Book "The Last Refuge" by Ben Coes

About the Book: With time running out to stop the nuclear destruction of Tel Aviv, Dewey Andreas must defeat his most fearsome opponent yet. Off a quiet street in Brooklyn, New York, Israeli Special Forces commander Kohl Meir is captured by operatives of the Iranian secret service, who smuggle Meir back to Iran, where he is imprisoned, tortured, and prepared for a show trial. What they don't know is that Meir was in New York to recruit Dewey Andreas for a secret operation. Meir had been tipped off that Iran had finally succeeded in building their first nuclear weapon, one they were planning to use to attack Israel. His source was a high-level Iranian government official and his proof was a photo of the bomb itself. Dewey Andreas, a former Army Ranger and Delta, owes his life to Meir and his team of Israeli commandos. Now, to repay his debt, Dewey has to attempt the impossible ---to both rescue Meir from one of the world's most secure prisons and to find and eliminate Iran's nuclear bomb before it's deployed---all without the help or sanction of Israel or America (at the near certain risk of detection by Iran). Unfortunately, Dewey's first moves have caught the attention of Abu Paria, the brutal and brilliant head of VEVAK, the Iranian secret service. Now Dewey has to face off against, outwit, and outfight an opponent with equal cunning, skill, and determination, with the fate of millions hanging in the balance.

About the Author: Ben Coes worked at the White House under President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, serving as a White House-appointed speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of Energy at the height of the Gulf War. Ben ran Mitt Romney's successful run for Governor and was a Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. A graduate of Columbia College, where he won the Bennett Cerf Memorial Prize for Fiction during his senior year, Ben lives in the Boston area with his wife and four children. For more information, visit www.bencoes.com or www.facebook.com/bencoes.

My Review: This is one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time (at least since the Lion's Game (Nelson DeMille)). This is the first book I read from Mr. Ben Coes and I will look forward reading his "Coup d'Etat" and "Power Down" and future ones to come. The author was brilliant on creating the environment for his story. The plot is simple. An ex-Army Ranger and Delta, Dewey Andreas, owns his life to Kohl Meir, the grandson of Golda Meir, who is an Israeli Special Forces commander and saved Dewey in a high risk operation. Meir goes to New York to meet Dewey and before their meeting Meir is abducted by Iranian secret service and is conducted to a security prison in Iran. Meir wanted to meet Dewey to tell him about a nuke designed by the Iranians to destroy TelAviv. Dewey now has a mission to find the bomb and save Meir, with no help from Americans or Israelis. Abu Paria is the head of VEVAK, Iranian Secret Service and an Islam fanatic. He will try to stop Dewey.

This book was brilliantly written by Mr. Ben Coes and published by St. Martins Press in July 2012. I recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader who loves an excellent thriller. Very entertaining reading, it took me almost 13 hours to read the entire book.

The author was kind enough to provide me a book for reviewing through his Marketing Manager, Lizzie McQuillan. Thanks to both for the opportunity they gave me to review this wonderful book.

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