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Ghost

BE FOREWARNED! John Ringo's newest book, Ghost , is one hot item.

The story begins with a medically retired SEAL named Mike Harmon skulking around the sidewalks of the University of Georgia near the library. On this particular evening he passes his time by remaining perfectly still until some unsuspecting coed comes by, unaware of his presence. When the time is right, he might cough, just to teach her a lesson in situational awareness, but he also might just grab her.

Harmon has degenerative bone disease and—as you learn later in the book—an equally degenerate obsession. In short, he is a very bad man, but there are equally bad men (just not as well-trained as Harmon) who beat him to the snatch, so to speak, kidnapping a coed before his eyes.

Without thinking about consequences, Harmon throws himself into the chase, uncovering an Islamic terrorist plan to ferry young American women to Syria where they will be raped and tortured to death live on the internet and Arab TV.

Blood will flow. People will die. Sacrifices will be made. Vengeance will be had.

And that's just in Book One.

Book Two opens with Harmon using his reward money (you must read the book to know why and how much reward he got) to live as a boat bum in the Caribbean. Two college girls take him up on an offer to cruise around the islands and up to the Bahamas. Harmon easily talks them into becoming his sex slaves, and the author gives the most explicit detail of any commercial novel in recent times. The only other way to read more explicit work is if you can find an adult bookstore.

You will learn a lot about sexual bondage games, perhaps more than you care to know. Since you are computer literate or you wouldn't be reading this, the book comes with a CD that opens automatically with a letter from Ringo telling you why he wrote the book and explaining his own trepidation over getting it published. He knows the danger he undertook. Ringo's publisher, Jim Baen, took the same chance of offending a world of feminists.

Fortunately, Ringo creates female characters that have—hmm, no other way to put it effectively—a set of big brass ones. It is also important to point out that the characters presented in the book indulging in submissive sexual behavior are willing participants. In real life, the same is true. It may be a dark side of life, but it is there. Danger and threat are aphrodisiacs.

Ringo writes in a wide vein that blends military fiction with fantasy and science fiction and since he has several series going, I suspect Ringo will keep the golden goose producing. He may even turn out more stories with Harmon as a character. After all, Book Three in Ghost sends Harmon back into action with less sex and hints at the dangerous state of the character's mind.

In the end, the reader is left wondering whether Harmon intended to save Paris from a nuclear disaster or to blow it off the face of the earth. Once again, to decide for yourself, you'll have to read the book. I recommend Ghost for adults with an open (and stable) mind.