COUNTER DEAD
A Novel by ROBERT ADKINS
A complex and clever novel combining personal loss, mathematical brilliance and an offer from the CIA.
The beautiful wife of an ambassador, currency manipulation and bullets
deflected by a passport leads to the streets of Vietnam during TET.
All bound together to understand the past and unlock the future.
Robert Adkins
Robert Adkins is an American writer that has been fortunate to have a first career in international business and consulting, allowing travel throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The people, locations, and cultures experienced brings a rich level of detail to his writings and character development.
He spent his early years living on Army bases, his father a career infantry soldier fighting in both Europe and Korea, later serving in the “Old Guard” before finally retiring. Robert’s grandfather escaped the poverty and coalfields of western Virginia to fight for both the British Army and the US 1st Infantry Division during WW-I, only to return to western Virginia as a wounded veteran. On June 6, 1944, Robert’s grandfather passed away while listening to the radio on his front porch in Wise, Virginia. Just as Robert’s father, then assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, stormed the beaches of Normandy.
These days, Robert manages a financial services firm in New York when not writing and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife and son. His genuine passions are his wife, family, writing and, of course, fly-fishing.
Robert Adkins
Counter Dead
Don McDowell, is a brilliant theoretical mathematician completing his PhD at Yale when the death of his fiancé reshapes his life. Escaping to Washington, DC McDowell finds a home at Treasury and then is recruited by the CIA. A beautiful intriguing surgeon from Lebanon rekindles his feelings but a transfer to Mexico City still reeling from the Kennedy assassination promises McDowell time alone and real danger.
Currency manipulation and a traitor brings death, deception, and a bullet deflected by passports, as events push him to confront feelings, life, and a new talent. Finally burying the past McDowell finds himself on the streets of Saigon during the TET offensive as a plan moves forward to trap a spy, and infiltrate North Vietnam changing the course of history.
Grains of Diplomacy
Lieutenant Cooper McGrath’s world revolved around his reconnaissance team until the day they were lost during their last mission—a burden he knew would haunt him forever. As he made his way back home, a single memory, a fleeting flash of light, changed his course. In Hawaii, he crossed paths with a captivating flight attendant, but that brief recollection would set the stage for a life-altering journey.
That memory ignited a chain of events that led him through the thick jungles of Vietnam, eventually landing him in the heart of the Kremlin and catalyzing a profound shift in his career. A catastrophic explosion in the skies over New York added yet another twist to his life, but amid the tragedy, an old flame was rekindled. Together, they sought refuge in the mountains, where the vibrant hues of sunset gradually faded into somber grays.
Despite his attempts to leave his tumultuous past behind, the threads of destiny continued to unravel across generations. Losing a loved one forced Cooper to confront traitors, the Russian Federation, and a war in Afghanistan. From the idyllic shores of Hawaii to the solemn grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and from the formidable halls of the Kremlin to the distant jungles of Southeast Asia, McGrath followed a trail laid years ago, where his destiny would be forever altered.
Inherit the Lion
From an Indiana farm to the Naval Academy Paul Stamford’s life had been filled with history and sense of loss. His father’s journey from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima marked a routine that made life on the farm a constant reminder of loyalty, tradition and unending love.
When a career changed his trajectory Stamford found solace and strength in the memories of his mother and the love of his wife, Katie. Events would unfold sending Stamford into danger in a war in Asia, a career in the Marine Corps and inside America’s most closely guarded secrets.
Get a first look at Counter Dead.
Works in Progress
Box of Medals
The story of a young son of Virginia that leaves the poverty and coalfields of Appalachia and finds himself in the US Army stationed in Alaska at the age of sixteen. When World War One erupts in Europe, his sense of adventure and duty propels him to the battlefields of Flanders fighting in the Gloucester Regiment, now in the British Army.
When America enters the war, He is reunited with the US Army but a chance encounter with a pretty nurse and a desire to defend his own country provides an opportunity to win the coveted Croix de Guerre, and feel the closeness of death as he witnesses history.
Religion is a Candle
When events spiral out of control in Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion, a child is murdered in the Sabra neighborhood streets. As tensions grow between the US and Israel, a suicide bombing in Beirut, kill embassy and CIA staff members.
Trying to restore order and central government authority a young Lebanese surgeon with ties to the CIA and her Shiite grandfather precipitate a series of cascading events that inadvertently launch one of today’s deadliest terrorist organizations.
Cries for Me
A young veteran seeks life after growing up in a family with a secret that tears the relationship between his father and mother apart and obscures his own concept of self. Wandering through life with a feeling of loss and despair leads to a missed childhood, broken relationships and the brink of suicide.
When events present him with the chance to redeem himself, can he muster the courage or is it more than he has within himself to even survive.
Get an early copy of COUNTER DEAD, and see Excerpts and Future Releases