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Trident Deception
Series · 9 books · 2014-2025

Books in series

The Trident Deception book cover
#1

The Trident Deception

2014

The USS Kentucky—a Trident ballistic missile submarine carrying a full complement of 192 nuclear warheads—is about to go on a routine patrol. Not long after it reaches the open sea, however, the Kentucky receives a launch order. After receiving that launch order, it is cut off from all counter-orders and disappears into the Pacific while it makes the eight-day transit to the launch site. What the Kentucky's crew doesn't know is that those launch orders haven't actually come from the U.S. government. Rogue elements within the Mossad have learned that Iran has developed its first nuclear weapon and, in ten days, will detonate it—and the target is Israel. The suspected weapon complex is too far underground for conventional weapons to harm it, and the only choice is a pre-emptive nuclear strike. With limited time, this rogue group initiates a long-planned operation called the Trident Deception. They'll transmit false orders and use a U.S. nuclear submarine to launch the attack. In this thriller from Rick Campbell, with only 8 days before the Kentucky is in launch range and with the submarine cut off from any outside communication, one senior officer, the father of one of the officers aboard the submarine, must assemble and lead a team of attack submarines to find, intercept and neutralize the Kentucky before it can unknowingly unleash a devastating nuclear attack.
Empire Rising book cover
#2

Empire Rising

2015

Xiang Li Cheng, the President of the People's Republic of China, has both a problem and a plan in Rick Campbell's thrilling Empire Rising. The problem is that the limited supply of oil available to China is threatening to derail his country's economic growth and prosperity. But to secure access to those resources, he must contend with powerful U.S. Navy and the Pacific Fleet. After a decades-long largely secret military buildup, Cheng sets his plan in motion by suddenly invading Taiwan and drawing the Pacific Fleet into its defense. With a faster, larger fleet with more capable long range missiles, China is able to surprise and quickly overwhelm the American fast attack fleet, all but wiping out the U.S. forces on deployment. Then China turns to its real objective - invasion and expansion across Asia, starting with the four main Islands of Japan.While the Atlantic Fleet surges westward to defend its allies and respond to the destruction of their counterparts, it falls to an unlikely alliance of three people to stop this incursion and prevent World War III. National Security Advisor Christine O'Connor has critical information, but she's trapped in Beijing; Captain Murray Wilson, C.O. of the submarine USS Georgia must somehow infiltrate the Chinese submarine blockade; and Navy SEAL Jake Harrison must lead a strike team into the most hostile of territories with only hours to implement the most daring plan ever.
Ice Station Nautilus book cover
#3

Ice Station Nautilus

2016

Russia's new ballistic missile submarine, Yuriy Dolgorukiy, is being deployed on its first patrol while America's newest fast attack submarine, North Dakota, is assigned to trail it and collect intel. As the Russian submarine heads under the polar ice cap, its sonar readings reveal the trailing American sub and cause the Russians to begin a radical, evasive maneuver. This, however, fails and the submarines collide, resulting in damage that sends both to the bottom. The Americans immediately set up a rescue mission, sending a new submarine and a SEAL team to establish an ice camp—-Ice Station Nautilus—-and stage a rescue. The Russians also send men and material, ostensibly to rescue their own men, but the Russian Special Forces team is also there to take the American base camp and the American sub, leaving no survivors or traces of their actions. As the men in North Dakota struggle to survive, the SEAL team battles for possession of the submarine. Rick Campbell's Ice Station Nautilus is an epic battle above and below the ice, Special Forces against SEALs, submarine against submarine, with survival on the line.
Blackmail book cover
#4

Blackmail

2017

"As in Tom Clancy's technothrillers, the war maneuvers feel authentic and are described in stellar detail." — Booklist on Blackmail In Rick Campbell's new thriller Blackmail, a bold military and political strike by the Russian government leaves the U.S. reeling, crippled and vulnerable, with only a desperate long shot chance to avoid a devastating world war. The U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling the Western Pacific Ocean is severely damaged by a surprise salvo of cruise missiles. While the Russian government officially apologizes, claiming it was the result of fire control accident during a training exercise, it was instead a calculated provocation. With the U.S. Pacific fleet already severely under strength, the Russian President decides that the US response is a clear indication of their weakness, militarily and politically, and initiates a bold plan. Political unrest is spreading through the Eastern European states. The Russian Northern Fleet moves swiftly in the Mediterranean Sea, the Russian army is moving west to the border, and Russian Baltic and Black Sea Fleets are mobilized. In one bold strike, the Russian army moves to reoccupy a large number of the industrialized areas of the former USSR, while blockading the vital sea passages through which the world’s oil and natural gas transit. To make matters worse, Russia’s Special Forces have wired every major oil and natural gas pipeline with explosives. If the U.S. makes one move to thwart Russia, they’ll destroy them all. The U.S. is risking disaster if it acts, but the alternative is quite possibly worse. Torn between the unthinkable and the impossible, the only possible move—to launch an attack on all fronts, simultaneously.
Power Play book cover
#4.5

Power Play

2019

Power Play, a thrilling new Trident Deception short story by Rick Campbell. The Russians have their newest class of nuclear attack submarine and is taking it, K-561 Kazan, on a shakedown cruise. Unbeknownst to them, however, this new submarine is being followed by an American submarine, the USS Pittsburgh . The Pittsburgh is to gather any intelligence they can on this new Russian submarine while avoiding detection by the Russians. But what first appears to be the rollout of a new type of submarine, might well be something completely different. Instead the Pittsburgh witness a torpedo firing exercise—and the radical new technology might well not be the submarine, but the torpedo.
Treason book cover
#5

Treason

2019

In Rick Campbell’s newest thriller, a military coup in Russia leads to a swift invasion of former Soviet territories—while the U.S. has been rendered powerless to respond. In Russia, the military is anxious to assert its military strength and regain its role as a superpower. The Russian President refuses to greenlight a bold plan to disable American strategic nuclear capability and retake Ukraine and the Baltic States, fearing the potential consequences of involving nuclear weapons. But the generals won't have it and at the first opportunity, they overthrow the president in a military coup. Then they use a narrow window to initiate their bold plan—the Zolotov option—which will render all of America's B2 bombers and ballistic missiles useless. With the U.S. off the board, they swiftly invade Ukraine with an overwhelming force, an invading Army that even NATO can't hope to resist. Now, it's game on. Without their primary weapons, the U.S. has to find a way to fight back on multiple fronts. If they're to have any chance, they'll have to overcome the malware that has grounded their ballistic missiles and planes, as well as secretly land a SEAL team to help rescue the imprisoned Russian President, and help retake control from the forces that are driving Europe into a continental war. Rick Campbell, one of the finest young military thriller writers, returns with his biggest and boldest novel to date.
Deep Strike book cover
#6

Deep Strike

2021

The U.S. Atlantic fleet is in a race to stop a rogue Russian submarine—funded by ISIS—en route to launch a missile attack against the east coast of the U.S. A shoulder-launched missile attack on a convoy of vehicles leaving the U.N. headquarters in New York kills several diplomats, including the American ambassador. Security footage reveals that the killer behind the attack is a disgraced former special forces operative, Mark Alperi. But before U.S. intelligence operatives can catch up with him, Alperi is already onto the next phase of his plan. With funding from the nearly shattered ISIS, Alperi plans an attack on the U.S. that will be more devastating than 9/11. He bribes a desperate Russian submarine commander with access to an expensive experimental drug for his daughter who is suffering from a rare disease. In exchange, the Russian commander will take his submarine to the Atlantic Ocean and launch a salvo of missiles at various targets along the East Coast of the United States. The commander lies to his crew that it's a secret mission, with dummy missiles, for a training exercise. At the same time, unbeknownst to the commander, Alperi has arranged for four of the missile warheads to be replaced with four surplus nuclear warheads and arms them. When the Russian submarine sinks the U.S. sub that is tracking it, the U.S. military is alarmed. When Intelligence uncovers Alperi's plot, though, it becomes a race against time—find the Russian sub and sink it before it can launch a devastating nuclear attack.
The Bin Laden Plot book cover
#7

The Bin Laden Plot

2024

A U.S. destroyer is torpedoed by an Iranian submarine and Captain Murray Wilson of the U.S.S. Michigan is flown to the Pentagon to meet with the Secretary of the Navy (SecNav). There Wilson learns that the Iranian submarine is just a cover story. One of the United States' own fully automated unmanned underwater vehicles has gone rogue, its programing corrupted in some way. Murray is charged with hunting it down and taking it out before the virus that's infected its operating system can infect the rest of the fleet. At the same time, the head of the SEAL detachment aboard the U.S.S Michigan is killed and Lonnie Mixell, a former U.S. operative, now assassin for hire, is responsible. And that is only the first SEAL to be hunted down and killed. Jake Harrison, fellow SEAL, discovers that these SEALs had one mission in common - they were all on the team that killed Bin Laden. Or so the world was told. As Wilson discovers that his mission is actually meant to cover up dangerous acts of corruption, even treason, Harrison discovers that the assassin is out to protect the same forces. Forces too powerful for either of them to take on alone.
Vengeance book cover
#8

Vengeance

2025

The “heir to Clancy’s throne” (The Real Book Spy) returns with his most compelling, explosive techno-thriller ever. Despite decades of treaties, military missions, and covert actions devoted to preventing it, Iran has finally assembled its first nuclear bomb and the U.S., with UN backing, has decided it’s time to take direct action. The first move is to blockade the Persian Gulf with a carrier strike group, but Iran strikes back quickly. With Russia’s backing, Iran launches a devastating attack and now the U.S. forces are in a race against the clock to survive until reinforcements arrive and a counter-strike launched. While events grow desperate in the Middle East, a plot to kill the President is unfolding. Jake Harrison, a now AWOL Navy SEAL, is lured back into action by his former partner Christine O’Connor to find and stop the freelance assassin, a man who has long been Harrison’s nemesis. With a deadly war brewing on two fronts—both overt and covert—the uneasy allies of Jake and Christine must use all their resources to circumvent the coming war. And as tensions threaten to boil over, Jake will be faced with the ultimate what is he willing to sacrifice for the revenge he wants?

Author

Rick Campbell
Rick Campbell
Author · 11 books

RICK CAMPBELL, a retired Navy Commander, served on four nuclear-powered submarines, finishing his career with tours in the Pentagon and the Washington Navy Yard. On his last submarine, he was one of the two men whose permission is required to launch the submarine's nuclear warhead-tipped missiles. Upon retirement from the Navy, Rick was signed by Macmillan / St. Martin's Press for his novel - The Trident Deception, which was hailed by Booklist as "The best submarine novel since Tom Clancy's classic - The Hunt for Red October". Rick lives with his wife and three children in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and is under contract for the fifth and sixth books in this series, sequels to The Trident Deception, Empire Rising, Ice Station Nautilus, and Blackmail. To learn more, visit Rick Campbell's website and his "Submarine 101" page at www.rickcampbellauthor.com.

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