The Tau Ceti Agenda

Great second novel in the series. Written in a minute by minute style reminisant of the tv show "24". Great chacter development, and the style of writeing draws the reader in, constantly rasing the stakes until the ending... with a twist. Can't wait for the next book "One Good Soldier".

The Tau Ceti Agenda (2008) is the second SF novel in this series, following One Day on Mars. In the previous volume, the Separatists on Mars sabotaged a US supercarrier and dropped it onto the northern part of Mons City. Senator Alexander Moore, his family and several Armored Environment-suit Marines escaped from Mons City, but were pursued by Separatist Army forces. They are finally rescued by a SAR ship from the USS Sienna Madira. The Separatists flee from the Reservation and escape to Tau Ceti. A CIA operative using the name of Kira Shavi goes with the escaping Separatists. Before they depart the system, Kira manages to send a coded message to the CIA describing the exodus. In this novel, four years later, Alexander Moore is President of the United States and is now running for re-election. He and his wife Sehera are taking their twelve year old daughter Deanna on a visit to Disney World. The Secret Service managed to get them in before the normal opening time. Thomas Washington is the head of the Secret Service team protecting the President and his family. He and his team mates -- Clay Jackson and "Kootie" Kudaf -- had been with Moore on Mars as AEMs and are now on loan to the SS at the request of the President. They are enjoying the rides, but remain alert to any threats to the chief executive or his family. Kira is living with her adopted family on Tau Ceti. She is now the second wife. But she still keeps tabs on Separatist activities. Elle Ahmi -- formerly President Sienna Madira -- is now the chief of state of the Tau Ceti colony. The exodus has overwhelmed the former population of the colony and the Separatists now rule. She is busily preparing another surprise for the United States back on Terra. Captain Wallace Jefferson is commanding a raid on the Oort cloud facility that had been used in the Separatist exodus. He has two supercarriers in his task force, including the new USS Anthony Blair commanded by Captain Sharon Walker. Both are carrying a full complement of fighters, mecha and AEMs. In this story, the Moore family is enjoying the Disney World rides until things start going wrong. When the wireless traffic in the park LAN goes up drastically, the Secret Service team becomes worried. They try to stop the ride, but it continues on and even accelerates despite their efforts. After shooting out the power units and crashing through the shell around the ride, the Secret Services runs into real trouble. Every vehicle and android in the park seems to be armed with railguns and is shooting at them. Luckily, they are bad shots. The team calls for backup. Kira is checking out an unusual item in the records of the Separatist battle cruiser Phlegra. As she is downloading files in an office aboard the ship, a crewman tries to take her down. She disposes of the crewman and the security unit that responds to the alarm and then hides within the cruiser. But she is still trapped on the ship. Kira discusses the scen

Very fast paced with nice twists. I liked the characters, but I think some of them could have shown more depth like Quantum Connection/Warp Speed. I will absolutely pick up Doc Taylor's future novels as he has a wonderful talent for describing future tech that appears just around the corner and is understandable to a lay person. Great job!

Move over Star Trek and thank God, Someone can write Science fiction that is believable but is willing to blow things up! Thank the stars there is no Prime Directive in his books and if he puts one in I'll quit reading him. The Disney opener was a good twist but John Ringo used it as well in one of his books so I think there is some sharing going on but it still made for some good action. From there no let up. Great science brought out great action. Would love to see a Battle of Midway written into his next book that would be a great scenario but that is a personal preference. I love the end who would have thought? Read the book, and no other reviewer should give it away either!

If you are looking for heroes and technology, look no further. Hard-edged combat covering an entire battlefield. Heroic acts of sacrifice abound. Then the last chapter opens and spins everything 90 degrees. My only concern was a lack of character depth. There was no weakness on the 'good' side - no idiots, no cowards, no craven acts. The Separatists had more range, but even that was a single character acting selfishly. I will buy everything Doc writes.