The Author

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Helmut Portmann is an American author born in Switzerland but now residing in Covington a small community town in the state of Louisiana, USA where he lives with his wife Julie, son Alex, rescued husky Gabriel and adopted cat sisters Pearl and Amethyst. Helmut has done a variety of jobs over the years since graduating from college, his first job saw him logging oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, but that was soon followed by working on the US Army’s Pershing Tactical Nuclear Missile System in Europe during the Cold War. Returning to the US he became an analyst hunting Soviet submarines, which led to him being put in charge of a program that protected US submarines being detected. Helmut has also worked in the US navy’s mine warfare laboratory to help lead their unmanned systems programs. He ultimately ended up as a director of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Data Buoy Centre, deploying buoys across the world’s great oceans to measure weather and climate changes, plus tsunami occurrences. A varied career you might say, but we mustn’t forget his drumming experiences. Now a days a more sedate lifestyle is pursued and at the heart of that changed manner of living is writing, so let’s turn our attention to this second book of his.

Check out our video chat here!

Helmut says you need to read the books in sequence to get the full effect of what the series is about.

The Books

Phantom of the Gulf
Book two

Wow you are in for another treat here with this second book of the series, fifty-eight blistering chapters, jam-packed with high-end drama and secrecy await your inspection, just like the first book. The U.S. Navy detect unrecognisable sonar activity bouncing off an esoteric object moving among the drilling platforms of America’s Oil and Gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The echoes suggest some kind of submersible running on batteries, what is it? who’s behind this operation? and more importantly what’s it doing there? Both the Navy and the CIA know that this area has a strong attraction to America’s foes and that any non-native activity needs to be investigated especially if the Navy’s highly classified SOSUS acoustic system is struggling to identify what is lurking below the waterline? Is Cuba with overseas support up to something here?  Is there a possible sabotage attempt looming from the Cubans in response to the Bay of Pigs invasion attempt carried out by their arch-rival the USA. 

Whatever is unfolding under the waters off the Gulf of Mexico, the CIA need to carry out secretive investigations as a matter of great urgency. Alex Beck heads up a team to hunt down this mysterious object that has the U.S. authorities flummoxed and referring to as the Phantom of the Gulf.

What a powerful read!

Adios El Jefe Castro!
A Revenge Plot to Assassinate Fidel
Book One

Forty, well executed eye-catching chapters await your attention, if you consider Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton in your reading repertoire then Helmut’s book will appeal to you. The characters Alex, Ana, Angel, Ludo, Carlos, Raul and Jose blend well together as they combine the Cubans’ hatred for Fidel Castro (El Jefe) Cuba’s revolutionary leader from 1959 to 2008, with a strong desire to assassinate him, as well as overthrowing the brutal regime whose tactics to  keep him in power involved, rape, murder and torture, something as young children all of them witnessed to some extent, before escaping to the U.S. Would they achieve what America failed to do? Revenge can be sweet, but it can also be all consuming and that consumption can come at a considerable price. A price would these exiled Cubans from childhood be prepared to pay, if so by what measures and how far would they go to plicate their retribution, or do their interests diminish over time? Plus, what role does a cold war nuclear missile system in Europe play? Hmm…

A breathtaking read. What’s the outcome? Well! read the book.

Social Media Sites

Please visit Helmut’s webpage where you will learn more about him as an author, as well as gaining more insight as to what his books are about, and who the main characters are. You can also purchase the books from his webpage, plus get a sneak preview as well. You will find that the books are available in various formats, all available on Amazon. 

www.helmutportmann.com 

Publisher

Amazon KDP

Podcast Information

This podcast you can listen to on “Talking Books” hosted by J T Crowley on all major social podcast platforms. For video content, search for “Talking Books” hosted by J T Crowley on YouTube. Additionally, you can watch it on Roku and Amazon Firestick streaming devices. To access it on your television, download the Experts and Authors app or visit www.expertsandautjhors.tv and click on “Talking Books.”

Enjoy!

Thank you, Helmut, for giving me the wonderful opportunity of interviewing you about your phenomenal books that make up the Alex Beck Thriller series, I wish you every success with them.

The post The Alex Beck Thriller Series by Helmut Portmann appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.