THE CHIANG IMPERATIVE quickly hooks you in with its story of history, intrigue, military warfare, and technical details. It keeps you on the edge of your seat!

It begins with one of my favorite historical figures – Ghengis Khan. Upon his death in 1227, closely following directions, his favorite son moves 30,000 tons of gold to the location his father dictated. Then in 1936 Chiang Kai-shek has the gold moved and buried. He ensures that no soldier saw enough of the gold to ascertain the massive amount being kept out of the hands of the Communist Party. Chiang then gathers his three most trusted generals and reveals a portion of the map to each man, requiring each to pass on the information to their sons upon their deaths. To find the gold would require the three pieces of the map be brought together. However, one of these generals passed on the information to his adopted son, a young American intelligence officer named Benjamin Brandon.
Now in present day 1990 the Russians and Americans are in a race to find the legendary Chiang gold. The central characters here are CIA agent Andrew Pitman and his wife Alexis who just happens to be a Soviet spy. I loved Alexis! One sharp cookie, she has an amazing analytical brain!

Having a technical background myself, I loved the technical details in the book – mostly involving military details. Reminded me of James Michener’s SPACE and Michael Crichton’s AIRFRAME. This was the perfect mix of thriller and technical detail I have seldom found.

I had difficulty for a while keeping track of all the characters. It probably would have helped if there were a character list in the front of the book. But since I had an ebook it wouldn’t have helped. Great for print books.

Of course I had to check out the credentials of the author – how did he know all this? Well, he is a Naval Academy graduate, test pilot for jets and helicopters, and a former accident investigator for airliners and spacecraft (Challenger). ( )