Juggernaut

by Baker, Adam

• ISBN13: 9781250017673
• ISBN10: 125001767X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-04-02
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Summary

A brilliant, gripping portrait of survival in the face of annihilation in the tradition of Jonathan Maberry and Guillermo Del Toro Iraq 2005. Seven mercenaries hear an enticing rumor: somewhere, abandoned in the swirling desert sands, lies a Republican Guard convoy containing millions of pounds of Saddam's gold. They form an unlikely crew of battle-scarred privateers, killers and thieves, veterans of a dozen war zones, each of them anxious to make one last score before their luck runs out. After liberating the sole suriving Guard member from US capture, the team makes their way to the ancient ruins where the convoy was last seen. Although all seems eerily quiet and deserted when they arrive, they soon find themselves caught in a desperate battle for their lives, confronted by greed, betrayal, and an army that won't stay dead. A heart-pounding, pacey read, Juggernautmarks Adam Baker's U.S. debut. The novel is loaded with great smart-ass banter, high stakes action, and realistic fight scenes.

Author Biography

ADAM BAKER has worked as a gravedigger, a mortuary attendant, a short order cook in a New York diner, and fixed slot machines in an Atlantic City casino. He was also a close neighbour of the notorious British serial killer Fred West.  He is currently employed as a cinema projectionist in England.

Table of Contents

Praise for JUGGERNAUT:

 “Juggernaut is a high-voltage shock to the system. It’s smart, witty, crammed with action and disturbingly plausible. Highly recommended.” –Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Assassin’s Code and Dead of Night

"Juggernaut by Adam Baker opens a new front in the War on Terror by combining authentic military detail with a smart take on zombie horror. He's created an inventive, exciting, and genuinely creepy thriller that never lets up, even on the last page." –Christopher Farnsworth, author of Red, White, and Blood

“[A] squad of mercenaries looking for Saddam's looted gold finds instead a bioweapon that turns healthy humans into psychotic undead monsters. The virus is apparently of extraterrestrial origin, and Baker depicts its gory, fantastical mutagenic effects with relish...and with clipped sentences and whipcrack paragraphs he maintains a relentless pace...JUGGERNAUT is hugely entertaining and as unstoppable as its namesake.” --Financial Times (London)

“There’s no denying the strength of Baker’s prose. It’s violent and blokey (characters communicate mainly in”fucks”), but also intelligent. The first 100 pages, especially, are rich with harrowing detail about the last days of Saddam’s regime…Juggernaut is a rewarding read.” --SFX magazine

“This is a no-nonsense, straight-forward thriller tale, admittedly with added zombies. The action scenes are thrillingly done, with enough bone-crunching, biting and beheading to satisfy most gore-fans. Adam manages to make this un-repetitive, which is impressive considering the limited number of living cast and the number of zombie encounters they have to endure. Its style is very straight-forward, though clearly knowledgeable, and its tale told in a very matter-of fact manner. Sentences are short, yet the action fast… In the end it’s basically Three Kings meets The Walking Dead, with enough intelligence and panache to make what could’ve been predictable a great page turner.” --SFFworld.com

“Adam Baker's style is very reminiscent of a combination of Matthew Reilly and James Patterson, and like both those authors, he uses it to tell a punchy story that keeps you engrossed from start to finish.” --Sci-fi Bulletin

“Great characters, an amazing level of detail, an insane yet wholly believable plot - Juggernaut is an excellent read, full of grotesque images and unexpected revelations.” --David Moody, author of the Autumn and Hater series

“It really made my long train journeys and travelling around the Christmas period fly by. I was utterly transported into Baker’s brain vision as soon as I opened the cover and loved every minute of it. I can do nothing but recommend his books and I can’t wait until Hollywood gets wise to the potential of his living dead franchise. It is crying out for a big budget tentpole movie treatment. And I would queue up to watch such a film over and over again. Just like OUTPOST, JUGGERNAUT is survival horror at its best. It’s definitely worth your time and money. Even though I received a free copy, I’ve re-read it three times and gone back to purchase and re-read OUTPOST again. I get more out of each reading.” --Eibonfilms Blog

“It helps that the setting as described by Baker is recognizably the world that we live in today – it is science fiction and horror only in terms of the concepts and underlying plot rather than the characters, dialogue and background, which all feel frighteningly real. You get the sense that the horrors that Baker is describing really could happen – and perhaps are happening – somewhere in the world. Baker utilizes the classic elements of a dozen horror and science fiction films but does so in his own highly original way. For this reason I suspect that Juggernaut will appeal to die-hard horror fans without alienating those who are more unfamiliar with the genre.” --AnilBalan.com

“Baker does a superb job of drawing you into those moments of quiet and then, when it’s far too late, showing you that it’s not so quiet after all…” --Graeme’s Fantasy Book reviews

‘In summary, the book’s about machine guns and gore, shotgun shells and sand, mercenaries and mystery. The plot’s good and unfolds well, and kicks up enough surprises to keep you wanting just one more chapter. A parting shot – it’s begging to be made into a Hollywood blockbuster.” --First Choice Blog

“Juggernaut…has made me want to read more of Baker and I will probably buy Outpost sometime soon. That’s always a good thing, when you enjoy an author’s work so much that you want to get the next or previous novel in the series.The tone is pretty much serious throughout the entire novel, there are no z-word jokes, etc, no character that’s thrown in there for comic relief, but this novel doesn’t really need any as Baker manages to pull off a fantastic read and, with one book, is quickly becoming my ‘go-to’ author for zombie horror.” --Founding Fields blog"A lock and load adventure of the highest calibre. A tense, absorbing journey and a high speed collision of military action and apocalyptic horror. Blackhawk Down meets Day of the Dead." --Adam Nevill, author of Apartment 16, The Ritual

"A tested-to-the-limits military thriller with believable action, the right kind of fetid atmosphere and slick, broad characterisation. The humour is mordant. Baker, a former gravedigger and film projectionist, eschews generic comic relief and the prose is sparse, concrete and factual." --Weekend Australian