Stony Man · #69

Day of Decision

by Mike Linaker · February 2004

6.8 / 10 average from 4 rated reviews

A covert last line of defense for America. Stony Man is armed and ready in a dangerous era. In a new age of terrorists willing to unleash nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the Oval Office provides the unconditional green light to the Stony warriors to do whatever it takes to circumvent any attack on the U.S. Now Stony Man is facing the unimaginable.... Typhoon-class nuclear sub has been commandeered by terrorist dissidents. Halfway across the globe, members of the same group have hijacked an airliner and rerouted it to Somalia. Now the plane is heading toward its U.S. target -with a nuclear payload. While Stony Man's elite cyber team works feverishly to understand a blueprint for horror. Able Team and Phoenix Force strike out from Afghanistan to Siberia tracking the nightmare to its source.

Reviews (4)

Jonathan 5/10 August 7, 2021

Looks like I am going to be the odd guy out again and not like this one whereas the other reviewers enjoyed it. Let's start with the cover. A cartoon cockpit? Oh, come on! The Land Rover in the book is described as 'open top' yet the one here is roofed? And what the hell does a Range Rover and palm trees have to do with anything? Sloppy cover art by the publisher. The book bored me. Sorry to say it but it did. Took me three weeks to get throu. I kept putting it down and reading something else. The writing style was choppy, the short sentences distracting. The book also didn't know what it wanted to be. It starts as a spy thriller with McCarter skulking around London. Then turns to hostage rescue before thinking it is the Hunt for Red October. There it failed. We are expected to believe that only Stony Man would be concerned about a stolen Russian submarine. No mention of NATO or the Russians going on full alert. Nothing. Instead we wait around for Phoenix Force to traipse around Afghanistan. Hell, yeah. What rubbish. Then we have the travel situation. McCarter flies from London back to Stony Man to pick up PF, then they fly to Afghanistan, then to Oman, then to Somalia. Able get from NYC to Siberia to the Barents Sea, and all the while the chief villain, who is made out to be some charismatic guy, sits around with his thumb up his ass doing nothing. The book bored me. It was a trial to get throu it. I did, but it was a struggle. Give this one a miss. The fight on the ship with Able Team was pretty good, and they did go to Siberia, so there is that.

Mike_D 7/10 January 23, 2014

Despite being a Bolan fan for well over 10 years, I never took much interest in the Stony Man line. I had read 2 or 3 of the Able Team and Phoenix Force novels and maybe 1 Stony Man, but I never pursued it. I decided to finally delve into it and I'm glad I did. Day of Decision is a pretty strong novel. Very interesting cast of characters, a pretty good dual hijacking plot line. A very enjoyable read. Particularly liked the stuff in New York at the beginning of the novel with Able Team.

ice_cracked 8/10 January 10, 2009

Yep I enjoyed this one as well it is a nice read in the series. Both Teams get equal billing here once again by this author and it is balanced out beautifully where the two currently running sub plots involving them explode into some very good action scenes and then merge into the finish of the title which is also a buzz. Fine reading loved it.

Gunslinger 7/10 April 18, 2004

This was pretty much the norm for Linaker...good action, good story and good use of JUST Able and Phoenix. I liked the dual hijacking plotline, and Able spending most of the time out of the country for once. Lyons was his usual gruff, moody Ironman self. Phoenix in Afghanistan, having two members get briefly captured, then mount an escape was top notch. And the final battle to rescue the plane hostages, with Dragon Slayer made this an enjoyable book.