The Executioners (Killmaster novel)

"The Executioners" is a novel in the Killmaster series of spy novels, published in 1971.

Plot summary

The Australian armed forces have been messing up badly. One of their carriers rams and destroys an American cruiser. A pilot accidentally drops live bombs during war games. An out-of-control tank sets off an explosion that decimates a British army contingent. Nick Carter is sent to investigate, working alongside Major Rothwell and his assistant, Mona Star. After a few near misses with death, and the deaths of the men who were at the hearts of the accidents, Nick uncovers a Chinese plot to drive off Australia’s allies, an underwater base on the Great Barrier Reef, and the shocking secret that the plot is not truly Chinese, but the brainchild of a bitter woman whose father was ruined by the Australian army – and who killed and took the place of the real Mona Star, years ago. The plot is ended by a couple of navy torpedoes and a school of sharks.