he Bottom Line: A worthy sequel to Operation Storm’s Eye, Operation Cavolo is filled with sizzling combat scenes, an intriguing cast of characters and wisecracking dialogue.
In E.S. Benton’s sequel to Operation Storm’s Eye, Alpha Team receives a taunting letter from Captain Frederick “Kale” Bridge, who takes responsibility for poisoning food supplies. However, he assures them of the existence of an antidote. The catch? They have just 84 hours to find it before the first person dies.
But what will the cost of finding the cure be? Nearly from the start, Alpha Team members are locked in scene-after-scene of heavy combat. Between ambushing guards despite being severely outnumbered, parachuting from one building to another, or engaging in hand-to-hand fighting, the action has a video game feel that will hold special appeal to fans of first-person shooter games like Call of Duty. That sense is heightened by Benton’s frequent use of time shifting, as he regularly moves the narrative forwards and backwards by mere minutes or years, even within a single chapter.
Fueled by a relatively straightforward mission, the book is a showcase for Benton’s gift for writing action scenes. Leveraging a cast of characters that ranges from Alpha Team regulars to a deadly warrior who insists on being called “Miss Cadlow,” Benton significantly expands his armory in this second series installment. Among the numerous weapons of war depicted beyond the usual military firearms are surface-to-air missiles, helicopters, EMP grenades, dynamite, remote detonators and Cadlow’s katana blade.
While Kale is an increasingly intriguing character, so too is VOICE (“Very Overly Intelligent Computer Expert”), who returns for a second round of quippy situational intelligence, such as when he hilariously advises the team that a certain area has a “no guns” policy. Meanwhile, a compelling subplot is driven by Ying Yue, a woman who first started working on the same floor as Daniel 12 years prior. But despite Yue being cleared of wrongdoing, Daniel still believes Yue may have been the spy responsible for the breach that he believes killed his parents. All is not as it seems, and the war of misinformation between Kale, Yue and Alpha Team only gets more intriguing as the book develops.
Aided by ongoing development of the story’s arch villain, Benton reveals just enough information to entertain and satisfy, while giving himself room to write a potential spinoff. Here’s hoping.
