Monday, April 24, 2017

A review of Jeff Bailey's The Defect by Laura Kostad



I am re-posting this excellent review of my book by Laura Kostad. How can I not?

Impressive Debut Novel -- will keep you on the edge of your seat! April 20, 201.

Jeff Bailey’s masterful debut novel [The Defect] takes you deep inside the belly and inner workings of a nuclear power plant and shows you how even when state of the art security is in place, nothing is ever enough to stop terrorists intent on their goal of widespread destruction. A thriller of a novel and chock full of technical detail to keep you firmly grounded in the action, it’s a hard one to put down—the desire to stay right on the heels of Brian and his team will keep you enthralled from cover to cover.

Typically, I have a bit of an aversion to stories which employ Middle Eastern terrorists attacking United States infrastructure, for the reason that I feel it perpetuates unequivocal stereotypes. However, Bailey did it right. I really appreciated the time he took to flesh out the individual members of the terrorist group, going so far as to paint a detailed picture of their backgrounds and what led them to where they are in
The Defect. Although I certainly neither sympathize nor empathize with how they’ve chosen to deal with their resulting feelings, I respect them as individuals—as fellow people, and not just some stigmatized enemy, as contemporary, reductionist political rhetoric often suggests.

It's clear from the detailed account that he’s given that Bailey draws off a tremendous body of knowledge in setting the scene of his story. His precise, technical detailing of plant setup and the mechanisms utilized by the terrorist group in their attempt to destroy the plant really lends credibility and realism to this story, which is often lost or neglected in your everyday suspense/thriller. This is a book that I think will withstand the debunking of diligent readers looking to separate fact from fiction and rationalize events within the realm of possibility.

I greatly look forward to Bailey's next book, which is rumored to focus on another member of the heroic Sing family. If they’re anything like Brian, I know we’ll be in for another thrill!


Laura is a graduate of the University of Washington, specializing in English: creative writing and environmental studies. In her personal life, she is passionate about and actively pursues matters of ethics, outreach, stewardship, environmental studies, sustainability, and renewable energy.

  She aspires to integrate these values into the work that she does, especially in the spheres of writing, publishing, communications, photography, freelance, environmentalism/sustainability and the outdoors/nature.


Short stories by Laura Kostad: The Vision, Enigma, Name Your Price, and Heartbeat of  the Forest. Laura’s current project is a novel, The Highland Carbonado Golf Club Employee Handbook. Laura writes with the charm of Erma Bombeck and the wit Dave Barry.


My name is Jeff Bailey. I write nuclear thrillers for a reason, I’ve worked in nuclear related industries, from nuclear weapons to nuclear research, for fifty years. Deer Hawk Publications released my first book, The Defect in June of 2016. In The Defect, I tell the story of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant and why the government covered it up. The Defect is based on true events. Deer Hawk Publications is scheduled to release I’m a Marine in May of 2017. I’m a Marine is about a female aviation firefighter in the U.S. Marines who witnesses the murder of two M.P.s. She decides that it is her duty to stop them. Keep in mind that I write nuclear thrillers. The Chilcoat Project, to be released in spring of 2018, is about the theft of nuclear weapons secrets from a national laboratory. The Chilcoat Project is also based on true events. My current project, Wine Country, is based on the true story of the Radioactive Boy Scout, but with a more sinister twist.
 Welcome to my World


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