Empire Rising

When China's President sets a plan in motion to secure oil resources by invading Taiwan and drawing the American Pacific Fleet into a confrontation, a military buildup hidden for decades allows the People's Liberation Army to surprise and overwhelm the American forces on deployment. The Atlantic Fleet rushes to respond, but the real solution may rest with three people: a National Security Advisor trapped in Beijing, a submarine commander attempting to infiltrate a blockade, and a Navy SEAL leading a strike team on a mission with hours to execute. Rick Campbell's second naval thriller is built on exhaustive technical detail and genuine geopolitical dread.

Jeff Gurner narrates with the authority and pace that military thriller audio demands, keeping the multiple simultaneous theaters of the conflict clearly distinct and the tactical situations legible even to listeners without military backgrounds. His performance through the submarine sequences in particular captures the claustrophobic tension of underwater warfare. At just over thirteen and a half hours, Empire Rising is a serious entry in the genre.