For his birthday present, the maniac supreme leader of North Korea launches a nuclear attack aimed at Los Angeles. He sends a team of soldiers to commandeer a civilian container vessel in a scheme to get the ship close enough to the U.S. west coast to fire a Soviet cruise-type missile with a nuclear warhead. American intelligence uncovers the plot, and locates an Ex-North Korean general recently granted political asylum and living in Harlan County, Kentucky to undertake the very dangerous mission that attempts to stop the attack. Simultaneously, the North Korean leader sends an assassin to kill a team of six soldiers that previously had failed in another of his missions. This action thriller incorporates many mountain characters and stories mixed with good doses of humor. Several of the same characters that appeared in the author's previous five book Anchor Cross Series are featured, including Preacher Puss, the feline resident in the Harlan County Sheriff's Department with a special talent for subduing crooks. One reviewer commented, "This is a very exciting and fast-paced novel. The plot seems real enough to be scary. A great read.