

In Panama City, Panama, twenty-three-year-old graduate student Fernanda Gracioli Viera joins three other students (Zack, Carlos and Hedi) on an expedition led by renowned Professor Alex Quintero to remote former prison Isle Coiba. The professor seeks undiscovered moths and butterflies in a rare pristine natural habitant hardly touched by humans with the long term hope of discovering a cure for a disease like AIDS.

At the same time as the professor and the students, sans Hedi who became ill and was left behind, head to the isle, pirates led by Chombon attack a cargo ship carrying mostly lumber but also a dangerous liquid explosive ITEB. CIA Agent Mary "Phoenix" Walker and the military's Task Force Valor unit arrive in Panama seeking the ITEB before it gets into the hands of terrorists. Chombon and his thugs come to Isle Coiba where they capture the two male students. Not long afterward, the Task Force Valor soldiers parachute onto Coiba seeking the ITEB; staff sergeant Euripedes "Rip" Rubio actually lands on Fernanda. The Americans must be careful because their adversaries have the explosives to destroy the island; yet hope to rescue Zack and Carlos while recovering the ITEB. At the same time, Rip and Fernanda are attracted to one another, but first the mission, then a date.

The second Task Force Valor inspirational thriller (see ALLAH'S FIRE) is an exciting, action-packed tale once the team reaches Panama. The opening chapters, especially in the States, introduce the Task Force Valor team members, especially Rip, whose thirteen-year-old sister Gabi in L.A. hangs with gangs, but also delays the prime action that occurs on Coiba. The inspirational segues are for most part apropos to the plot as "there are no atheists in fox holes". Sub-genre readers will enjoy the escapades of the team as they struggle with pirates, a hermit, a beleaguered research team, and mostly a bureaucrat to prevent ITEB from reaching terrorists.

Harriet Klausner