The Cobra - Frederick Forsyth’s Thriller
Frederick Forsyth, as most of us who read his books know, is the author of several bestselling novels including ‘The Day of the Jackal’, ‘The Odessa File’ , 'The Dogs of War' ,'‘The Devil's Alternative’ and ‘The Fourth Protocol’ which were all his early writings with several of them having been made into successful films as well. He has a unique style of writing that keeps the readers totally glued to the book with his edge-of-the seat suspense and a brilliant narrative full of unexpected twists and intrigue! I have read most of the fictions written by Frederick Forsyth and in my personal opinion he is one of the best writers in that category of political thrillers.
His new book The Cobra is yet another narrative, this time based on the drug trade, specifically the cocaine trail and its implications to the society and world at large. The Cocaine industry is worth billions of dollars a year to the drug cartels, who spread their evil seed across the Western society.The usage of cocaine causes innumerable misery, poverty and resultant death.This evil is gradually, slowly inexorably spreading with nations watching helplessly unable to control this deadly trade mainly because they worked with tiny resources and no retribution for the smugglers even if they were caught.
Some facts about Cocaine the killer drug
Cocaine which is derived from coca plant is a weedy undistinguished shrub that has grown from time immemorable in the hills and jungles of the north-western arc of South America. It used to be consumed by the natives, who would chew on it since it helped them mute certain senses and also stimulated their mood. It is only the leaves of the coca plant that contains the potent drug.
According to the available figures of the total supply, most of it - nearly 65% comes from Columbia with Peru and Bolivia supplying the rest. However, the powerful Columbian drug lords take over the products from the two smaller contributors at the coca paste stage and complete the refining and merchandising virtually 100% of the drug.
The entire process of getting the coca paste or the pasta as it is called to the finished stage of white powder takes place in secret mostly in jungles of Columbia and Haciendas(estates) owned by the drug mafia. It takes 375 kilograms of harvested coca leaves ( which is approximately half a truck load) to create 2.5 kilograms of coca paste, which in turn will provide one kilo of pure cocaine in the white powder form. The coca leaves go through various stages to finally become the sugary white powder which is distributed all through the European countries. The biggest demand for cocaine comes from Europe and America, almost the only two continents that use the drug.
The profits are staggering since the drug lords buy the coca leaves from poor peasants at the rate of between $ 4000 - $5000 per 750 kilos of leaves which is a truck load. The drug lords later sell the finished product at nothing less than $60,000 to 70,000 per kilo. According to statistics the total trade amounts to nearly 600 tons per year. It is simply a matter of demand and supply. A demand always produce a supply. But the reverse is also true. A supply too will almost certainly create a demand...and so the drug or the cocaine industry thrives and grows stronger by the day, weeks, months and years !
The story of ‘The Cobra’
After becoming personally aware of a drug related death of a poor teenaged boy, the President of the USA is determined to take some action and discusses the issue with his counter part in the United Kingdom. They come to a joint decision to once for all destroy the cocaine industry by taking some strong measures. They also realise that this has to be carried out in stealth with as little knowledge as possible to the departmental heads since help and information to the drug lords came right from the top. So, they decide to hand over the operation to one man Paul Devereux, an intellectual, dedicated and utterly ruthless ex-CIA special ops cop, who is seventy years old and retired from active service. He seems to be the only person capable of stopping the drug barons, and he is given everything that he wants – resources,money and other technical help.
Paul goes ahead to assemble a team which has to be equal to the lawless men who control the deadly drug trade. He ropes in Calvin Dexter as his right hand man and puts him in charge of the active operation. Cal and he have had issues in the past but Paul realises that Cal is the only man who is as good and capable as he is – being younger, fitter and having had a vast field experience in the vietnamese jungle and in espionage, was probably even better than him in many ways. But the task was not easy since the mega cartel calling itself Brotherhood operated like a major industrial corporation with a private army to guard its property and a psychotic punishment squad to enforce its discipline.
The drug lords have been accustomed to the forces of global law and order which had halfheartedly attempted to prevent them from plying their business, but now things were going to change drastically and the old rules no longer apply. The first change came in the form of ‘Changing the designation of cocaine from Class A drug to National Threat and so anyone dealing with it becomes a Terrorists!’. The operation Cobra is ready to be put in place and Paul after pondering over the entire drug operation realises that the bulk of the drug trade takes place on the international waters on ghost ships that have no names or records, or those operating with false papers and once that is cut off, it becomes much easier to crack down on the drug lords. Paul also realises that he needed some inside help. Having spent his entire life in the trade of espionage he had come to the view that the greatest intelligence gathering agency in the world was the Roman Catholic Church. Through its omnipresence it saw everything and through the confessionals it heard everything !
But the drug lords and the terrorist groups and drug traders based in Europe, Africa and the USA, depending entirely on the drug money are not ready to give in so easily, so the dirty and ruthless war becomes even dirtier and violent. The rest of the book makes for an interesting reading about the complexities and intricacies of implementing and carrying out operation cobra and the breathtaking climax that follows !
My views about this book
There is a bit of fantasy element in this book which is futuristic and seems a little unreal at times, since it is unthinkable to even hope to end drug trade as things stand today. But, at the same time it gives you a feel good factor, a wishful l thinking when you read details about Paul, Cal and his team carrying out something that is constructive even if it is only on paper. It also makes me wonder whether such a thing is possible at all, and why not? since Forsyth seems to have collected a lot of factual evidence with regard to drug money,money laundering through tax havens like Cayman islands, false accounts, the working system of tax havens and how the money tracks are covered, with the huge amount of monies totally vanishing after it goes through a few transactions.
The inter-relations between the various International terrorist organisations and their inter dependence on the drug lords is mind boggling and seems like a very complex issue that is impossible to penetrate nor solve. Although drug lords are all powerful in their own region, once it leaves Columbia and the South American coasts, the others take over mainly the drug peddlers and mafia in the European countries where most of the cocaine gets traded. The inner battles between the various fractions and the ruthless manner in which things are dealt,with utter disregard for human life is something that shocks you and makes your nerves tingle.
An ideal situation would be one where cocaine and other substances are completely wiped out from this world which is of course not possible, but while reading this book it feels as if there is some hope if the right kind of powerful minds decide to act against it. A very interesting book, unputdownable and definitely worth reading. Since this is based in 2010 which is quite recent, one can easily relate to many political events and changes in the world which are all discussed since all of them are interlinked and have their own impact on the operation carried out by the operation Cobra group.
Finally, in my personal opinion any book written by Frederick Forsyth is worth reading since he has an inimitable style that makes his books stand apart from the rest!
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