Palmetto Review

Albatross: Birds of Flight - Book One

What do you do, where do you turn, when your government and your military are after you? When, in the name of anti-terrorism, your country becomes the terrorist itself and your military turns on its own citizens?

Five years ago, Alexander J. Burns was supposed to kill Oman Sharif Sudani, a key terrorist. The president has given the OK, the Chief of Staff is on-board, and all’s a go for the mission. However, there is a problem. Burns’ superior, Field Agent Anthony Maxwell, has other plans. Capture Sudani, kill all witnesses, innocent women and children, and bring Sudani back as a trophy.  To do so, he attempts to kill Burns and the mission pilot. Burns manages to escape, but loses his memory.

Now, with potential information that they can use and his sudden lack of sociopathic tendencies, Burns and all who associate with him have a bright red target on their heads. His psychotherapist, David, that helped him regain parts of his memory, loses everything. His wife is killed by a government bomb and David loses his sight. The nurse who helped him to find David almost gets killed and now her, her sister, Becky, and her niece, Emma are all in danger. With training and dedication, this team will do whatever it takes to protect themselves and administer their own kind of justice.

To succeed, they must become terrorists themselves. Developing a major plot that involves disabling their enemy’s computers with a Trojan Virus that affects all computers, but is that the only thing they have in store? Will the team succeed in getting the government off their back and getting justice?

This fast-paced, action-packed plot will grab readers hook, line, and sinker.  Erickson creates a well-developed plot with many twists and turns that keep the reader guessing at  the true story behind Burns and what he and his team are really plotting.

The characters are well-developed, anti-heroes that are easy to sympathize with and are likable. The dynamic between all the characters is masterfully done and the author does a great job of helping the reader to keep them all straight.

The only problem I saw was that the different timeline jumps were a little confusing at first, but the book wouldn’t have been the same without them.  Readers who enjoy spy novels, mysteries, and books or movies with plot lines similar to Jason Bourne, Burn Notice, and Ocean’s 11 will enjoy reading this book and will eagerly await the sequel.