I am always grateful when a new Scot Harvath novel is released. I sleep a little easier knowing there are people like him doing whatever it takes to defend our freedom. In RISING TIGER, the latest installment in Brad Thor’s outstanding series, Harvath shares equal billing with one of America’s allies, India, as much of the book is devoted to their anti-terrorist efforts.

The action opens in the Galwan Valley of the western Himalayas. It is a barbaric, mostly hand-to-hand battle done medieval style that lasts nearly six hours. The Chinese soldiers who have perpetrated this surprise attack are eventually defeated by the Indian band known as the Snow Warriors, one of the most decorated regiments in all of India. However, it comes at a cost as 20 members lose their lives defending their territory from China.

"RISING TIGER is an intense, eye-opening thriller that is head and shoulders above anything else like it on the market. Scot Harvath is the closest thing we have to Captain America!"

Knowing they have been beaten, China activates an energy device against India. This heats up the water molecules beneath the skin of the Indian warriors, causing them excruciating pain while the remaining Chinese flee. India has stood strong this time but knows that China will stop at nothing to destroy them. Will they be prepared?

Four months later in India, American diplomat and professional spy Eli Ritter is celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. As he heads to his hotel after a night of enjoyment, an assassin puts a suppressed pistol to his ear and takes his life. We then jump to Kabul, where Harvath and his team are on a mission in this failed state to extract a high-value Afghani asset by the name of Topaz. The Taliban and other groups like them had taken root like weeds inside Afghanistan, which necessitated Harvath’s presence.

China and Colonel Yang Xin are the primary enemies of focus in RISING TIGER. Yang’s division is Yaomo, which is Chinese for “demon,” and the attack on India in the Galwan Valley was his operation. A full blast of the directed-energy weapon was a product of his team’s partnership with the Science and Technology Commission in China.

Harvath is brought up to speed on the Chinese military strategy known as the String of Pearls, a maritime extension of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, but much more dangerous. He then finds out that Ritter was in Jaipur covertly negotiating an Asian version of NATO. The plan was to bring the United States, Australia, India and Japan together to counter the growing threat from China. Meanwhile, back in Northern Virginia, Harvath’s vital team member, the diminutive Nicholas, suffers what is later found out to be serous poisoning, which also has affected his wife and two dogs.

Asha, a top Indian operative, has struck out on her own to find out who killed Ritter and prevent war between China and India. She is shrewd, well-armed and certainly someone we would want as an ally. Using an assumed name, Harvath has teamed up with Vijay Chabra, an ex-Indian cop who knows all the players, as well as the ins and outs of Jaipur. These two missions meet at a particular point when they each land on the same suspect they target.

No one has their finger on the pulse of the world’s political spectrum quite like Brad Thor, and there is nothing like one of his novels to exemplify that. RISING TIGER is an intense, eye-opening thriller that is head and shoulders above anything else like it on the market. Scot Harvath is the closest thing we have to Captain America!