Osprey (A Miranda Chase Political Technothriller #13) by M.L. Buchman
What's It About?
Miranda Chase and her elite team of air crash investigators must avert a crisis like none before. A crisis that unravels her past, batters at her autism, and threatens to crush her team in the ultimate grinder of East vs. West.When an American CMV-22 Osprey tiltrotor and a Russian Antonov AN-74 “Cheburashka” transport plane fly into big trouble over the North Sea, it is up to Miranda Chase to help avert World War III in Osprey, the gripping thirteenth entry in M.L. Buchman’s popular series.
Taking a much-needed vacation, Miranda, along with her girlfriend, Andi Wu, and NTSB teammates Holly Harper and Mike Munroe are on a walking tour of The Herriot Way in North Yorkshire, England, when a crisis erupts over the distant, frigid waters of the North Sea. After a routine Russian resupply mission gets diverted to shadow an American Osprey, disaster strikes and the two aircraft plummet into the depths. But who is to blame for the incident?
The Russian Cheburashka pilot, Captain Natalia Ivanovna, turns out to be the daughter of the head of the Russian FSB intelligence service, and the threat of a major international incident rises exponentially. With only hours to act, both Russian and American government officials scramble to find answers and avert World War III. The top intelligence of both rival nations seeks the one person who can provide the answers they need: Miranda Chase, the preeminent specialist in military aircraft accidents.
Airplane Crashes, Nuclear Threats & Dead Parents
After the crisis ends the idyllic vacation for Miranda and her teammates, they are swept up into the taut environment of Menwith Hall, the National Security Agency’s secret military base in the United Kingdom. Miranda’s brilliant and autistic mind runs circles around her American and British counterparts as they try to decipher mountains of hair-splitting technical data projected onto Menwith’s massive control center screens. While Miranda decodes the most intricate aeronautical adjustments made by the Osprey and Cheburashka pilots, even down to who was in control of the aircraft and when, Holly, Mike and Andi are left to understand the human why of the event and its geopolitical ramifications (not a feature of Miranda’s superconductor brain).
As fans of the series know, Buchman never settles for one crisis when there could be multiple. Back in Washington, D.C., CIA director Clarissa Reese records another name in the Book of Honor and adds another star to the CIA Memorial Wall… mourning another loss, this time even more personal. But something in the Book catches her eye and leads her down an investigative trail that could shatter Miranda’s grip on reality. Did her parents really die in the TWA 800 crash on July 17, 1996? Buchman does not lose a beat when threading in yet another compulsive subplot with huge consequences for his characters. The result? Page-turning speed records.
Meanwhile, Major General Artemy Turgenev, commander of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, and his stunningly beautiful and sophisticated wife, Inessa, work together to head off the looming catastrophe the flyby gone-awry has engineered… and avert a nuclear war by the most unorthodox methods imaginable.
Rich Characters & Nonstop Action
The recurring characters and storylines from previous novels are a delight to fans but may miss the mark for new readers just jumping into this long-running series (pro tip: start with Drone and keep going!).
As Reese untangles the mystery of Miranda’s parents — and their connection to Russia — events take another dark turn at Menwith Hall. An unprecedented kidnapping pushes an NTSB teammate into a daring, almost ludicrous rescue attempt across the Russian border and a heart-stopping betrayal readers will not believe (or want to) is revealed.
The action is nonstop, the scenarios crazy fun (if sometimes over-the-top), and the wealth of strong, female protagonists (and antagonists) a refreshing change from the usual male-dominated fare. Buchman loves his characters, and it shows on the page; his realistic grasp of the dangerous nature of their jobs also means people will come… and yes, people will go.
One of his tightest plots yet with major emotional implications for Miranda, Osprey promises an evolution in the series while delivering top-notch techno thrills and chills legions of fans count on.
About M.L. Buchman:
Bestselling author M.L. Buchman started the first of over 70 novels and 100 short stories (along with an ever-growing pile of audiobooks narrated by the author) while flying from South Korea to ride across the Australian Outback. All part of an around-the-world bicycle trip (a mid-life crisis on wheels) that ultimately launched his writing career. His true loves are military romantic suspense and political technothrillers; with contemporary romance, fantasy, and SF all vying for third place. M.L. has designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of airplanes, and consulted for the Fortune 100. He is constantly amazed at what can be done with a degree in geophysics.
