Red Thunder

I’ll admit, I went into *Red Thunder* skeptical. Alternate history sci-fi often leans too hard into nostalgia or gimmicks, but Dietz avoids both traps. The hook—a CIA operative racing to sabotage a Soviet rhenium plant—sounds niche, but the execution is relentless. This isn’t a book about *if* the mission succeeds; it’s about the cost of pulling it off, and Dietz makes you feel every ounce of that tension. The tradecraft scenes, where agents debate the logistics of smuggling equipment or bribing mid-level bureaucrats, are so vivid they’ll make you wonder if the author once worked in the field. Ryan Burke’s performance is a standout. He doesn’t overdo the accents (a pet peeve of mine in spy thrillers), but his delivery *sells* the exhaustion of a field agent running on caffeine and paranoia. That said, the audiobook isn’t perfect: the female characters occasionally feel underwritten, their dialogue leaning into tired ‘tough chick’ tropes, and the final act’s climax—while satisfying—wraps up a touch too neatly for a story that otherwise thrives on moral ambiguity. Still, the production quality is flawless (no awkward edits or volume spikes), and the way Dietz weaves real-world metallurgy into the plot gives the whole thing a weight you don’t often get in military sci-fi. If you’ve ever wondered how a war could hinge on something as mundane as a rare earth mineral, this is your audiobook. Just don’t expect to look at your smartphone’s tungsten components the same way again.