I have read all of Mark Greaney’s Grey Man series and loved them. I was very excited to read this book. Thank you, Net Galley.
It started off with a bang and never stopped. I enjoyed the story but had a hard time keeping the people straight. I kept the list of characters from the front close by which helped.
The writing was good, and the action never stopped. Several characters stood out more than the others. There was a lot of detail which was interesting and gave a breather from all the nonstop action.

Mark Greaney and Hunter Rip Rawlings IV.

Red Metal

This was a non st action flick with a number of high profile characters, different locales, and numerous fights that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

This debut for Hunter Rip Rawlings and Veteran Mark Greaney was filled with explosions, shootouts, and misdirection. It plays into the current world of Russian deception and aggressiveness and keeps you wanting a good guy moment. The amount of destruction and violence is not overpowering and allows you to look for more from every character, even wanting to tell them which decision to make.

I was fortunate enough to get an ARC from Net Galley (preordered this back in January) and I was super pleased. There is a lot of product here to enjoy and I hope you take a dive into this one. I’m giving this one 4 stars bc it leaves room for improvement and tons of character development. I really enjoyed it and one thing that was super awesome was the character flaws were easy to understand, enabling you to side with characters and imagine what they were going through. Great work guys!

In Greaney et al's 600+-page Red Metal (Penguin Group 2019), we follow the carefully orchestrated and brilliant Russian plot to simultaneously strike Western Europe, Taiwan, and East Africa with the goal of taking over several Rare Earth mineral mines in Africa that they believe will give the Russians control over America if not the West. Told through the eyes of different parties, each involved in different ways--a Polish civilian warrior who has barely enough training to fire her weapon, two Russian commanders--one eager to make his mark and the other fearful of what a world war will do to his beloved Rodina, an almost-retired French Intelligence Officer (and his son) who just happen upon clues that they can't resist but to follow, two American Intelligence Officers who try valiantly to get their American agencies to take the series of seemingly disconnected clues seriously. The events seem far-flung but in the fullness of the story, come together to create a top-notch geopolitical thriller.

The detail of the Naval war strategies is impressive, thorough, and believable. Like this:

"The carrier strike group used submarines as its outer most ring to serve as the eyes and ears of the task force by venturing out from the CSGs to find enemy shipping. The next ring was an array of frigates. The workhorse of the fleet, they screened for enemy submarines."

If Greaney and Rawlings weren't sitting at the elbow of the officers in charge of America’s Pacific Fleet, they should be--that's how consuming the facts are. It takes a while to determine who the main character(s) is/are, if there is even one or two. I become so vested in all of the characters, they could all be the protagonist. I must confess, I've read all of Greaney's Gray Man novels, always know that Gray Man is the operator no matter what is happening in the story or where in the world I am. This is different.

Let me close with a high recommendation: If you loved Tom Clancy’s iconic war novels, this is a perfect story for you. Not just the incredible detail and depth of knowledge but the way Greaney and Rawlings are able to bring these characters to life in dramatic life-and-death circumstances.

About 3 years ago – A platoon is overrun in Afghanistan. Heavy losses, but. Lt Col Dan Connolly’s charges are bailed out by a Warthog. He is realizing that being on patrol is a young man’s game.

About 3 years ago – The Russians are on the verge of taking control of a rare earth metals mine in Kenya. At the last minute, Moscow says withdraw. The commander, Colonel Yuri Borbikov, doesn’t agree, but complies. He perceives this as more of a personal failure and less a political decision. For the next three years, he devises a plan to retake what he feels rightfully belongs to Russia. He just needs the right circumstances.

Current day. The China-Taiwan thing continues to rankle Beijing. Elections are coming up in Taiwan and a hard-line candidate who is pro reconciliation is assassinated by Chinese commandoes in a raid set up to look like opposition extremists within Taiwan pulled the trigger. They want war so they can take the island by force. The Western Pacific goes on alert and the President sends an enormous naval presence to the area in an attempt to deter China who has said that an invasion is imminent depending on the outcome of the upcoming elections.

This may be just what Borbikov needs. Distraction. He has managed to get the ear of a couple higher ups who in turn sell the plan to the Russian President. The plan calls for a rapid strike on two fronts while the US is distracted in the Pacific. One strike is directed at NATO, specifically its AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart while the other is a Russian force headed for the Mrima Hill mine in Kenya. If the Russians can take out AFRICOM and focus the remaining US forces on Europe, the Kenyan strike should be met with minimal resistance.

What follows is a HUGE story beginning with Russia’s plans, miscalculations by NATO and the Pentagon, and the integration of multiple information sources by two Pentagon analysts. The battles that are largely mechanized armor battles (tanks and other such vehicless) and mostly told from the viewpoints of Lt Col Connolly (who, normally at his cushy Pentagon job, gets pulled out and plopped in Africa to help oversee that front. Cuz he put it all together), a US commander of a tank company in Europe, an A-10 Warthog pilot, a Polish partisan in the regional civilian guard (whose main goal was to become the manager of the coffee shop she works at), the two Russian generals in charge of each front (the experienced Boris Lazar in Africa and the arrogant Eduard Sabaneyev in Europe), Colonel Castor, the Marine commander in Africa (charged with getting to the mine first and holding the ground until a re-tasked carrier group can arrive with help), and one bad-ass driver of a Virginia class sub off the eastern coast of Africa. Europe explodes on Christmas morning and this whole mess moves along at light speed for the next week.

Greaney is an established political/spy thriller writer who has joined up with Rawlings, a retired Marine Colonel. I’ve read my share of combat-based novels and the only ones that really ring true have been written by those who’ve been there. It’s obvious that Rawlings is that man. The battle plans. The execution. The counters. The hardware. The casualties and destruction. Other books without the intimate knowledge that goes far beyond literary research just don’t match up. The book is filled with that alphabet soup of acronyms and initialism of weaponry and combat. Greaney did some work with Clancy and it shows as this is on a par with other really big stories by Clancy. Did you like Red Storm Rising? You’ll like this (>600 page) beast.

Together they have put together what could potentially be WWIII. And over what? A strip mine. Make that the world’s largest mine of rare elements that just happen to be critical for hi-tech development. Whoever controls the mine will control that most important sector of the world’s economy as well as future military R&D. Whoever controls that hole in the ground will dictate the future.

Expected publication date is July 16, 2019. Place your orders. This one could be big.

Mark Greaney has written the popular Gray Man series as well as several Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books. This one is for the Tom Clancy fans. Lots of military strategy across multiple locations and detailed military weaponry along with enough character development to keep you interested.

The author of the "Gray Man" is here with a bear story (Russian bear that is) worthy of the early Tom Clancy stuff. Fantastic premise with all the space filled in with well developed characters this is a wonder light in a digital world of dull reading!!!!

I think I've read everything Mark Greaney has had published and I have enjoyed each book in some way. I can't say I completely enjoyed Red Metal but it did give me a lot to think about. Red Metal is a novel that puts the focus on military battles and battle strategy. The story portrays the results of a communication blackout in Europe so an attack can be accomplished by Russia. As the story unfolds we see that Russia has more than one reason for this incredible act of aggression.

The book has a large number of situations in the European battles taking place on multiple fronts with many groups of characters, all over just a few days. The action is hectic with each strategy or action being described in detail. After so much of this I began to feel I really needed to read just one chapter where everybody wasn't firing thousands of rounds of ammunition. When the attention of the story turns to Africa it's the same thing over again but in that case the emphasis is on the mines where the rare earth minerals are and there is only one location involved.

This will be a good fit for readers who want action all the time. For me, well, I would have liked more character development so that I actually cared about at least one them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an e-Galley of this novel.

3.5 stars. I love Mark Greaney. This is a spy/battle book and while the storyline was good there were way to many characters (when there is a guide in the beginning you always know it will be trouble) and for me a bit to much detail about every weapon used. Some editing would be nice. It seems like with two of the US characters there could be an interesting series built. It was also interesting the bringing back of Russia as the US’s main enemy.

Red Metal is perhaps the most exhausting novel I have ever read. I selected it expecting a typical Mark Greaney story, but instead I went to war. Hundreds of pages of unending battles. The market for this book is going to be limited as the general reader will likely have no more patience for it than I did. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

The Russian bear has awakened from her long slumber and she’s starving. Starving for power. In Asia, China is again threatening Taiwan’s independence and in eastern Europe, the Polish partisan fighters are trying valiantly to defend their homeland from Russia’s tyranny. All the above are merely precursors to the Russian army marching across Poland and Belarus to reach the seaport to sail around the Horn of Africa to a rare earth mine in Kenya. This is the same mine Russia was forced to cede three years earlier and Mother Russia wants it back. Rare earth ores are found in only a handful of places around the world and are essential for production in today’s hi-tech world. And Russia wants to take back what she lost..
“Red Metal” is replete with a multi-layered plot, ala Clancy, with enough alphabet soup hi-tech hardware to satisfy the geek in all of us. Even better are the complex characters Greaney has breathed life into. He is a masterful writer who brings his reader into the thick of battle and before you know it, you can almost smell the fear and sweat and yes, even the blood. This richly plotted story is timely and chillingly relevant, especially in light of current geo-political stirrings. The obvious worry is the distinct possibility of a similar scenario in real time.
#Red Metal #Net Galley #Mark Greaney #Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV

If you liked Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, Larry Bond's Red Phoenix, or Harold Coyle's Team Yankee you will love Mark Greaney's Red Metal The plot is timely, characters compelling and the action is riveting, I was drawn in on page 1 and had to force myself to put it down so I could sleep!
Russia is back and the new Cold War has grown very hot indeed. The viewpoint is told from both sides which makes for a much better read.
I would highly suggest that you don't have to get up early if you read Red Metal at night as you will find it very hard to get any sleep