Red Metal

Red Metal

Author	Mark Greaney H. Ripley Rawlings IV
Audio read by	Marc Vietor
Language	English
Genre	War novel Techno-thriller Military fiction
Publisher	Berkley Publishing Group
Publication date	July 16, 2019
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover), Audio, eBook
Pages	638
ISBN	9780451490414

Red Metal is a war novel, written by Mark Greaney and Rip Rawlings and released on July 16, 2019. Set in late December 2020, it features a military conflict between NATO and Russian military forces across two continents, as the latter plots to retake a rare-earth metal mine in East Africa. Red Metal is Greaney’s first stand-alone novel and is Rawlings' debut novel. The book debuted on The New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestseller's lists.

Plot summary

Three years ago, Russian forces are forced to relinquish control of a rare-earth mine in Mrima Hill near Mombasa, Kenya. Bitter about the retreat, special forces commander Yuri Borbikov formulates Operation Red Metal, an extensive military strike across Europe with the main objective of retaking the mine. In the present day, Russia faces economic strife, which forces president Anatoly Rivkin to authorize Borbikov’s operation to recoup financial losses.

A Chinese special forces unit sneaks into Taiwan and assassinates a Taiwanese party leader allied with China. Hackers working for Russian military intelligence (GRU) then engineer a leak involving two military officials assigned to the United States Indo-Pacific Command, disrupting the military leadership in the area. In an effort to deter China from potentially invading Taiwan, the U.S. president gradually sends a large American force to the Pacific, inevitably making way for the Russians to move forward with Operation Red Metal.

On Christmas Eve, Russian Su-57 stealth fighter jets simultaneously shut down communications across Europe by launching anti-satellite missiles, as GRU hackers penetrate NATO’s communications relays. The invasion force, led by Colonel General Eduard Sabaneyev, launches a lightning raid by train from Belarus through Poland and into the headquarters of the U.S. African and European Commands in Stuttgart, Germany, as attack tanks lay waste to supply depots and runways, severely crippling NATO’s military might. Russia immediately orders a ceasefire and demands their immediate return to neutral Belarus.

Under the guise of a military training exercise with Iran, Colonel General Boris Lazar marches his forces southeast for Oman, where they embark on a heavily guarded flotilla escorted by Iranian container ships west for Djibouti City. Marine lieutenant colonel Dan Connolly, who had been skeptical about the American military buildup in the Pacific in regard to Russian forces, deduces Russia’s plan to retake the mine in Mrima Hill. He presents his case to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who sends Connolly to Africa as a Pentagon liaison to a Marine expeditionary unit assigned to the mine.

In Europe, Poland violates the ceasefire by staging an ambush on the Russian invasion force in transit along the area. Polish F-16s fire cruise missiles on several bridges along the Oder River, forcing the Russians into a pitched battle with the civilian militia in the streets of Wrocław. Mistaking them as being allied with the Poles, Russians then fire on American Abrams tanks escorting their convoy as part of the ceasefire agreement. The U.S. president orders the remaining American tanks to fire on their Russian counterparts, and later convinces the president of Taiwan to postpone the country’s upcoming elections in order to forestall an imminent Chinese invasion and therefore provide more firepower in Africa.

Upon arriving at the port of Djibouti City, Lazar’s flotilla comes under attack from the USS John Warner, destroying oil tankers and rendering his tanks useless. Nevertheless, Lazar, accompanied by Borbikov, presses on and marches his forces south for the mine. Meanwhile, Connolly arrives in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and moves south to Mrima Hill to hastily coordinate a defense of the mine, with additional help from a French special forces unit.

American A-10 jets attack the Russian attack train in Poland, forcing Sabaneyev to move out the rest of his forces in tanks. They eventually reach Belarus, where Sabaneyev decides to ambush the American and German tanks pursuing them from behind, confident that they wouldn’t invade Russian territory. To his surprise, lieutenant colonel Tom Grant, the leader of the American and German artillery coalition, decides to pursue them inside Belarus, eventually capturing Sabaneyev.

In Kenya, Lazar and his forces arrive at the mine and start gradually obliterating American defenses. However, his artillery gets destroyed by cruise missiles from the USS John Warner. French special forces and Marines then stage a second assault by ambushing Russian forces in one flank, creating a diversion for the Americans to pound the Russian infantry on the other flanks. Assuming that Lazar was killed, Borbikov takes command and prepares to shell the mine with nuclear-tipped artillery shells as a last resort. Lazar storms in and takes him into custody, and later orders a ceasefire on the conflict.

Rivkin is ousted from office by the Duma, as Sabaneyev is tried for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Presidential elections in Taiwan continue over the objections of the Chinese government, and the Chinese military prepares for an invasion of the country.

Characters

United States military

• Colonel Ken Caster (USMC): Commander, Regimental Combat Team 5
• Lieutenant Darnell Chandler (U.S. Army): Assistant maintenance officer, 37th Armor Regiment
• Lieutenant Colonel Dan Connolly (USMC): infantry officer, assigned to the Pentagon. Former commander of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines; former platoon commander with 3/5
• Commander Diana DelVecchio (U.S. Navy): Captain, USS John Warner
• Lieutenant Sandra “Glitter” Glisson (U.S. Army): Apache pilot
• Lieutenant Colonel Tom Grant (U.S. Army): tank logistics and maintenance officer; interim commander, 37th Armor Regiment, deployed to Grafenwöhr, Germany
• Major Bob Griggs (U.S. Army): Infantry and Ranger officer; Army infantryman, Ranger tab; on assignment to the Joint Staff Office for Strategy, Plans & Policy (J5).
• Lieutenant Colonel Eric McHale (USMC): Operations officer, RCT-5
• Captain Brad Spillane (U.S. Army): Interim operations officer, 37th Armor Regiment
• Captain Raymond “Shank” Vance (USAF): A-10 pilot

The Russians

• Colonel Yuri Vladimirovich Borbikov: Russian Federation special forces commander
• Colonel Danilo Dryagin: Russian Federation infantry commander
• Captain Georg Etush: Submarine commander, Kazan (K-561)
• Colonel Dmitry Kir: Chief of staff and de facto chief of operations for Colonel General Boris Lazar
• Colonel General Boris Lazar: Russian Federation colonel general
• President Anatoly Rivkin: President of the Russian Federation
• Colonel General Eduard Sabaneyev: Russian Federation colonel general
• Colonel Feliks Smirnov: Deputy commanding officer to Colonel General Sabaneyev
• Colonel Ivan Zolotov: Russian Air Force Su-57 pilot, Red Talon Squadron

Other characters

• Captain Apollo Arc-Blanchette: French special forces officer, 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment
• Pascal Arc-Blanchette: Officer in Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), the French foreign intelligence agency; Captain Apollo Arc-Blanchette’s father
• Captain Chen Min Jun: Chinese special forces officer
• Dr. Nik Melanopolis: Analyst, National Security Agency
• Major Blaz Ott: German Bundeswehr armor maintenance officer
• Paulina Tobiasz: Polish Civilian Militia member

Development

In researching for the novel, Greaney and Rawlings flew to Poland, Germany and France. They met up with Brigadier General Klaus Feldmann, the last German armored brigade commander before reforms reduced the size of the German tank corps. They met with a French special forces commander in Paris from the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment, and spent a day aboard the USS John Warner (SSN-785), a nuclear powered Virginia-class attack submarine of the United States Navy. Both flew to Nellis Air Force Base where they spent two days at the USAF tactical fighter center for the US A-10 Thunderbolt II learning flight tactics, each night meeting the officers off duty in the "Hog-Trough", the squadron's famed bar. In addition, Greaney and Rawlings acknowledge over a dozen other personal, military service-members they contacted to gain information to write the novel.

Reception

Commercial

The novel debuted at number fifteen and Hardcover Fiction categories of the New York Times bestseller list for the week of August 4th, 2019, making it Greaney's second NYT bestseller for the year of 2019. In addition, it debuted on the USA Today Best Selling Books list for the week of 4 August, 2019. Red Metal achieved the Amazon Chart rating for the week of 21 July, 2019. Apple Books listed Red Metal in sixth place for Mysteries & Thriller Bestsellers on July 21, 2019.

Critical

Publishers Weekly gave the book a Starred Review, praising the book as "The various battles—fought on land, sea, and in the air—are exciting, realistic, and technically detailed, complete with the high emotions experienced by the combatants. As in the best of this genre, there are no cartoon villains, just dedicated warriors who are given a mission and are determined to carry it out. This is powerful material, required reading for anyone interested in modern warfare." In November of 2019, they selected Red Metal as one of the "Best Books of 2019" in the Thriller/Mystery category.

Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Readers will be humming "The Marines’ Hymn” after finishing this paean to the U.S. Marines. Hoorah! As with all of Greaney’s work, this is a fun read. If only all our wars were fiction."

Thriller novel reviewer The Real Book Spy stated that "While it’s already drawn comparisons to Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising (1986), Red Metal boasts even more action and tension, reading like a modern-day Game of Thrones (without the dragons and White Walkers), as individuals go all-in fighting for their cause—often with little regard for the rest of the world. Much like George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy saga, Greaney and Rawlings rely more on their characters to drive the story than the explosions, gunfights, and eye-candy, of which there is still plenty. The wargaming is impressive to be sure, but it all works as well as it does because the characters are so well fleshed out, and the conflict so perfectly captured."