Time Bomb Ticking: A Political Thriller Series

Die-Hard Patriots #1

by Hyrum Laney

Espionage was nothing new to Captain Larry McGraw and the crew of the USS Charlotte, a Los Angeles--class fast attack submarine. But this mission certainly was. Docked onto the hull of his sub was the new, state-of-the-art Advanced SEAL Delivery System, complete with 16 highly trained SEALs. Orders from the White House were simple, yet clear. Penetrate the Bo Hai Bay--a mere hundred miles from Beijing--and linger while the SEALS conduct nighttime missions. Simple, as long as they weren't detected. But if spotted inside the shallow bay, the orders were clear. McGraw couldn't let the Charlotte or the ASDS fall into Chinese hands, even if it meant destroying both.

Genres: Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2012

About the author

Hyrum Laney lives in Pacific Northwest with his wife and three children. He writes when he’s not farming. With a keen interest in politics, he has blogged and written commentary on agricultural issues facing American farmers. As a fiscal conservative, he is concerned about the national debt and the dangers it poses to our national security and ultimately our liberties.

Reviews

[Jeff]

This is an intensely suspenseful, well-paced political thriller with well-developed, believable characters. Unfortunately, there's just a little too much proselytizing, both political and religious. But worst of all, the story isn't finished. There are several threads left hanging.

Richard Rieman performs well, giving distinctive voices to the characters. Most are appropriate, but why he gives a Scottish-tinged accent to a Texan of Hispanic heritage is beyond me.

It's truly unfortunate that this book isn't finished.

NOTE: I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for this unbiased review.

[Jeff Wombold]

At first I thought this guy doesn't seem to know submarines, but as I got into the book it became more and more riveting. I was somewhat disappointed with some of the events happening in the book (you always want the good guy to win), and to top that it ended with me hanging and now I have to get the second part to see what happens. The book is a good thriller and I can't wait for the second half to come out to see what happens to everybody.

[Regina]

** Review of Audio Format **

Seals on a Mission

When the USS Charlotte is sent to Bo Hai Bay with the Advance Seal Delivery System (ASDS) Captain McGraw expected things to get tense. What he didn't expect was to find a ship graveyard or kidnapped Chinese women or a secret the Chinese will kill to keep hidden. The discovery of the women leads to a discovery of an explosive new device that the Charlotte needs to figure out fast...or risk starting WWIII!

I enjoyed this listen. It kept my interest and I wanted to know how it ended. The listen is a definite set up for a series as nothing is decided and not many answers are given when the end comes. The characters are well drawn and have a depth that pulls you into the story. It is a fun clandestine, secret ops story that gives you enough to keep you interested but doesn't give away any secrets. You will definitely have to listen to the 2nd installment if you want to know much of anything.

The narration was good and Richard Rieman was able to differentiate between the characters so that you knew who was speaking at any given time. The Chinese women were somewhat stereotypical (I was hoping one of them would offer surprising assistance or resistance) but the voices were decent and didn't take me out of the story. I had to slow this one down to 1.25 as Rieman talks more quickly than my normal 1.5 listening speed could handle.

I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.

[Lillie]

The book was fast-paced with lots of twists and turns. Since I don't know anything about submarines, I found it challenging to really understand some of what was going on, but it was always exciting. I was disappointed that some of characters I thought should be there for the whole story were killed off.

Cliffhanger endings are a pet peeve of mine, and I didn't like the way this one left too many threads hanging. However, there was a resolution of one aspect of the mission, so I took that into consideration in my rating.

[Janice Spina]

A suspenseful story that kept me riveted until the end. Life aboard a submarine is depicted as quite difficult as I am sure it is. This tale frightens me to think that our servicemen must endure such conditions and be at the mercy of others in order to survive. Can any of this actually happen?

I was hoping for more closure but evidently there is a sequel to this intriguing story. I guess I may have to read the next one to find out more.

[Rita]

OThis is an excellent book. It reminds me of “Hunt for Red October” in the sense that the world could be in serious danger. The characters seem very real. They Reel you in and make you feel a part of the story. I loved the book and am looking forward to reading the next book also.

[Ronald Keeler]

I received a copy of Time Bomb Ticking by Hyrum Laney in return for an honest review. I have never understood why people put the word “honest” in front of review but I see most reviewers do this so I will conform, at least most of the time. I received the book on Friday evening and finished it by noon Saturday; I didn’t want to put it down and I didn’t want it to end as it did.

This the first review I have written where I have gone to see what other reviewers wrote. Ninety- three reviewers have offered opinions and I was surprised to NOT find comments that I intend to make. First, this novel is fast paced, extremely interesting, and captures the reader. I disagree most with other reviewers about the mix of reality and fiction. Other reviewers comment that this novel ends with a cliffhanger. In fact, it ends with several cliffhangers. One is an implied ending that is a military or government person’s worst nightmare. I was motivated to immediately buy the second book of the series. But I won’t. I want to see if the author will send me the second book in the series in return for a review. My refusal to buy the second is because I am acting out of a fit of pique about the ending. The indefinite conclusion is the only negative thing I intend to say about the novel. Only positive things follow.

The story is in no way simple. US officials are confident the Chinese are up to something with their military build-up. A covert action is needed to confirm suspicions and find out details. A submarine is the transportation tool with Navy SEAL team members to get more direct eyes on suspected targets. If caught, capture is unacceptable; the submarine, with attached mini-submarine, was to be destroyed. Surviving Navy officers, crew, and SEAL team members were to escape and evade. Everything is top secret compartmented intelligence with the fewest people possible knowing the mission. Like “Mission Impossible,” the secretary will disavow … In this case, it is the US President who will deny.

Things go wrong. Why? Was it due to superior enemy intelligence; was there intentional betrayal or slipshod security? These are unanswered questions. But there are a lot of deaths on the US side. I was surprised at some of the characters who were killed off. After deaths on the US side, there are deaths on the Chinese side also. But they are the enemy; we don’t care. This is a fast-paced action novel which gives a reviewer a chance to write many spoilers. I don’t intend to do so.

Ex-military types might enjoy this book. A few negative reviews criticized the author over weapon capability details. OK, but the substitution of the cited inaccuracies with correct information wouldn’t change the story. As an ex-military type, I was not offended by 2:00AM (correctly written as 0200 and said as oh-two-hundred).

In addition to being ex-military, I am an ex-government staffer. I was impressed by the portrayal of the amount of government worker time spent in CYA activities. When things go “south,” who is to blame? The political machinations described by Laney are very accurate. These are internal political concerns, internal to an agency or internal to the US.

Then there are the external political realities. No one disputes the size of US debt held by the Chinese. It seems we coexist in a global financial environment because of faith in a rational actor government model. Chinese attempts to seriously damage the US financial structure would result in mutually assured destruction (in an earlier US policy context, MAD). Not everyone plays rationally and what is rational for one culture may not be so for another. This novel examines the reality in a fictional setting.

When is it appropriate to sacrifice a few for the good of the many? That theme runs throughout the novel. The submarine Charlotte is on as close to a suicide mission as possible. Men may be sacrificed to obtain accurate intelligence. In this novel, they are. Is this justified?

A very small segment is devoted to the idea of political asylum. Should the US government be responsible for the fate of semi-nude Chinese women found in the ocean? I think so but I am biased.

Finally, there is an implied ending which raises this moral question. We know that military people on a mission risk their lives. Is it ever permitted for US officials to kill US citizens (military) to protect a secret? This is what I meant by an implied cliffhanger. It didn’t seem to bother other reviewers. But that unaddressed implication led me to the fit of pique from which I don’t want to purchase book two of the series.

This was a very good reading experience.

[Rachel]

This is a decent political thriller about a nuclear submarine mission to the Yellow Sea gone wrong. It has believable characters, not too deeply developed, but realistic in that none are too heroic or too evil, just regular joes doing their jobs. A lot less of the political intrigue that starts the book is revealed by story's end, but I suppose that's to keep you on the hook as part of the series. I found the portrayal of the Chinese women to be seriously stereotyped and that whole plot line I could have skipped. It felt like there was a lot of submarine/navy jargon that, having no real experience in that area, I couldn't tell if it was accurate or overly forced. All in all a decent read, but I'm not running out too quickly to find the next in the series.

[Rhonda]

Time Bomb Ticking by Hyrum Laney
5 STARS
I was surprised by the subject of this novel. I was told about it today and went and bought it. I could not put the book down till I had finshed it. I was surprised thier was some foul language in it. Especially the one character early in the book. I shed tears at times.
I have to admit that the writer is my brother-in-law. Who is a farmer in Oregon. Was not expecting a book about Submarines on a mission to spy on China. I am impressed and wonder at all the research that had to go into this book.
The USS Charlotte with the mini sub on it that is able to deliver a 16 men Seal Team to where they need to go. Thier orders are to sneak into the Bo Hai Bay to see what the Chinese are doing. They are not supposed to be caught in thier and if they are then they need to destroy thier own sub.
The mini sub in new and everyone is excited to see how it works. It will make it easier in the future for Seals team to get where they need to go.
As part of their cover thier are two other US Navy ships doing war games with China.
The USS Charlotte makes it into the bay and hiding on the bottom of it. While the mini sub drops off the seals by a old ship that has not shown any sign of being in use for the last 6 weeks. They are on radio silence so the seal team hooks up a phone on the old junker to talk to the Charlotte. Two seals will be stationed on the junker while the other seals try and figure what the Chinese are doing in secret in the bay.
They notice right away that the old junker is leaking and is being pumped out regularly so thier intell is off.
Of course things don't go right with the mission. Thier is high drama, lots of action before the book is finshed. Some of the out comes is not how I wanted it to be.
The scary thing is China does have a lot of power over us with them owing so much of our debt.
I was impressed with Hyrum first novel and look forward to seeing what he does next.
Publication Date:December 19, 2012 PUB Hyrum Laney File Size: 414 KB ASIN: B00AR34OQQ

[Todd Simpson]

This is a fabulous story from start to finish. Hyrum Laney certainly knows how to write an exciting and tense Action Thriller. I quite enjoy a plot that I can’t guess what’s going to happen, and there are a couple of Wow moments in this story that I wasn’t expecting. The US President isn’t happy that the Chinese are muscling in on the Philippines oil. Then there’s all the Chinese military activity coming in and out of Bo Hai Bay, generally under the cover of fog. So there’s a fair chance they are up to something, and the President has a bee in his bonnet in wanting to find out what. There are some old freighters the Chinese have docked in the bay, and the only way to get close enough to have a look on them and to stay undetected is by a submarine. USS Charlotte has been tasked with this assignment, along with a mini sub and 10 Navy Seals. For Captain Larry McGraw and his men, this is definitely going to be a dangerous mission, as they will need to sail into the bay undetected, and then sit in very shallow water without being seen. The last thing the US want is for one of their most advanced submarines falling into Communist hands. Captain McGraw’s orders are very clear, don’t get caught, but if you do then all the equipment on board needs to be destroyed and then both the Submarine and Mini Sub need to be blown up. The Navy Seals are tasked with swimming under water and getting on board the freighters in Bo Hai Bay, to report what they find. Captain McGraw isn’t too keen to sit in a Chinese prison if he is caught, but destroying the Sub and getting all of his men off safely. What the Navy Seals find could make the US very nervous, and change the dynamics of any future war. Now the big question is, do the Chinese know the USS Charlotte is there in their waters? There really is a lot to like about this book. Great characters and a well put together and interesting plot. Definitely well worth a read.

[Nancy Silk]

"It's Okay"

I was anxious to read this story but was very disappointed. It starts okay, but a little slow until at about 35 percent into the story and chaos breaks loose. I really never understood the plot of the story. It's well written but difficult for me to get into. The characters are not strongly defined, and while I enjoy sea stories, this novel did not thrill me.

[Wayne]

Pretty decent submarine fiction. A bit short.