The ninth book in the Russian Agents series, China Conquers Polynesia, has just been published! Please check it out, and let me know what you think.
https://amzn.to/4aH9Yj5

France Under Attack, the first book in the new French Agents series, has just been published by Amazon. It is available in every format including ebook, audiobook, paperback and hardcover.

Could one or two of the Russian Agents make an appearance? Well…yes!

Thanks as always for the kind words of support from so many of you. It’s what keeps a writer like me going!

Here’s the link to the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6S7F7RK

The next book in the Russian Agents series is now available in Kindle, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

The Indo-Pakistani War is set after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when China and India are left as the only two major countries Russia can still count as friends.

After a break in their last two missions, the Russian Agents are back to chasing stolen nuclear weapons. For the first time, though, failure could lead to war between two countries with nuclear weapons: India and Pakistan.

And once a nuclear Indo-Pakistani War begins, will Russia and China be able to stay on the sidelines? If not, can World War III be far behind?

In the March 3, 2022 edition of The Statesman an article headlined ”How Vulnerable Is Taiwan?” uses China Invades Taiwan as the starting point for a broader discussion, including the current conflict in Ukraine. The full article is available at this link.

First, I’d like to sincerely thank the over seven hundred readers who preordered China Invades Taiwan. I did my best to repay that faith by publishing the Kindle version over a month in advance of the promised Christmas Eve date. Much of the credit goes to my intrepid editor, who worked long hours to make this early delivery possible.

The paperback and hardcover editions are now available as well, with the audiobook to follow early in the New Year.

I look forward to hearing from all of you once you’ve had a chance to read the book! As always, please send all questions or comments through this blog, and I will do my best to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Merry Christmas!

The complete Publishers Weekly review of The Second Chinese Revolution follows:

In this overly long but intriguing action thriller from Halstead (The End of Russia’s War in Ukraine), pro-democracy advocate Chen Li Na, a brilliant computer hacker, uses a special device, which connects to internet satellites that service countries bordering China, in her work instigating attacks on the Chinese government.

To destroy these satellites, which have been launched by an American company run by Eli Wade, the Chinese leaders have several options: sabotaging the delivery rockets before they can take off, shooting them down as they fly into space, downing them once they’re in orbit, and, if all else fails, assassinating Wade.

Russian agents are employed to do the dirty work, so the Chinese have deniability; in return, China promises to buy all their oil and gas from Russia. Readers should be prepared for characters and plot points that appear and disappear amid massive amounts of historical and technical information.

Halstead does a good job pulling all the threads together, however, and those who persevere will turn the last page satisfied if exhausted. The open ending promises more to come.

In my first book, The Second Korean War, an anti-aircraft missile is fired from an American Virginia class submarine. Is that really possible?

Here’s information on this topic posted on thedrive.com in 2017:

“Tests during the mid 2000s had the AIM-9X fired from a vertical launcher as a proof of concept demonstration. A few years later, an AIM-9X was launched from an actual submarine as part of a series of integration tests. Since then the program seems to have disappeared from public view, but it’s likely development has continued on in the classified world—especially considering that submarine-launched unmanned aircraft have been an operational reality within America’s nuclear submarine fleet for some time.”

It appears the answer is -yes, it is possible. Has this capability actually been deployed?

I doubt we will find out until an American submarine comes under air attack.

Here’s the complete Publishers Weekly review of my latest book, The End of Russia’s War in Ukraine:

Halstead’s impressive fourth Russian Agents thriller (after The End of America’s War in Afghanistan) avoids the shopworn conventions of the genre.

In 1994, Russian Senior Sgt. Pofistal Arbakov, while dismantling an SS-24 nuclear missile in Ukraine, removes two of its 10 warheads, replaces them with dummies, and hides the real ones in a storage locker.

Flash forward to the near future. Anatoly Grishkov, Mikhail Vasilyev, and Mikhail’s wife, Neda Rhahbar—all Russian FSB agents—are tasked with finding the missing warheads. Though Americans are involved, the three FSB agents take center stage.

Halstead, a retired Foreign Service officer, keeps their actions and motivations believable while delivering insights into the present conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Fans of character-driven spy novels will be rewarded.

I am very pleased to announce that all four books in the Russian Agents series are now available in hardcover!
I would also like to thank my readers for their support and overwhelmingly positive response to the series.

I am writing the next book in the series now, and will have more to share about it soon.

Happy New Year!

In response to many reader requests, I’m pleased to announce publication of The Russian Agents Box Set. It includes The Second Korean War (2018), The Saudi-Iranian War (2019), The End of America’s War in Afghanistan (2020), and The End of Russia’s War in Ukraine (2020), and is available at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LB3YQ8W
The price is currently discounted by over half off the price of buying each book individually.
In particular, I’m glad this will make it easier for those who have enjoyed the books to give them to family and friends.