Mel Odom, Apocalypse Unleashed

Apocalypse Unleashed

Mel Odom

Tyndale, Feb 2009, $14.99

ISBN: 1414316364

In the not too distant future, one third of the world's population disappeared including all children under the age of thirteen; US Army First Sergeant "Goose" Gander's son was one who vanished. Goose is with his Rangers unit in the Mideast trying to prevent Syria from conquering Turkey. The Syrians are making deep inroads as Captain Cal Remington and his squad cannot repel the invaders.

While protecting a supply train, he notices a fire and goes inside to rescue the two teens trapped. The convoy gets ambushed because the fire was a deliberate distraction. Goose gets the men to safety, but afterward Remington places him under house arrest. That is short lived as the Syrians arrive; Goose breaks out to help in the evacuation. However, he and two other men fall behind enemy lines with assassins everywhere targeting Goose while the enemy methodically tightens its noose.

This is the long awaited final tale in the Apocalypse Left Behind Military saga (see 'Apocalypse Dawn,' 'Apocalypse Crucible' and 'Apocalypse Burning'); fans will feel the trial and tribulations of waiting worth the time as 'Apocalypse Unleashed' is an enthralling pulse pumping tale. Besides Goose looking cooked, his wife Meg at Fort Bragg and other dependents of the entrapped Rangers establish a support group. Readers will learn what the CIA knows and does, and what Carpathian plans and also who obsesses over killing the hero and why. Fans will relish the tribulations military sidebar quartet as Goose running on empty is out of time.

Harriet Klausner