Books I've Read (Fall/Winter 2005): Dead Hand

Harold Coyle, Dead Hand. Readable technothriller about a multinational special-forces mission into Russia to disarm "dead-man" fused missile silos after an asteroid hits Siberia with force comparable to multiple nuclear strikes.

Coyle tends to have a somewhat wordy, awkward style, or at least his military characters do. This book had much cleaner dialog and exposition than I've come to expect from him. I like his storytelling and his characters so much that I can forgive him the lack of fluidity; whether he's tightened up or gotten a more ruthless editor, the result here is very welcome indeed.