Cobra Gold - Hardcover

Lewis, Damien

3.71

34 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844138690 ISBN 13: 9781844138692

Publisher: Century, 2007

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It is 1976, war-torn Beirut. Under the cover of a massive firefight, an unknown band of armed men blast their way into the Imperial Bank of Beirut. Over the next 48 hours, they load up three trucks with gold bullion, and the raiders and the loot disappear forever. Two weeks earlier, a young SAS Major newly arrived in The Regiment had tasked his men with scoping out just such a Beirut bank robbery - strictly as an exercise only. But when SAS veteran Luke Kilbride presented his plan for the heist, the Major tore it apart as being a, 'useless piece of crap'. Kilbride didn't appreciate this jumped-up officer telling him he was a fool. Neither did the men in his unit. Together, they decided to prove the Major wrong and rob the bank anyway, as a freelance operation. But whilst the heist went like clockwork, that was just the start of things going badly wrong for Kilbride and his men. Eventually, they are forced to hide the loot and make their getaway. Thirty years later, Kilbride and his team are planning their return. The only problem is that a powerful and ruthless enemy is hell bent on finding the gold before them. Kilbride dreams up a cunning and audacious decoy mission to lead them away from the loot - and so begins a race against time to get to the gold before the deadly Black Assassins group can catch up with them.

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Review:

Cobra Gold is a fast moving story built around the biggest bank
robbery the world has ever seen. The story starts with a highly
professional bank-heist in Beirut, in 1976. The SAS team that breaks in are
faced with a prize of staggering and unexpected proportions, then as
courage, greed, opportunism and recklessness starts to unfold you get
sucked into the problems of trying to hide, let alone dispose of a heavy
and cumbersome mountain of gold valued at $50million. With an eye to
technical accuracy, which is such a feature of Damien's writing, the tale
finally brings us to the modern day. The terrorist organization that claims
ownership of the gold and the authorities that send the team in to this
most covert of covert operations are formidable adversaries and throwing
them off the trail is no easy matter. This is modern drama at its best with
Damien Lewis in top form. -- Compass Magazine, 06/07

In 1976, a crack team blasted its way into Beirut's British bank
of the Middle East and stole gold bars worth �100 million at today's
prices; the world's biggest bank heist. With the robber's never found who
was responsible? Damien Lewis's acclaimed book ... -- Mail on Sunday, 01/06/07

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BANK ROBBERY.

Damien Lewis, journalist, documentary film maker and the best selling
chronicler of many of the SAS's and SBS's most notable exploits is back in
London to promote the launch of his latest book - Cobra Gold. Sitting
comfortably relaxed, with a pot of tea in front of him, Damien looks
pleased to be back in the civilized surroundings of a top London hotel. He
has spent the last few weeks in Africa researching his next project. The
legacy of time spent working on `the dark continent' is a recurring
vulnerability to malaria; his latest trip was quick to expose this
weakness. This has put some rather dark rings round his lively, deep set
eyes, which together with his sun burned skin makes him look even more
Arabic than normal, a natural advantage that has more than once saved his
life and did so again on his last trip. But that's another story.
Cobra Gold is a rather different book for Damien. It still features the
exploits of the remarkable soldiers of the SAS, but in this instance Damien
has allowed himself more creative license compared to his previous two best
sellers (Bloody Heroes and Operation Certain Death), though he is still
reluctant to confirm what details of the astonishing adventure written so
brilliantly in Cobra Gold are fact and what are fiction. When you read the
story you will understand why Damien is reluctant to confirm what he really
knows.
Cobra Gold is a fast moving story built around the biggest bank robbery the
world has ever seen. The story starts with a highly professional bank-heist
in Beirut, in 1976. The SAS team that breaks in are faced with a prize of
staggering and unexpected proportions, then as courage, greed, opportunism
and recklessness starts to unfold you get sucked into the problems of
trying to hide, let alone dispose of a heavy and cumbersome mountain of
gold valued at $50million. With an eye to technical accuracy, which is such
a feature of Damien's writing, the tale finally brings us to the modern
day. The terrorist organization that claims ownership of the gold and the
authorities that send the team in to this most covert of covert operations
are formidable adversaries and throwing them off the trail is no easy
matter. This is modern drama at its best with Damien Lewis in top form.
Cobra Gold costs �17.99 and is available through all good bookstores. -- COMPASS MAGAZINE