An Alternate History BLAST!
5 out of 5 stars
I usually have a hard time when a synopsis of a book compares it to other things that I love. But, in the case where that description is dead on… the book is excellent. Just like Operation Brushfire was. I thought “how on earth could Bruno and Wolanyk make a story that combines Man in the High Castle and Blade Runner?” But by god they did it, but they nailed it.
Operation Brushfire threw me right into the action. I wasn’t sure which side was up. I knew who a few characters were and I definitely knew that someone wasn’t okay. The “truth-junkie” Henry was fun to follow, especially as he starts to question things. But even though we meet her in the intro for a few fleeting moments, Anastasia was such a character that I completely understood why Henry was doing the things he was doing.
Operation Brushfire was one of those books I thought would let off the gas a bit as the story finally took hold, but I was wrong. Bruno and Wolanyk jammed the accelerator into the floor and never let up. They kept throwing new things at Henry and I kept thinking “there’s no way he’s getting out of this” –but he would. A few times I was pretty sure I had either the scene or the ending guessed and I was wrong.
I kept hovering between a 4.5 and a 5 just because of the different twists and turns. The ending was not what I expected and I thought for sure if it ended in a way I wasn’t expecting I would give it a 4.5 – but Bruno and Wolanyk surprised me so well that I have to give them the 0.5 stars back. They earned it.
Now, I feel like I can’t say much about Lou Diamond Phillips that hasn’t already been said – but good god is he a great narrator. He absolutely took this already 5-star book to another level and really made it shine. His narration was perfect for this story and I couldn’t have asked for a better narrator.
Book Description:
He’ll do anything for the truth. They’ll do anything to bury it.
Henry Stasik, an Internal Affairs agent for the globe-spanning Coalition, is no stranger to crooked agents or scandals. He’s a truth-junkie. An addict. But when international celebrity Anastasia Danicheva specifically demands his presence at a police station, everything changes. The Coalition, which has brought peace through uniting the world under a single banner, wants her dead. But none of their case against her adds up.
Stasik can’t help but need to know why.
Hours after taking her under his department’s protection, a cybernetically enhanced hitman nips at Stasik’s heels. Witnesses disappear or turn up in pools of blood. And lurking above it all, guarded by a genocidal AI construct, is a secret that threatens to dismantle a perfect world – and Stasik himself.
Man in the High Castle meets Blade Runner with a dash of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in this breakneck science-fiction spy thriller set in a drug-fueled alternate history from the number-one Audible best-selling author of Titanborn, Rhett C. Bruno, and James Wolanyk.
Operation Brushfire by Rhett C. Bruno, James Wolanyk
Narrator: Lou Diamond Phillips
Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
Published by Podium Audio on September 21st 2021
Genres: Science Fiction
Format: Audiobook
Buy from Audible
Also by this author: Titanborn, The Collector, The Luna Missile Crisis, Baron Steele
