The Red Line

Starred review from February 13, 2017
Set in the near future, Gragg’s impeccably researched, riveting first novel pits a revived Soviet Union against NATO. Russia’s brutal dictator, Comrade Cheninko, has built on a resurgence of power begun under Vladimir Putin and reconstituted the Warsaw Pact. A new cold war is about to become a hot one. Cheninko’s top general, Valexi Yovanovich, has developed a brilliant plan to deceive the enemy and conquer Germany in a mere five days. An extensive cast of well-drawn men and women on both the American and Russian sides provides a personal dimension to the big-picture view of the clash of massive armies. Gragg, a Vietnam War veteran who served at the United States European Headquarters in Germany, gives readers a horrifying look at the devastation of modern warfare from the smallest, most painful details to the frighteningly plausible global scenarios that could result in the death and devastation of a significant portion of our planet. This is must reading for any military action fan. Nearly every page reeks of the smoke of battle and the stench of death. Agent: Liza Fleissig, Liza Royce Agency.

April 1, 2017
Communists retake Russia in this debut novel, and their Stalin-esque leader, Cheninko, fears the unified Germany that's once again run by vile Nazis.The Russian Army plays "crazy winter war games" near the German border, "a ruse to hide their true intentions," which are to invade and conquer Germany. The Russians are Soviets again, the Warsaw Pact is back, and U.S. troops are-- still in Germany, providing the makings for a 20th century-style land war. Gen. Yovanovich promises Cheninko a victory in five days. Gragg's plot is strong and backed up by plenty of vivid, fast-moving battle scenes, with the war's outcome uncertain almost to the end. There's no single Jack Ryan-type character the free world's fate depends upon; brave men and women fight, and you'd better not get too attached to any of them. Ammo and adjectives abound. A bullet "smashed into [a] lieutenant's broad chest and dug for the fragile life hidden within." And "death was coming to scour the heavens and weed out the unworthy." And "forty proud Russians perished in a handful of fluttering heartbeats." And "death's leering face entered the morose scene once again." Yes, there are 500-plus pages of writing like that. This being the twenty-first century, America has women in combat--pretty ones, too. A female American lieutenant has an "attractive neck" and is "extremely easy on the eyes." Gimme a break. At least she doesn't powder her nose in her Humvee. Anyway, the Russians' tactical nukes may not only render her allure moot--they may actually win the war. Luckily, the oddly unnamed American president has "The Final Ace" up his sleeve, and it's a good one. The writing isn't great, but the action is. If you loved Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising or simply miss the 20th century, this one's a stroll down Memory Lane.

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Starred review from April 15, 2017

The Russians launch an attack on Germany, and World War III begins in Gragg's intense and gripping debut thriller. Assisting Germany is a team of undermanned American troops who truly have no hope of stopping the onslaught. Young soldiers must rise up, take bold risks, and seek allies if the hostilities are to end favorably for everyone. This frightening and realistic scenario will be compared to Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, as both titles deal with war and the horrors of the battlefield. The characters are more fully developed here, intensifying the emotional repercussions of the fighting. One hopes that World War III will never happen, but if it did then this book could easily become nonfiction. VERDICT Difficult reading, not for the writing, which is stellar, but rather owing to the timeliness and authenticity of the story. Recommended for fans of military and futuristic thrillers.--Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2017
Novels about the next world war abound, but this one draws cleverly on gnawing uncertainties about the new U.S. president and his view of NATO, as well as on Russia's intentions in the new global politics and the rise of the right wing in Europe. Gragg posits that Vladimir Putin has been ousted by ordinary Russians enraged by a failed economy and by a right wing that believed him too timid. Cheninko, Putin's successor, reimposes Stalinist communism and begins to threaten the small states bordering Russia. A nervous Germany elects a cunning neo-Nazi. Cheninko orders his generals to plan an attack that will conquer Germany in five days. The plan they come up with supports 150 divisions, more than a million troops, thousands of tanks and armored personnel carriers, and hundreds of aircraft, with deception and sabotage of NATO communications systems. Gragg, who once served at NATO's German headquarters, likely took some of his ideas from NATO analyses. What he describes is a staggeringly lethal war machine. Battles last only minutes. The Red Line is inelegantly written, but it seems eerily prescient in an edgy time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)