I’ve been a fan of Robert Ludlum for going on 20 years now. His writing style is gripping and he convinces you that the events in his books are ones that could be happening in the world today both politically and socially. They make me paranoid yet rivet me to my seat until I am finished with the book.

It was very easy for me to keep in the forefront of my mind that The Arctic Event, a Covert One series work, is a work of fiction. Which was somewhat of a relief as a person can only handle so much paranoia about world events at a time. I still enjoyed reading it despite it’s less-than-real-event feel. The writing was crisp, the action flowed well and we were never bogged down as the author explains something. Those dry nuggets are worked into the meat of the story seamlessly.

Despite reading the James H. Cobb message board, I’m unable to find just what the relationship between Ludlum who died in 2001 and Cobb are. Other authors who have published Ludlum’s works are Eric Von Lustbader who authored the Bourne Series that we’re all so familiar with, Gayle Linds, Phillip Shelby and Patrick Larkin.

Cobb is also author of his own successful series of books featuring character Amanda Lee Garrett. He writes strong female characters and we are not disappointed in either of the two in The Arctic Event.

The President has received a visit from a Russian General advising him of the payload of the B-29-like plane that has been discovered by some researchers on the tiny island of Wednesday located in Canada  in the frozen Arctic Ocean.

It’s 2 tons of Anthrax; a deadly payload that, if made public would begin a race to recover it by criminal minds as well as military. He who owns the deadly payload would have the means to terrorize the world.

We meet our main protagonist characters as Colonel Jon Smith is polishing up his mountaineering skills in a warfare camp. CIA operative Randi Russell is on a mission to uncover a North Korean spy and noted weapons historian Professor Valentina Metrace has just disabled a would-be rapist.  Major Gregori Smyslov rounds out the team of four and represents the Russians on the mission.

Smith, Russell, Smyslov and Metrace are dispatched to Wednesday Island where they are to meet up with the research team that discovered the wreckage. On the way there, they are attacked by a small plane which they successfully beat off. It’s that attack that ramps up their mission to get to the island and recover or destroy the anthrax.

Also interested in the deadly payload is the Croatian arms dealer, Anton Kretek who has come to knowledge of the anthrax in an unusual way. His nephew is part of the research team that discovered the plane and despite warnings to not approach the plane, he’s gone there and discovered the payload and notified his uncle who realizes that the sale of this amount of anthrax would set him up for life. He makes rapid plans to go to the island and recover the spores leaving no witnesses behind.

Besides these evil-doers, our team must also face a Russian Spetznaz team because the Russians are far more concerned about what the Americans might discover about the B-29’s real mission than just the anthrax payload. Their plan is to have the Colonel make sure the Americans don’t discover the details of the Wednesday plot with the team as a contingency in case he’s not able to secure those documents.

I won’t spoil the book for you, but let you know that in Bond fashion, Colonel Smith gets the girl — but you’ll have to read the book to find out just which one.

The Arctic Event created by Robert Ludlum, written by James H Cobb
published by Vision Hachette Book Group USA 2007
ISBN:-10  0-446-61877-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-446-61877-9