Dragon Strike Book

The deafening roar of Chinese Air Force SU-27 Flankers shreds the tranquility of the gathering dawn. Within minutes burning phosphorus, shrapnel, and delayed action mines have ripped apart the main naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. Operation Dragonstrike has begun.

By the end of the 20th century, China had grown from one of the most impoverished, technologically-destitute nations of the world, to a regional superpower with global ambitions--ambitions that some in the Chinese government will stop at nothing to achieve.

When a desperate China, weakened by the economic turmoil in Asia, seizes the oil-rich South China Sea, it ignites a furious conflict with Vietnamese and Taiwanese forces. As U.S. and British task forces arrive to impose order, the Chinese strike first, sinking U.S. warships and killing hundreds. Suddenly, Americans finds themselves fighting a desperate battle on, above, and beneath the ocean: F-14's rocket through missile-choked skies, naval officers frantically try to outmaneuver the Chinese Navy, and SEAL teams fight a brutal action against elite Chinese Marine commandos. Diplomacy proves useless as the conflagration in the South China Sea threatens to engulf the entire world.

Four days later, American satellites detect Chinese nuclear missiles being prepared for launch.

From its riveting description of a tense submarine duel beneath the surface to its compelling portraits of men under fire, Dragon Strike offers a gripping portrayal of the fury of modern warfare. A military thriller in the tradition of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, Dragon Strike grabs hold and doesn't let up until the final page. Simon Holberton has completed two tours of Asia as ajournalist. Most recently he was Hong Kong Bureau Chief for the Financial Times.

"Ominous and insightful, Dragon Strike is a thinking man's thriller that will glue you to your chair." --Stephen Coonts, bestselling author of Fortunes of War and Cuba

"Humphrey Hawksley is one of only a handful of writers taking the thriller in important new directions." --Craig Thomas, bestselling author of Firefox

"Dragon Strike is a cracking read by two fine journalists who know what they are talking about. Realistic and gripping, it goes to the heart of some of the most worrying issues with which the world will be grappling in the Millennium." --Chris Patten, last Governor of Hong Kong

"Hawksley and Holberton...jam their book with enough technological detail to satisfy even the most compulsive player of fantasy warfare." --Time

"Ingenious...bounces along, with plenty of knowledge of weaponry and tactical strengths." --The Economist

"Graphic and...realistic." --The Financial Times

"An ingenious thriller...chilling." --The Daily Telegraph