''Eagle Trap'' is a novel by British writer Geoffrey Archer, published in 1993 by

Bantam Press Bantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Penguin Random House. It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing near Ealing Broadway station Ealing Broadway is a major single-level interchange sta ...

. The story concerns an

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

officer tasked to stop a nuclear Terror attack.

Plot

The plot of the book opens during a failed rescue raid by the British SBS unit in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in 1992. A force from the unit, led by Captain Peter Brodrick of the Royal Marines, failed when they tried to rescue Richard Bicknell from the captivity of a Lebanese criminal organization, led by Abdul Habib. During an air strike that was carried out as a diversion for the operation, Bicknell and Habib's brother are killed. Seeking revenge, Habib obtains a nuclear weapons with the aim of blowing up the British

Aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

"Eagle" because the Harrier Fighter planes that attacked Beirut took off from it. Captain Brodrick, an experienced officer who fought with the Marines in

the Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland I ...

, Geoffrey Archer, ''Eagle Trap'',

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

, 1993, page 68: "What had it all been for? The commando course, the toughest endurance test in the world; the yomping across East Falkland in 1982, fighting with his bare hands on Mount Harriet; his escape from death in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

". is assigned to the aircraft carrier, as the new commander of the Royal Marine security unit in the task force against drug trafficking. He must stop Habib at all cost.

References

{{reflist 1993 British novels