WWIII Book Review: World War 1990: The Final Storm

This post presented the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. The ‘Squishy Problem’ writeup was to be concluded and a brief book review tossed in as a bonus. However, a friend has posted an article in response to the ‘Squishy Problem’ this morning, and I want to take the time to respond to it in Part II over the weekend. I will post a link to the article with Part I as well. Now, the book review dovetails nicely with the problem facing WWIII fiction writers that was discussed in Part I of the ‘Squishy Problem’. This review also presents me with the opportunity to give some final thoughts on a writer I’ve reviewed in the past.

The book up at bat today is the latest entry in the World War 1990 series by William Stroock. The title of this book is The Final Storm. I had assumed it would be the conclusion of the series but apparently, he’s working on an new World War 1990 book at present. Final Storm takes readers to the last days of the war Stroock created and set in 1990. The war has gone increasingly bad for the Soviet Union, to the point where the Politburo’s only remaining option for continuing the war rests with nuclear weapons.  The Soviet Union is also crumbling by this point in the timeline and a civil war is simmering between the hardliner Politburo on one side and Mikhail Gorbachev and a number of his remaining allies on the other. Anyhow, the Politburo decides to launch a nuclear attack on the United States in ninety-six hours and preparations get underway. Simultaneously, NATO learns of this and President Bush opts to launch a preemptive counterforce nuclear strike at the Soviets. Colin Powell, then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is concerned with the prospect of nuclear war and comes up with a conventional plan for neutralizing Soviet ICBMs using airpower. Only it will not be just US warplanes in the attack but squadrons belonging to a coalition of US allies, NATO and otherwise. Australia, Japan and other allies contribute to the airstrikes after Powell receives permission from President Bush.  Predictably, the attacks fail to destroy many Soviet missile silos, which are hardened sites. As the Politburo moves closer to unleashing its nuclear weapons on Europe and the US, Margaret Thatcher orders SAS to undertake a dangerous mission to the Kremlin and stop the Politburo once and for all. The results are predictable: The Politburo is killed, a ceasefire is established, and Sergei Akhromeyev, a familiar face from the World War III 1987 blog, is the new head of the Soviet government.

As far as the writing style, research and plot flow go, The Final Storm is typical Stroock. The few promising signs of improvement I’d seen in World War 1990: The Weser were nowhere to be found, sadly enough. Dialogue and combat scenes were also made up of the same templates, almost, from the previous books of the series. Alright, so Stroock never flew warplanes, drove a tank or was the captain of a warship. Many authors weren’t either, but they get by on writing skill and effective research.  Characters, both fiction and real world historical are mostly flavorless cardboard. Personalities are flat and as mentioned above, the dialogue in most scenes turned out to be a hindrance instead of a help.

I was not disappointed or surprised by the quality of The Final Storm. It was what it was. Probably the biggest eyeopener for me came in Strook’s acknowledgements at the end. Specifically, this statement:  ‘For a decade now several editors, researchers, advisors and beta readers have greatly improved the World War 1990 series.’  Then he goes on to list many of the editors and other ‘staff’ members who have contributed to the books. I’d advise any editors Strook has worked with not to put it on their CVs. For as many people who were part of his team on this book, it still comes across like an unedited second draft. As for the fact that Stroock has needed to use multiple editors on his work over the years, that can be explained by the fact that his publisher has been a self-publishing service now owned exclusively by Amazon. So, the publishing house does not provide an editor and other services to an author. Or an advance, sad to say. All of that comes out of the author’s wallet. But give the guy credit. He keeps churning out these books and has become at least semi-well known across Kindle Unlimited.

Kindle Unlimited is the reason why I’m no longer disappointed in Stroock’s works. The service is a vast tundra of novels from a variety of genres. The majority of titles come from mediocre or unknown authors looking for their big break or simply to gain a following before the next phase of their careers. Kindle Unlimited is the literary version of  walking into a high-end butcher store on the final day before it goes out of business. You could luck out and discover an excellent Wagyu New York strip steak. But more likely the best you’ll find is a bucket filled with Bar-S hot dogs 😊 But there are quite a few military-thriller authors on Kindle Unlimited who put out quality books. TK Blackwood and Alex Aaronson are two. In fact, I will include a couple of their works in the ‘Squishy Problem’ Part II list coming out this weekend.

As for The Final Storm and William Stroock, not the worst book ever, but still lightyears away from the major leagues. Two mushroom clouds out of five.

Note- My colleague’s decision to publish his article earlier today has brought on the schedule changes. Part II of the Central Front Bavaria on Friday and then by Sunday night the conclusion of the ‘Squishy Problem.’