Thriller Author Ian Kruger

Posts Tagged ‘Thriller Novel’

12 April 2010

US President Praises South Africa for Dismantling its Nuclear Weapons Program: But has it really been done?

As reported by News24.com on 12 April 2010, President Barack Obama commended South Africa on the 11th for voluntarily dismantling its nuclear weapons program when he convened with South African President Jacob Zuma on the eve of a key summit on nuclear terrorism in Washington. But how do we know that the South African nuclear weapons have really been dismantled? This is the question that South African Author Ian Kruger poses in his thriller novel Strike of the Black Mamba.

The novel opens with the ingenious theft of a shipment of nuclear material from a cargo ship destined for Japan’s nuclear power reactors off the Namibian coast by a mastermind criminal, Donald Morse. Morse is an American whose company used to supply the South African Government with arms during the apartheid years, in contravention of the UN arms embargo at the time. Morse was eventually apprehended and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. He later on escaped and fled to South Africa.

In the story, Morse knows that South African scientists developed really sophisticated nuclear weapons, and some of them stowed these weapons secretly away when the nuclear program was dismantled. Under the guise of a new Afrikaner right-wing movement, Morse proceeds to excavate the nuclear weapons and he has a chilling use for them which is only revealed at the climax of the novel.

Kruger mentions that the idea for the South African nuclear weapons came from a non-fiction book written by investigative journalists Peter Hounam and Steve McQuillan in 1995. The title of the book was The Mini-Nuke Conspiracy: Mandela’s Nuclear Nightmare and it proposed that apart from the six conventional atom bombs that the South Africans had built and showed to the world in 1993, they had secretly developed much more sophisticated nuclear weaponry, including mini nukes. They concluded that it is highly possible that these weapons of mass destruction might be secretly in the hands of right-wing elements in South Africa.

“The Mini-Nuke Conspiracy really set my creative juices flowing,” says Kruger, “and although my book, Strike of the Black Mamba, was first published in 2008, it is now even more relevant in lieu of three recent developments regarding South Africa. First is the praise given by the US President to South Africa regarding the dismantling of its nuclear weapons. Second is the recent racial tensions caused by Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League, stirring much trouble by singing the struggle song containing the words ’shoot the Boer or Farmer’, as well as the murder of right-wing extremist Eugene Terreblanche, leader of the AWB, on his farm last week. Third is the terror threats made by Al-Qaeda as reported in the media last week, when it said it might attack athletes at the Soccer World Cup Games in South Africa in June 2010.”

Kruger advises us to keep in mind that the plot of his thriller novel is only a piece of fiction. Or is it?

Strike of the Black Mamba can be found at most online retailers world-wide, such as Amazon, as well as Kalahari.net and Crink.co.za in South Africa. The book was published by CruGuru with the ISBNs 978-1-920265-13-7 and 978-1-920265-72-4. More information can be found on Ian Kruger’s website: www.iankruger.com.

Scary, spellbinding thriller

The plot is about investigative TV reporter Alex Callahan’s identical twin 6-year-old sons who go missing at a Renaissance fair. He soon learns that they have been kidnapped. However, there is no contact from the abductor(s) and soon the police’s investigation also slows down from lack of leads and evidence.

This is where Alex starts to take matters into his own hands and plays private investigator. His investigation leads him all over the US and he learns that magic and voodoo is involved. The more he learns about the abductor, the scarier it becomes and he knows that he has to find his sons as soon as possible, or they may depart this life in a terrifying way.

The novel’s pace slows down towards the middle of the story, but picks up towards the end. However, Alex’s quest to find his sons is still a captivating read.

My only quibble with this book is that some loose ends are left untied at the end, but maybe the author wants the reader to use his/her imagination and figure out how he/she wants it to work out.

Action all the way!

This thriller novel is full of non-stop violent action. By page 100, I was out of breath just from reading the book, and I don’t know how the characters kept up the pace without tiring. And that is the trend through all 689 pages of my copy of the book. That said, I know it is fiction and things can get a bit far-fetched sometimes, but it still makes for an enjoyable reading experience, since the pages just keep on turning automatically. One of my first thoughts before hitting page 100 was that this author might be writing with a movie in mind, so vividly were the action scenes described.

The premise of the story is that US Scientists at a remote Antarctic ice station find a strange and fascinating large metallic object buried deep under the ice for millions of years. This object seems to be of military value and a first-class team of US marines, led by the accomplished protagonist, Lt. Shane Schofield a.k.a. Scarecrow, is sent to Antarctica to secure the object. And this is where the action starts – other countries also show an intense interest in this object and everyone is literally prepared to fight to the death for it. There are also plenty of suspense and near-death escapes in this novel to satisfy any lover of action-packed thrillers.

However, I have a few problems with this book; one being the fact that NATO allies, such as the British, the French and the US fight tooth and nail over this object, without any plausible reason supplied why they would want to fight their allies. Another problem is that there was an incident where two guys jumped into the ocean, and after some fighting with the enemy in the water, they land up on a large iceberg drifting in the ocean – and this iceberg just happens to have something buried under the snow and ice that would help them further on in the story – a large coincidence. But then again, like I have mentioned earlier, this is fiction, and if it keeps the pages turning, who cares?

A while ago, I was approached by a South African film company regarding the film rights of my thriller novel Strike of the Black Mamba. They said it was only an enquiry, and so I did not put too much hope in it.

Seeing that they have not contacted me again, I’m sure that it’s not going to happen (this time).

Feeling that the book will make a great action-packed, suspenseful thriller movie (I’m the author, I should know –   -no I’m only joking – but a few people have actually mentioned this to me), I would like to appeal to all hollywood (or other) filmmakers, movie directors or scriptwriters to take a look at the novel.

Well, one can only but hope!

In a previous post I mentioned that I am doing some book reviews, especially of thriller novels that I have enjoyed. I decided to place these reviews also on my blog, so here is the first one:

Pleasantly surprised!

Having recently felt the urge to read thriller novels that would keep me awake all night, I tried a few novels by some authors I had not read before. Most of these books I did not even finish, since they bored me so much that I felt I would rather sit and watch the grass grow. I must add that they were real insomnia-busters (I’m not going to name them, though!).

Then I picked up Death Match. I have actually delayed reading the book, since the cover on the paperback version that I possess really did not look very inspiring. But, boy, was I surprised! Eventually I found a thriller novel that would fulfill the premise of keeping me awake all night. I have only read one work of Lincoln Child in conjunction with Douglas Preston, which I thoroughly liked, but since this one was a solo effort, I did not know what to expect.

Eden Incorporated is a company that has developed match-making software running on a supercomputer. Their software is able to find close matches for clients running through millions of criteria, and ensuring a very close match — and this is why clients are prepared to fork out thousands of dollars to allow Eden Inc. to find their perfect partner in life. They even have matched so-called “super couples” who are clients that have been matched one hundred percent by the software and who decided to get married.

It all seems very idyllic, until one super couple is found dead and it appears that they have mysteriously committed suicide. To make matters worse, it happens again, and again with other super couples.

The main character, Dr. Christopher Lash is a psychologist who specializes in marital relationships. He also has an understanding of criminal behavior, since he was previously employed by the FBI. Because of his unique background, Dr. Lash is brought in by the officials at Eden Inc. to aid in the investigation of the suicides of these super couples, because the news about the deaths is starting to get very bad for business.

Death Match ‘turned’ out to be quite a page-turner, and although it started off a bit on the slow side, the pace was quickly stepped up and became more frantic towards the end. The plot was well-crafted and the characters engaging.

I especially liked how Mr. Child developed the character of Dr. Christopher Lash, and how he brought in some ghosts of his past life in the FBI to start haunting him again in his investigation of the suicides of the so-called “super couples” of Eden Incorporated. I also found the female character, Tara, very interesting, and seeing that she played a very prominent part later on in the book, I would have liked to see her developed a bit further.

Having an IT background myself, I could relate to the computer hardware and software jargon in the book, but I think it should be easy for the reader with an average knowledge of the field to grasp. I did some research and found that Lincoln Child also has an IT background, and that is why he was able to write so easily about the subject. However, I must add that all the computer hardware explosions at the end was a bit over the top for me — it seemed as if Mr. Child tried to write for the view made popular by Hollywood regarding the special effects rendered by computer hardware put under severe stress.

All-in-all, I want to congratulate Lincoln Child on an excellent thriller, and providing me with a story that I found very hard to put down.

Some time last year I mentioned that I am working on a new thriller novel which of which the largest part will play out in Namibia (in the Namib desert, to be exact). I am going on a trip to Namibia very soon for a high school reunion, but I will have ample time to do some research for my book in the desert.

I’m looking very much forward to this trip, as I haven’t been there for a number of years!

“Strike of the Black Mamba” is available with free shipping from The Bookdepository. It is currently selling at $11.69 on their site. Please check out if they ship to your country before buying. They are shipping to about 90 countries free of charge, but unfortunately South Africa is not included in the list.

So, if you live in the US, Canada, the UK, nearly anywhere in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Andorra, Maldives, or wherever, and you have always wanted the book – now is your opportunity to go get it with free shipping!

It just seems they are not shipping to Africa, South America, Russia and Antartica … I wonder why?

Currently Tower.com is selling “Strike of the Black Mamba” at a discount (only $9.49). Please check their shipping rates first. You can find the book here: Tower Books.

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post the paperback version of my thriller novel “Strike of the Black Mamba” (ISBN: 9781920265137) is now available at most online book retailers. Here are some of the sites where you can find the book:

USA: Amazon.com
UK: Amazon.co.uk
Canada: Amazon.ca
Australia: Booktopia.com.au
South Africa: Kalahari.net

These are just a few examples — there are many well known online book retailers that sell my book. Just go and search for it in your favorite store!

The paperback version of my thriller novel “Strike of the Black Mamba” will now also be published by CruGuru (ISBN: 9781920265137) and be made available at most online book retailers. It has already appeared at many of these websites, but some of the book’s information still needs to be updated by the retailers.

I will let you know where else you can find the book when the information has finally been updated…