Acid Test

Acid Test was a page turner from beginning to end! It started big, ended big, and was big all through the middle. The characters were well-crafted and three-dimensional. They had...well, chemistry. You felt the connection between them. The plot was pretty solid, and he handled the futuristic weapons nicely, integrating today's bleeding-edge tech with tech that's right around the corner. He also gets the computer stuff right (most authors don't) which was outstanding.If you're a fan of Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler, get it. You're going to get all the action and political drama you want - and then some - wrapped in a package that's overall much easier to swallow than your standard Dirk Pitt adventure.If you're not, get it anyway. There's something in here for everybody.Personally, I hope this is the beginning of a series. I could hang out with Matt Wilder more often.

This book is page-turner of the first order, both exciting and thoughtful. It is power-packed with information about high-tech weaponry, communications, military protocol, and constitutional order. There are lessons to be learned as well regarding ongoing current events, politics and heroism, and the stubborn apathy of the American people toward such matters.

This book is a great read. It takes off in the first chapter and never lets up. The hero Matt Wilder is a classic action hero and there are two remarkable bad guys the likes of which I have never seen. Highly original. I enthusiastically recommend it.

In the last fifty or so years, no country has risen and expanded faster than the Trans Altaic Alliance. Its leader, the charismatic but deadly Batu Khan, has consolidated eight nations in three years without a drop of blood being shed as he pushes his agenda of reforming the Mongol Empire. However, his methodology dramatically changes when his Kaldum Elite troops overthrow the elected government in Georgia and execute the president, his wife and two small children.Having ignored the rise of he TAA, the United States President Marsh knows a confrontation is inevitable. As he prepares to drum up support among his allies and the American people, weird homicides occur in which sudden personality change sends a calm normal person over the edge. Air Force Agent Matt Wilder has witnessed the phenomena twice and begins inquiries into it just as he is needed to help in the incident between America and the TAA.ACID TEST is a fast-paced international thriller that will take readers along for a speed-of-light ride. The story line is filled with non-stop action, but Ross LaManna provides one too many subplots to his resourceful tale. The elements involving the TAA rise and threat is fabulous and worth the read. The subplot centering on sudden personality change is interesting in its own light, but could have used its own book as it fails to enhance the political thriller. Still, fans of action to the nth degree will delight in ACID TEST, a novel that proves Mr. LaManna more than just passes the writing examination of public approval.Harriet Klausner

My personal litmus test for a successful thriller is whether or not it can keep me hanging on long past bedtime to satisfy my real need to know what happens next. And I have to care: care about the characters, care about their problems and feel a sense of personal involvement in whatever crisis situation is central to its plot. Russ LaManna's first novel ACID TEST hit me on a gut level in all of these areas. What I found absolutely fascinating here was that, in his talented hands, a seemingly impossible scenario for world terrorism and domination...based on chemical 'time bombs' and stolen military technology, skillfully manipulated by an utterly ruthless dictator...coming within literally seconds of destroying our world as we know it becomes so utterly plausible. Frankly, this was one very scary read!I think a large part of its success is probably due to the fact that this novel is so beautifully-structured. Mr. LaManna's previous literary experience may have dealt with the eye of the camera, but he has an absolutely bang-on! sensitivity for the kind of nuances that will capture and hold a reader's eye and attention. The tension and fast-paced action simply never let up from our initial encounter with its protagonist, Matt Wilder, former hero of the Gulf War...invalided out and reassigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations...performing an apparently off-the-wall feat of personal bravery in the Australian outback which, in turn, sets the stage for its logical repetition on an even more hair-raising scale in the climactic confrontation at the end of the novel. In addition to surrounding him with a host of equally well-realized allies and enemies, Mr. LaManna's skill at characterization makes it completely possible for us to accept Matt's heroic qualities at face value, and once we can believe in them, we can understand and accept the how's and why's of everything else that this brilliant author has envisioned. I was also struck by the enormous amount of care that has gone into creating a rock-solid technical background...scientific, medical and political...which adds so immensely to the book's verisimilitude and appeal. Long and short, ACID TEST is one of the most exciting and frightening novels that I have read in a long time, and I see it as a strong warning that what can't happen here just could and might if we continue to ignore some of the possibilities for disaster implicit to our present military/political policies.