What do you think?
Rate this book
Dan Kilmer #2
The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun
The further adventures of Dan Kilmer, taking place a few years after Castigo Cay. Dan is a former Marine sniper in his late thirties. Fifteen years earlier, he returned home from military service in the Middle East and gave college a try, but his combat experiences prevented him from fitting into campus life. In a South Florida boatyard, his uncle was attempting to refurbish an old cargo schooner, and Dan left college to help him finish the flagging project. After two years of work but before the sixty-foot boat was relaunched, his uncle fell from a scaffold and died. While still in his mid-twenties, Dan inherited the schooner Rebel Yell, but not the means to maintain it or afford the cruising lifestyle. Soon after, he left the United States to embark on a series of voyages, mostly in pursuit of beautiful women and good times.
****
In The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun, Dan's trading schooner is located in southwest Ireland, where he is attempting to sell drums of diesel fuel salvaged from an abandoned NATO base in Greenland. The global financial system has collapsed, and both paper and digital currency have no value, but diesel fuel and gold still do.
****
While waiting to sell his remaining thirty barrels, Dan is approached by a retired SAS colonel and asked to carry a dozen former special operations commandos to the Canary Islands, where they will be transported by a landing craft to Morocco to conduct a rescue operation. Two months before, nearly seventy Irish and English girls had been kidnapped by sea-jihad pirates from their elite Irish boarding academy and taken to Port Zerhoun, which is under the control of a cartel of modern corsairs. There, they will be sold at auction as sex slaves, unless a ragtag team of former commandos can get them out in time.
****
In The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun, Dan's trading schooner is located in southwest Ireland, where he is attempting to sell drums of diesel fuel salvaged from an abandoned NATO base in Greenland. The global financial system has collapsed, and both paper and digital currency have no value, but diesel fuel and gold still do.
****
While waiting to sell his remaining thirty barrels, Dan is approached by a retired SAS colonel and asked to carry a dozen former special operations commandos to the Canary Islands, where they will be transported by a landing craft to Morocco to conduct a rescue operation. Two months before, nearly seventy Irish and English girls had been kidnapped by sea-jihad pirates from their elite Irish boarding academy and taken to Port Zerhoun, which is under the control of a cartel of modern corsairs. There, they will be sold at auction as sex slaves, unless a ragtag team of former commandos can get them out in time.
617 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 16, 2017
189 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Bracken
11 books101 followersMatt Bracken was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957 and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1979 with a degree in Russian Studies. He was commissioned in the US Navy through the NROTC program at UVA, and then graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training class 105 in Coronado California. He served on east coast UDT and SEAL teams, taking a Naval Special Warfare detachment to Beirut in 1983. Mr. Bracken left active duty after Lebanon, upon completion of his obligated military service, but he remained in an active reserve status through the remainder of the 1980s. Since then he has lived in Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Guam and California. In 1993 Mr. Bracken finished building a 48-foot steel sailing cutter of his own design, on which he has done extensive ocean cruising, including a solo voyage 9,000 miles from Panama to Guam and two Panama Canal transits.
Matt is a self-described freedomista who loves ocean sailing for the pure freedom it often permits. He is a constitutionalist who believes in the original intent of the founding fathers of our country. He lives with his family in North Florida and longs for the wide blue ocean.
Matt is a self-described freedomista who loves ocean sailing for the pure freedom it often permits. He is a constitutionalist who believes in the original intent of the founding fathers of our country. He lives with his family in North Florida and longs for the wide blue ocean.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 29, 2018
Historical fiction set in the future? Seems like a mutually exclusive term but do not worry, it becomes evident eventually. Very solid book with suspense, courage and virtue displayed in a very real sense. Action packed and fabulous character development. I would have liked some loose ends tied up but hey, each one of us can tie it up ourselves. Being vertigo inclined made this adventure truly hair raising.
June 19, 2022
An Exciting and Moving Storh
This action adventure quasi war story may be the best I've ever read. This should be made into a movie. It would make a great movie. The author is a renaissance man, a warrior poet. I'm glad I found this wonderful book.
This action adventure quasi war story may be the best I've ever read. This should be made into a movie. It would make a great movie. The author is a renaissance man, a warrior poet. I'm glad I found this wonderful book.
December 22, 2017
Top-notch! Well done, Matt.
A great page-turner, and I especially appreciated the clean language and mild adult-situation references -- nothing explicit to mar a great story.
Others have praised and reviewed this book in detail, so I won't.
What I will do, though, is state the unfortunately obvious: the people who most need to read this book, won't. In fact, they'll run away from it, and from its author, while screaming that this author is paranoid about Muslim mores and doctrines.
In reality, Bracken is quite familiar with not only Muslim cultures, religious doctrines and Sharia, but also the history of each.
He has seen what is coming, and he is trying to warn is all, before it grows too late.
Let's hope enough people read Bracken's books and heed the embedded warnings, before it is too late.
Well done, Matt.
A great page-turner, and I especially appreciated the clean language and mild adult-situation references -- nothing explicit to mar a great story.
Others have praised and reviewed this book in detail, so I won't.
What I will do, though, is state the unfortunately obvious: the people who most need to read this book, won't. In fact, they'll run away from it, and from its author, while screaming that this author is paranoid about Muslim mores and doctrines.
In reality, Bracken is quite familiar with not only Muslim cultures, religious doctrines and Sharia, but also the history of each.
He has seen what is coming, and he is trying to warn is all, before it grows too late.
Let's hope enough people read Bracken's books and heed the embedded warnings, before it is too late.
Well done, Matt.
August 15, 2017
A swashbuckling modern tale, set in a dystopian future that will captivate you from the start.
Plenty of kindly values and a thorough capture of the perils of dealing with every culture from the bias of our own values.
A darn good adventure read in addition to the "Brackenisms" Matt Bracken's books are known for.
Well worth the read, and might be considered a companion piece to some of the books in Bracken's suggested further reading.
Recommended.
Plenty of kindly values and a thorough capture of the perils of dealing with every culture from the bias of our own values.
A darn good adventure read in addition to the "Brackenisms" Matt Bracken's books are known for.
Well worth the read, and might be considered a companion piece to some of the books in Bracken's suggested further reading.
Recommended.
October 23, 2017
Great storytelling, you will enjoy Bracken’s latest
This is the first Matt Bracken novel I have read. The dystopic, post-collapse conditions ring true. The story builds slowly, which I appreciate, getting solid character development with building excitement (and body count) as we go. Also appreciate the Dan Kilmer character is skilled, but “real”, not portrayed as some superhuman mil-spec type typical of the genre. Now I look forward to reading his earlier offerings.
This is the first Matt Bracken novel I have read. The dystopic, post-collapse conditions ring true. The story builds slowly, which I appreciate, getting solid character development with building excitement (and body count) as we go. Also appreciate the Dan Kilmer character is skilled, but “real”, not portrayed as some superhuman mil-spec type typical of the genre. Now I look forward to reading his earlier offerings.
September 11, 2024
A Must Read!
I was just rereading the Matthew Bracken books again on my Kindle, and reminded not only how good they are, but also timely. Just start with his first one and you'll see what I mean. You could call Mr. Bracken quite prophetic. He's a good story teller that keeps you wanting more. Plus, he gives you your money's worth. If you enjoy reading books with stories that could be true, then start your new adventure.
I was just rereading the Matthew Bracken books again on my Kindle, and reminded not only how good they are, but also timely. Just start with his first one and you'll see what I mean. You could call Mr. Bracken quite prophetic. He's a good story teller that keeps you wanting more. Plus, he gives you your money's worth. If you enjoy reading books with stories that could be true, then start your new adventure.
August 30, 2017
The best yet from another favorite author.
I have read all of Matt Bracken's books. I really like this one. Can't wait for the next. This novel is a great way to take a good story and relate to what if current events take one turn or another. We don't have to be passive participants in our own future.
I have read all of Matt Bracken's books. I really like this one. Can't wait for the next. This novel is a great way to take a good story and relate to what if current events take one turn or another. We don't have to be passive participants in our own future.
April 22, 2018
Excellent read!. I have also read his earlier books and recommend them also.
The review is above.
I have no freaking idea why are words were required. Evidently words like excellent and read are not good enough.
The review is above.
I have no freaking idea why are words were required. Evidently words like excellent and read are not good enough.
May 22, 2019
One of my favorite characters! Bracken takes you on a tell about a not of friendly possible near future. No spoilers, but there are some unexpected twist that makes it even more interesting. Highly recommend.
April 27, 2021
A pretty good yarn, that's ultimately let down by unnecessary characters and social commentary.
The premise is certainly easy to get behind. In a post-SHTF world, a group of ex-SAS and IRA troops launch a clandestine operation to rescue Irish schoolgirls from impending sex slavery. Awesome!
There's some action, battles with pirates, a bit of sniping, some commando stuff etc. Most of the book is about just getting to the rescue point, so if you're looking for an action-packed book, you might be disappointed.
The biggest fault in the book to me was the inclusion of the Tala character. I think I'm spelling that right, but apologies if not. She's completely unnecessary to the story. If you totally removed her from the book, absolutely nothing would be lost, and the book would actually improve. She only exists to be the main character's love interest, and to tell a sob story about how poorly Muslim countries treat their women. (gee, who would have guessed that people who sell women into sex slavery would also mistreat women in other ways too?) I ended up skipping through the sob story part because I just didn't care. I got the book because I wanted some military or para-military style action and adventure, not to be lectured on womens' rights in Morocco.
This will be the last book from this author that I read. I've read 3 now, and they progressively seem to be getting too much like mainstream left-wing books. The other series of books by the author I was reading, stars a "badass half-Arab female". At that point I might as well be reading the latest Marvel Comics books.
Sorry bud, suspension of disbelief only goes so far.
One other part of the book that felt a bit unnecessary and never really amounted to much of anything, was their encounter with a Spanish warship. I kept waiting for something else to happen involving it, but the book just ends before it does. You could have also completely cut that part of the book out, and nothing would have changed.
Anyway, if you're a fan of the author, this book is worth the read, especially if you're on Kindle Unlimited.
The premise is certainly easy to get behind. In a post-SHTF world, a group of ex-SAS and IRA troops launch a clandestine operation to rescue Irish schoolgirls from impending sex slavery. Awesome!
There's some action, battles with pirates, a bit of sniping, some commando stuff etc. Most of the book is about just getting to the rescue point, so if you're looking for an action-packed book, you might be disappointed.
The biggest fault in the book to me was the inclusion of the Tala character. I think I'm spelling that right, but apologies if not. She's completely unnecessary to the story. If you totally removed her from the book, absolutely nothing would be lost, and the book would actually improve. She only exists to be the main character's love interest, and to tell a sob story about how poorly Muslim countries treat their women. (gee, who would have guessed that people who sell women into sex slavery would also mistreat women in other ways too?) I ended up skipping through the sob story part because I just didn't care. I got the book because I wanted some military or para-military style action and adventure, not to be lectured on womens' rights in Morocco.
This will be the last book from this author that I read. I've read 3 now, and they progressively seem to be getting too much like mainstream left-wing books. The other series of books by the author I was reading, stars a "badass half-Arab female". At that point I might as well be reading the latest Marvel Comics books.
Sorry bud, suspension of disbelief only goes so far.
One other part of the book that felt a bit unnecessary and never really amounted to much of anything, was their encounter with a Spanish warship. I kept waiting for something else to happen involving it, but the book just ends before it does. You could have also completely cut that part of the book out, and nothing would have changed.
Anyway, if you're a fan of the author, this book is worth the read, especially if you're on Kindle Unlimited.
September 28, 2024
definitely a must read!
No how bad things may get in the future there will always be men and women who will be the heroes.
It’s a long read and the details may stretch your patience but hang in there. This is writing and story telling at its best.
No how bad things may get in the future there will always be men and women who will be the heroes.
It’s a long read and the details may stretch your patience but hang in there. This is writing and story telling at its best.
November 30, 2017
Solid adventure story. Good read
It was a good, taut page turner. It was a solid bit of fun and swashbuckling in the old style.
It was a good, taut page turner. It was a solid bit of fun and swashbuckling in the old style.
April 8, 2018
A long read, but the author keeps your interest as the story develops. It ends with an awesome story of a daring rescue and escape.
April 14, 2020
This is Matthew Bracken's most polished novel. His writing skills have improved with experience.
November 22, 2020
Highly recommend
A very exciting story, well developed, hard to put down. Have greatly enjoyed all of Matt's books and regular appearances at InfoWars.com and banned.video.
A very exciting story, well developed, hard to put down. Have greatly enjoyed all of Matt's books and regular appearances at InfoWars.com and banned.video.
January 1, 2020
It's Fiction until you realize its not .
Rescue story of kidnapped Irish girls by former PIRA and SAS to defeat Muslim slavers and kidnappers. Wanting to sell hhemmni
Rescue story of kidnapped Irish girls by former PIRA and SAS to defeat Muslim slavers and kidnappers. Wanting to sell hhemmni
March 1, 2020
Another great novel by Matt Bracken.
The Kindle version is available for free the next two days.
The Kindle version is available for free the next two days.
April 28, 2018
Excellent tale of adventure.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews