Zulu Alpha
Zulu Alpha is the title of the second book in the 'Anderson' series which sees Lieutenant Commander Chris Anderson pitted against an enemy within, as well as the apartheid regime in South Africa, and a renegade French organisation. Never simple, the plot also involves a journey through Europe and the middle East. Once again, not only does Anderson appears to be at the mercy of the irascible Brigadier Liam Jamieson, but he has to tread a deft path between the conflicting interests that seek to envelop him, including the British, Israeli's, French and of course the Russians.
Zulu Alpha builds on the characters developed in CCCP and once again Anderson never knows who is an ally, and who is shooting to kill.
The historical background to the book is South Africa's desire to build viable nuclear weapons, the links to Israel in arms design and manufacture, and both country's desire for international recognition. Like CCCP, the book weaves documented historical facts into a gripping and taut narrative.
Zulu Alpha is of course the phonetic for 'ZA' the Afrikaaner initials for South Africa, but as well as that, it is a code that signifies that a warship is sealed against fallout in the event of a nuclear attack. (There is a more scurrilous meaning within the Royal Navy, but I shall ignore that!)
Within the plot of the book, "Zulu Alpha" is also the code name for the operation run by Kolonel Kees de Wit of the South African Defence Force to obtain sufficient enriched uranium to build a bomb, and create a powerful multinational alliance that will preserve the threatened status quo within his reviled country.
Featuring clandestine and shady organisations, the machinations of Brigadier Jamieson, the implied menace of 'Major' Yuri Kuznetsov and once again Anderson will be lucky to survive.