Böcker av William Hallstead

He took another step toward me. And grinned. "I should have got St. John to say a prayer for you." Then he burst into laughter. "Jesus, Durkin, you're about to die and you're standing here in rubber gloves holding-what in hell are those?" "Poison-dart frogs. That's why the gloves, Ted." And his disgusted grimace gave me a flicker of hope. "Remember? I told you their sweat can kill. And these little bastards are damned nervous." * * * Emmett Durkin, chief of the Philadelphia-based Rebner Foundation's Research Station Four, stands on the 20-foot-high embankment overlooking the Amazon's Trombetas River. He accepted a science posting in South America thinking he and his new wife, Felicia, would enjoy a two-year period of "unhurried scientific study" cataloging marine specimens for the Foundation. For the first few months, all was as expected. Then, Theodore Rebner, screw-up nephew of the Foundation's chairman, Oliver Rebner, showed up somewhat unexpectedly. The questions were why was Theodore in the humid climes of the Amazon? What was his purpose with Station Four? What follows is a contentious period of conflict between Durkin and Rebner that soon spills over into the lives of the others at Station Four. Bill Hallstead has crafted a novel of intrigue, action, passions, and more. The characters of River of Madness are well developed and the descriptions of the river and action by Hallstead quickly allows readers into the story as if they were at the Amazon with Emmett, Felicia, and Ted.

Germany's use of the great Zeppelins in World War I marked the very fi rst time aerial strategic bombing took place in the world. It was a terrible way to wage war. For the British, it was horrible on the ground underneath the behemoths dropping their bombs. For the Germans flying the great airships, survival became a daily question. Using this historical time as a backdrop, William Hallstead penned a novel of action, adventure, intrigue, love, and espionage. Konteradmiral Erwin Gunther Kottenhoff is a traditional navy man. He loved the old navy, the battleship navy, his former life on steel decks challenging the restless sea. He detested the way the new airship program deleted national funds he believed should be used in maintaining Germany's first line of defense - the ships he had spent most of his life sailing. In an effort to gather more information on the new Naval Airship Division, he enlists the aid of his secretary, the daughter of a dear friend, and a newly commissioned naval officer. The two, Alexia Tammler and Peter Reinhart, agree to spy on the new department for Admiral Kottenhoff. In the course of their clandestine meetings, the two find themselves in love. Through the course of the First World War, they live each day as it comes to them. Will they survive the war? Will they be caught by the authorities spying for the aging admiral? Will Germany win the war? And regardless of the victor, what will life offer beyond the war? William Hallstead crafted a wonderful story of the airship war against the flavor of the era. In reading this well-researched novel, readers will quickly find themselves knowledgeable about much of the history of the beginning and end of the German airships.