White Gold (Dan Taylor Book 1)

I like thrillers that deal with real issues in the modern world. White Gold does not disappoint. It concerns a new alternative power source that purveyors of "dirty coal" will do anything to stop. The opening chapter, set in Iraq is a cracker, and the characters involved reappear throughout the book, each with their own agendas. Dan and Sarah were very easy to like. Amphlett's research sits lightly on the page, but is always authoritative. The plot moves fast, and I found White Gold very easy to read.

I'm giving this two stars because it was interesting enough that I wanted to finish it. I'll even forgive the author for all the global warming stuff (I expected to see Al Gore listed as co-author); it was the silliness of some situations that did it in for me.One example: The protagonist (Dan) is an alcoholic vet with PTSD and he's been out of the army for 3 years; yet an elite government intelligence agency makes him an assault team leader when it’s time to capture a ship carrying a bomb as powerful as a small nuke. On top of that, he is their only bomb tech. Wouldn't intelligent people want to protect that guy, not put him in the middle of the shooting? Or, better yet, have a real assault team that had trained together and an EOD team that was up-to-date on bomb technology?Another example: The good guys are in a helicopter following the bad guy in a car. Suddenly, for no articulated reason, Dan announces that he has to follow the bad guy on the ground and get in front of him. So, they land the helicopter in a shopping mall, Dan car jacks a grocery shopper then drives through London like Bo Duke. With directions from the team in the helicopter, he manages to get in front of the bad guy using side streets. What does he do when he gets in front of the bad guy? Nothing! Does he use his element of surprise that he worked so hard for? No, he waits for the helicopter to land because “he needs back up”. This is probably the stupidest part of the book.There are several more that are almost as bad. Overall, I cannot recommend this book.

4.5 out of 5 starsWhite Gold -- no this is not about the gold that looks like silver, but really a way of refining down gold into a powder that creates energy as a by-product. White Gold is a Thriller featuring an ex-geologist turned soldier Dan Taylor. Dan's soldier days are behind him now and he is searching for meaning when an old friend calls him frantically one night setting off a spiral of action and mystery.White Gold was narrated by Craig Beck who does a really nice job with it. The book was originally set in the UK, but ended up taking place all over, so Beck's voice ended up being really nice for this book. I did notice a few minor (super minor) faults in the audiobook where there was a repeated word or phrase (I think it happened 3 times) but sadly, I can't even report them to the author or narrator because I was driving every time I heard one. Other than that, the quality was pretty good.Dan Taylor was a really likeable main character. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about him in the beginning, but he really grew on me. He is definitely a character that I will continue to follow into other stories. The way that he goes about things and figures everything out was really interesting to me. I actually really liked Sarah too, I know that she wasn't meant to be the main character, but she was a really good #2 to Dan's #1 status.The story started off with a bang, literally -- but still took a little bit of time to get rolling into the story. Amphlett took her time making sure that we understood who Dan was and a little bit about his friend that was in danger. After the first few chapters, the story took off and never slowed down. The action was fast and the story was really well thought out.Overall, White Gold was a really enjoyable Thriller. Dan Taylor was the perfect "hero" for this story and I will definitely be signing on for more Amphlett books featuring Dan.

This book was poorly written on a number of levels.For starters, a story with a basis in science, even if fictional, should get the science correct., In real life white gold is a alloy of gold and any of a number of metallic elements . Real life white gold has none of the properties described in Amphlett’s book. It is not fissionable (you can’t make atom bombs out of it) it is not an antigravity material (nothing is) it does not catalyse the hydrogen/oxygen reaction in a fuel cell, and nothing exists that releases energy by the act consolidating from powder into a solid lump (it takes energy to reduce a lump to powder, but not the reverse).But assuming we suspend disbelief on the failings of its technological statements, what are we to make of Amphlett’s storyline: which is basically this.Bad guy, Delany, wealthy Australian coal mining entrepreneur wants to suppress newly developed renewable energy technology that threatens to turn his coal mine interests into stranded assets.Feasible enough as a starting point, but it’s all downhill from there.To protect his coal mines Delaney tries to kill off the rival technology. First action to achieve this objective, he murders the scientist that’s promoting the new technology. He is successful enough in murdering the scientist – but what’s the point? According to the book, prior to his murder, the scientist has been on an extensive lecture explaining his breakthroughs. By the time its creator is murdered the new technology is public knowledge.Delany then decides to plant a small atom bomb in London to explode on “Earth Day”. (I’m not sure why this would increase the value of his coal mines, but never mind). The bomb is to be made from a mystery material, presumably white gold – assumed to be fissionable as per above – and sourced in Australia. We don’t know how much material is required, but we do know however much it is, it can fit inside a car, so it can’t be all that much.Why Delany would need to buy up most of the gold mines in the world to gather this small amount of material is not explained.The next consideration is how to get the car containing the bomb to London. Delany arranges to ship the car in a shipping container. But instead of shipping it to England, he ships it to Singapore and has it transhipped on a ship heading up the western Pacific. He then arranges for the ship to be high-jacked off Japan someplace. In the high-jack, all the crew on the ship are killed except for the captain. Why the captain is spared is not explained, and is only explainable in terms of making the story work (the story needs a live captain to tell the outside world where the ship is located).Delany arranges the high-jacked ship to rendezvous with a Russian icebreaker (he happens to have one handy) which makes a path through the winter Arctic ice cap across the top of Russia and down the North Sea heading for London.Why on earth would Delany ship his bomb by this ridiculously circuitous route? If a regular container ship can be found to ship the cargo Brisbane to Singapore, why not ship it direct to London?Delany’s plot is foiled by three long retired ex-Army types who served in the same unit in Iraq and who three years later, by extraordinary coincidence, all find themselves to be independently pursing Delany for various reasons.Various incidental murders, bombings and house fires are provided along the way, maybe to keep the reader interested, but more likely to pad out the narrative to an acceptable length.Many of the scenes are ridiculous – eg the visit of the hero to Delany’s house and his acquisition of the shipping docs for the container to Singapore (the shipping documents are sticking out of a locked desk in Delany’s office at home), and then his wandering around the container port in Singapore inspecting containers, and breaking into warehouses without authority or apprehension.I could find no redeeming feature in this book. The science is inaccurate. The characters are stereotypes, they do ridiculous things, The dialogue is awful.