CRAIG DANIELS — Carver Construction supply manager
BETH WALTERS — Carver Construction secretary
BONNI SHUFF — CBS local TV reporter
ED LIPSKA — CBS local TV cameraman
NICOLE FLEMING — CBS national reporter
NORAH ALLER — general surgeon
ALEX WARREN — oral and maxillofacial surgeon
LONNIE MIXELL — former Navy SEAL (aliases: Mitch Larson / George Banks / John Fonda)
VANCE VERBECK — technical director, U.S. Navy Artic Submarine Laboratory
DAN SNYDER — former CEO, Snyder Industries
BOB, RAY, AND TIM SNYDER — Brenda Verbeck & Dan Snyder’s brothers
KEN SINGLETON — FBI agent
ALEX MARTIN — Virginia state trooper
FRED ROGERS — Capitol Talent Agency customer agent
ROBERT KEESHAN — Mixell’s body double
DAVE GORDON — Gordon’s Wholesale owner
BRENDA VERBECK — CEO, Snyder Industries / former secretary of the Navy
ANGIE HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s wife (deceased)
NADIA HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s mother
MADELINE (MADDY) HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s daughter
JESSICA DEL RIO — National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) supervisor
ASHLEY TOBIN — Secret Service agent
ALI ROSENBERG — paramedic
CHERYL PAYNE — Woodmore, Maryland, property owner
JOAN MCDONNELL–Christine O’Connor’s best friend
RUSSIAN CHARACTERS
DMITRY EGOROV — president
ANDREI GRIGORENKO — defense minister
MARAT TRUTNEV — foreign minister
ANTON KRAVTSOV — chief of staff
JOSEF HIPPCHENKO — director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
DANIL MOROZOV — ambassador to Iran
MAKSIM SIDOROV (Captain Second Rank) — Commanding Officer
LEV IVANOV (Captain Third Rank) — First Officer
ARTYOM YEGOROV (Captain Lieutenant) — Central Command Post Watch Officer
GAVRIIL NOVIKOV (Captain Second Rank) — Commanding Officer
ANTON TOPOLSKI (Captain Third Rank) — First Officer
PETR DOLINSKI (Captain Lieutenant) — Central Command Post Watch Officer
NIKOLAI VOLKOV (General) — Chief of the General Staff
PAVEL KLOKOV (Admiral) — Commander, Pacific Fleet
ALEXEI SOKOLOV (Major General) — Commander, 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division
IRANIAN CHARACTERS
BEHZAD AHMADI (Commander) — Commanding Officer
KOORUSH SHIRVANI–Iranian minister of foreign affairs
BEHROUZ KHAVARI — Natanz Replacement Centrifuge Assembly Center supervisor
SAEED MASUD — Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant director
AMER SARSOUR — Natanz security guard
KARIM RASHIDI–CIA field officer
NATO CHARACTERS
JOHAN VAN DER BIE — secretary general
SUSAN GATEs — British prime minister
LIDWINA KLEIN — German chancellor
FRANÇOIS LOUBET — French president
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I hope you enjoyed Vengeance!
As I mentioned in a previous author’s note, I hadn’t planned to write a military thriller series. The Trident Deception was a bucket list project for me, but when St. Martin’s Press expressed interest in the book, the first question they asked was whether I was writing a sequel. My literary agent explained what the correct answer was, which I provided, and I was offered a two-book contract with the plan for additional books if the first two were well received.
However, the character set in The Trident Deception was designed to tell a specific story, and wasn’t well suited for a military thriller series, so I introduced Jake Harrison in Book 2 (Empire Rising) and gave him a backstory involving Christine. By Book 4 (Blackmail), it had become clear that Christine was the favorite character by far (followed by Wilson), which surprised me. Even more surprising was the question I received the most from readers: When were Christine and Harrison going to get together?
The answer at that point in time was — never, because Harrison was married and not the type of character to have an affair or leave his wife for another woman. But it was also never, because I hadn’t really thought about it. The characters were designed to move the various plots along, and I hadn’t considered a plotline involving the characters themselves — I write military thrillers, not chick lit.
Blackmail was the middle book of a three-book Russian-aggression trilogy, and as I mapped out the next few books, three things became clear. First, I had exhausted all reasonably plausible ways that Christine could get into trouble, and that needed to be addressed. Second, I needed a new adversary after three books involving Russian shenanigans, and I also decided to answer that oft-answered question about Christine and Harrison’s relationship — would they get together, and if so, how?
Books 6, 7, and 8 were designed to address all three issues, moving Christine to the CIA, where she would have less opportunity to get entangled in dangerous situations, and introducing Mixell, who would serve both as the tie-in to the main plots in the trilogy while also serving as the catalyst to resolving the Christine-Harrison question. It was a challenge to add a character-driven element to what is unarguably a plot-driven series, but I hope you enjoyed the Harrison-Mixell-Christine storyline in the last three books.
I also have to give a shout-out to Khalila, who turned out to be a very well-received character, to the point that my editor floated the idea of a new series centered around her. But by that time, I had already fleshed out my next series — see the next paragraph.
Finally, to all of you: Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll check out my new military science fiction novels set a thousand years in the future. The genre is technically sci-fi, but I like to think of the books as military thrillers in a sci-fi skin, something I think many of you would enjoy. I hope you’ll join me in the Nexus House / Colonial Fleet series!
ALSO BY RICK CAMPBELL
The Trident Deception
Empire Rising
Ice Station Nautilus
Blackmail
Treason
Deep Strike
The Bin Laden Plot
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Campbell is a retired Navy Commander who spent more than twenty years on multiple submarine tours. On his last tour, he was one of the two men whose permission was required to launch the submarine’s nuclear warhead — tipped missiles. Campbell is the author of several novels, including The Trident Deception and Deep Strike. He lives with his family in the greater Washington, D.C., area. You can sign up for email updates here.