The hermit kingdom is looking to take on an apparently limping superpower by once again scoring a propaganda coup by taking a naval crew hostage, but this time Op-Center and a resilient US Navy Commander have different ideas. Into the Fire is Dick Couch and George Galdorisi’s second installment in the Op-Center franchise reboot which sees North Korea and the United States on a collision course for war and the crew of a US ship caught in the middle.

After finding substantial reserves of oil and other energy resources in the Yellow Sea, North Korea negotiates with China to get military equipment in exchange for said energy resources, so China doesn’t have to depend on the Middle East. However, to get those energy resources North Korea needs to expand its claim in the area and plans to do so by taking a crew of a US Navy ship as hostage believing the U.S. would agree for something so simple as changing the lines of their territorial waters. Masking their operation at sea with troop movements to the DMZ, the North Koreans target the minesweeper USS Milwaukee during a joint exercise with South Koreans. The Milwaukee’s captain, Kate Bigelow, unknowing that she’s the target leads two North Korean ships on a chase before a missile strike cripples the ship forcing her ground it on a small South Korean island not far from the North Korean coast. Just before the attack, Op-Center’s top Geek Aaron Bleich notifies Director Chase Williams and begins following the high-seas drama until the ship’s grounding. Williams sends Op-Center’s Joint Special Operations Command team to Japan where it gets together with local SEAL team to find a way to get the crew off the island as the North Koreans and a US Fleet are at literal arms-length from the island on the verge of war. Using an experimental minisub to ferry the crew from the island to waiting nuclear subs, the JSOC stops a North Korean commando unit before calling in cruise missiles to destroy the Milwaukee. However North Korea’s supreme leader wants to send a message to the world and activates a terror cell in New York to destroy the UN, but Bleich’s Geek team finds out and notifies Williams who sends in a FBI Critical Incident Response Group team to New York to stop the attack. After one of the North Koreans calls her mother to say goodbye, not believing her leader’s promise they’ll make it out alive, Bleich’s team gives the CIRG and NYPD a location near the UN to surround and prevent the team from accomplishing their mission though they commit suicide and takeout a CIRG helicopter with a quarter of the team. The US and China come to an agreement about isolating North Korea and the energy resources in the Yellow Sea, but neither side is happy especially the Chinese at the loss of face at North Korea’s actions.

The focus on one plot was in instant improvement over the initial book of the reboot of the franchise helmed by Couch and Galdorisi, then add a quickly moving story that keeps the reader engaged throughout. The Op-Center team in Washington headed by Williams and prominently featuring Bleich and his Geek Team was well executed, yet the Op-Center personnel with the JSOC team seemed a little heavy on direct involvement from office personnel like Mike Rodgers did in the original series. Kate Bigelow was the character who did the heavy lifting through the book and was well written, unfortunately her first officer was a cliché out-of-his-depth liability that was a poor attempt to make Bigelow look better when she didn’t need it.

Into the Fire is a action-packed, quick moving thriller that keeps the reader hooked from beginning to end. Overall Dick Couch and George Galdorisi brought together an intriguing plot and great cast of characters to bring forth a good book, though there are missteps it doesn’t hurt the book too much to make the reader lose interest. ( )