Backazimuth

Product Description
In military terminology, a backazimuth is a compass direction taken back to a starting point, guiding a soldier home. For Major Bill Slade, a second-rate army officer and inveterate drinker, an unsettling chain of events tied to his past will push him to the point of no return, from which no backazimuth can bring him home... In 1991, Slade is stationed in Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Storm. As his comrades prepare for the ground invasion, Slade is preoccupied by the events of his recent past and their implications for his future. One year earlier during a routine training exercise at the Army's National Training Center, Slade crossed paths with two former acquaintances from West Point. These friendships are among the few bright points in Slade's life, so after several mysterious attempts on his life, he sets out to expose the truth behind their unexplained and radical behavior. What he uncovers is a criminal conspiracy of inconceivable proportions. In Saudi Arabia, Slade unearths a key piece of the puzzle, inciting him to abandon his post and relentlessly pursue his own personal vendetta. His quest for answers quickly becomes an obsessive hunt for the truth that could end his career-and his life. Backazimuth is an engrossing military mystery in the spirit of Tom Clancy and Harold Coyle, a realistically told thriller that draws readers deep into the mind of a complex protagonist whose unconventional code of honor sets him on a dangerous path to vengeance, from which there can be no turning back.
Review
Four Stars. Backazimuth, is a tidy thriller. Smith's effort is tautly written, and the author's own military experience--makes his work believable. Backazimuth is a page-turner with an action film feel.
--Gary Presly of Foreward Clarion Review
From the Back Cover
Tomorrow I cross my line of departure. I will have no backazimuth to bring me home...

In military terminology, a backazimuth is a compass direction followed back to a starting point, guiding a soldier home. Yet for Major Bill Slade, an inveterate drinker whose military career is mostly down the drain, it will take a considerable turn to reverse the course of his life. So when an assignment during Operation Desert Storm forces him to sober up, Slade's fixation drives him to investigate a mystery he stumbled upon months before. During a routine training exercise in California, he had a near-fatal encounter with two acquaintances from his West Point days. Baffled as to what could have turned his former roommate into a murderer, Slade begins to dig...and uncovers a criminal conspiracy of inconceivable proportions. His quest for answers soon becomes an obsessive hunt for the truth that could end his career--and his life. Backazimuth is an engrossing military thriller that draws readers deep into the mind of a complex protagonist--an unlikely hero whose
unconventional
code of honor sets him
on a dangerous path to vengeance, from which there can be no turning back.

Mike Smith is a graduate of West Point and a decorated veteran of Operation Desert Storm. During his career in the U.S. Army, he served as a combat engineer. Since his retirement in 1995, he has worked in the defense industry. Backazimith is his debut novel. The sequel, Across the Line of Departure, will be published in 2011.
About the Author
Mike Smith is a graduate of West Point and a decorated veteran of Operation Desert Storm. During his career with the U.S. Army, he lived in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Germany, with postings in Alaska, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Georgia. He served as an army combat engineer. Since his retirement from the army in 1995, he has worked in the defense industry. Backazimith is his debut novel and the first of a three-book series. The sequel, Across the Line of Departure, will be released in February 2011. A native of Alabama, Mike and his wife, Beth, live today in Fredericksburg, Virginia. They have four children