- Genre:fiction
- Sub-genre:Historical / General
- Language:English
- Pages:384
- Paperback ISBN:9781667898230
Book details
Overview
This book cannot be tidily pigeonholed into a single genre. In part, it's a military thriller based on a 1965 nuclear incident at Aviano Air Base that wasn't publicly reported. In part, it's the biography of Dan Cassino, a military officer who joined the nation's nuclear weapons program from its earliest days and played a central role in the 1965 incident. In part, it's a history of the Air Force nuclear weapons program through 1965. Finally, it contains an alternative history—envisioning the world that might have been if the Aviano incident had gone horribly wrong.
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In November 1965, a young, alert pilot inadvertently activates a nuclear weapon. The weapon is mounted on his jet just off the tarmac of the flight line at Aviano Air Base, Italy. The next twenty-four hours pit Lieutenant Colonel Dan Cassino and his team of specialists against a powerful adversary: a bomb that can kill and injure thousands, devastate the northern Italian countryside, and possibly destroy the NATO alliance. A NEST (Nuclear Emergency Support Team) from New Mexico is on its way to help, but their journey will take hours the bomb may not allow.
Cassino's personal history as an Army Air Corps navigator in World War II and an Air Force nuclear warrior in the Cold War led him to this fateful November weekend. Two timelines play out: one where the bomb is disarmed, and one where it isn't. This novel is based on the true story of the 1965 Aviano Air Base incident.
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