Shattered Bone

by Chris Stewart

As a new Russian president announces his determination to build another empire, a Russian agent posing as a U.S. pilot steals a bomber armed with nuclear weapons, bringing the world to the brink of war. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Military Fiction

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 23, 1997

About the author

Chris Stewart is a bestselling author and world-record-setting Air Force pilot whose previous military techno-thrillers have been selected by the Book of the Month Club and published in six different countries. He is the author of the highly acclaimed series The Great and Terrible, as well as A Christmas Bell for Anya, which was performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during their 2005 Christmas concert. He has also been a guest editorialist for the Detroit News, commenting on matters of military readiness and national security. He is president of The Shipley Group, a nationally recognized consulting and training company and founder of the Utah Renaissance and Leadership Center.

Reviews

[Jon Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The seasoned airforce pilot and freshman novelist who penned this book predicted Russia's military aggression towards its neighboring & fellow Slavic state, Ukraine. Chris Stewart's first work of fiction (theoretically) was published in 1998 and his version of events has Russia pressing their sizable advantage 24 years prior to the start of the war raging in Ukraine now. What's even more interesting is that the man seeking to reform the Soviet Union (in this case only 6 years after its dissolution) is named Vladamir. I know that is not an uncommon name in Russia but still......! He was the Russian President and number two in command who only recently acquired the top spot by orchestrating the assassination of the democratically elected Prime Minister. To paraphrase a line from Sasha...er Borat during a promotional tour of the states "HE ROSE UP AND TOOK POWER!" Incidentally I think in the book Borat's country of Kazakstan is one of the republics that has voluntarilly agreed to rejoin with Russia to make a neo Soviet Union. Obviously even though they are a young state, Ukraine objected to Russia's suggestion.
Fortunately, our vladamir seems to be a bit more stable than the one in the book. That goes for our world`s leadership in Ukraine too. In Shattered Bone both the Russians and Ukrainians are much too willing to use chemical weapons and nukes. It is a solid read tnough!

[Patrick Houweling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely thrilling page-turner. Although written in 1997, still surprisingly actual, with a Russian president, first-named Vladimir, invading the Ukraine and increasing tensions between the US and Russia.

[Barbara Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

What happened to the rogue middle Ammon launched first out of the B1"¿ either way the story was Awesome¡ thank you¡

[Jason Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Stewart's first book was a good one with plenty of action!

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holiday couch page turner, enjoyable enough if you like military aviation thrillers. Interesting point was that it was written in 1998 but describes a Russia-Ukraine conflict

[Howard H · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were plenty of good bits here. It's just that some of the main plot elements didn't ring true for me.

[David Freas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though this book was published 17 years ago, it seemed especially timely given the current on-going friction between Russia and the Ukraine. And the premise - a Soviet sleeper agent activated to steal a USAF B-1 bomber and attack targets in Russia to precipitate a US-Russia war - was unique.

This story has all the elements of a great techno-thriller – a crisis that could destroy the world, high-tech military hardware, conspiracies, back-stabbing, and secret agendas – but they never quite came together into a thrilling whole. Tension here never burned white-hot, just sort of glowed, so this book never delivered the edge-of-your-seat ride a good thriller should.

I never really warmed to any of the major characters. They all came across as bad, evil, and selfish. Even when Stewart revealed one of the bad guys was really a good guy, I couldn’t generate any affinity for him. Part of that was that it is well into the book before Stewart revealed it (even though I suspected it much earlier). The other contributing factor was Stewart’s somewhat distant point of view, which allowed him to head-hop from character to character within a scene, never let me get too close to any of them – especially Richard Ammon, his main character. I felt more like I was watching the story unfold on TV instead of being with the characters as events happened.

Too many times, Stewart gets his characters out of jams by coincidence instead of their own actions. The only character who showed any spunk and actively fought back was in was Jess, Richard’s wife.

Stewart does an acceptable job of relaying the ‘techno’ part of the thriller but he never engaged me the way Tom Clancy did. His description of planes and missiles and military operations always felt like an authorial aside that took me out of the story instead of seamlessly blending into the flow of the narrative like Clancy’s did. And he left several question unanswered (at least to me) so maybe someone else who has read the book can tell me: What happened to the missile fired at the Russian president’s office? What happened to Jesse’s second captor, Nadine?

I loved Tom Clancy’s techno-thrillers and could easily burn through one in a day. I can’t say the same here. Part of that may be due to having read enough in this genre that I can almost anticipate what happens next. Part may be due to the ‘nothing new under the sun’ aspect of these books. There is only so much an author can do with planes and guns and missiles and bombs. Stewart never surprised me with a new twist on either one.

Stewart did his best but that only amounted to a 2 star effort. And in the world of thrillers, that’s not enough.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The unauthorized flight or hijacking of a United States's B-1 "stealth" bomber loaded with nuclear weapons is known as a "Shattered Bone." When a young Russian agent--deep under cover as a pilot for the U.S. Air Force--steals the aircraft, the world stands on the brink of World War III. Drawn back to his home, the agent is pitted against a Russia ambitious to rebuild its tyrannical empire, but is he really working for them? (I couldn't put this down!) Author: Chris Stewart (also author of The Great and the Terrible)

[Ann Amadori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting story. No bad language. I liked that this man actually has a WIFE, not a girlfriend. He is totally devoted to her and when she is kidnapped he has no choice but to steal the stealth bomber and do what his handlers want him to do.

[Kirt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. The aerial action was terrific, as you would expect from a pilot-turned-author. Exciting and well-paced without a potty-mouth vocabulary. The worst I could find was "sonofa..." (sic)! How refreshing! This earns it the fifth star.

[Lauren Loutzenhiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few of Chris Stewart's high tech thrillers, and I really really liked them -- it's hard to put them down! But I do tend to want to rate everything I read 5 stars because I get into books so much.... I'm trying to refrain :o)

[Michelle S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stewart certainly knows his stuff when it comes to military planes and intrigue. Heavy on suspense and refreshingly light on language

[Cws]

M Ste

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good revamp of the older Cold War double agent thriller centered around a B2 bomber armed with nukes. The plot is solid and flows wells with good writing and believable characters.

[Londa Frankis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good action, plain enjoyable read.

[Lew Groberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this techno thriller