In this classic Cold War novel, Payne Harrison straps you in for a techno-thriller ride as the superpowers square off to control the strategic high ground of space.

Crippled and silent, the Intrepid orbits the earth. On board is a military payload so secret that only the most senior defense and intelligence officials know of its existence. But as Space Command mounts a mission to rescue a crew they fear is dead, a spy satellite eavesdrops on an astounding transmission between the shuttle and a ground station deep in the heart of the Soviet Union.

An SR-71 Blackbird spyplane is scrambled to brave the full fury of the Soviet air defense forces, and confirms a horrific suspicion. The shuttle and its irreplaceable payload are under Russian control!

New York Times Review: “In STORMING INTREPID by Payne Harrison we have a standard Big Book, with one difference. Unlike most of its kind, it is not pretentious. Indeed, it is expertly written and well researched. Otherwise, it follows the down-to-the-wire formula in which catastrophe is prevented at the last second.

The time is the immediate future. A new leader has replaced Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. The new President of the United States is an Italian-American businessman who formerly headed a major automobile company. ”Storming Intrepid” opens in the usual manner, with a prelude taking us on a fast trip around the defense establishments of the two superpowers and even into outer space. Then we get down to business.

An American space shuttle is launched, carrying a highly secret and valuable weapon. The Russians manage to get one of their men on the shuttle as chief pilot. His mission is to murder the crew and land the shuttle in Soviet territory. What develops is a race between the United States and the Soviet Union to get to the shuttle. The United States simply cannot let the secret weapon get into Soviet hands, even if it means war.

The mastermind behind the hijacking is the head of the K.G.B., an amoral, brilliant thinker who was a grandmaster of chess. Against him are the best brains of the American think tanks and some crack pilots and spacemen. It is an exciting plot that Mr. Harrison has devised. At the end he provides a surprise that will catch the most astute reader off guard. Mr. Harrison is as wily an operator as his Russian genius.”