Synopsis
When a nuclear missile launched by a rogue North Korean faction explodes in space, the resulting shock wave destroys most of the world's satellites and all global communication. U.S. military satellites, designed to withstand such an assault, reveal two more missiles on launch pads in North Korea, ready to be deployed. Faced with the threat of a thermonuclear attack, the United States has only one possible defense: Able One.
Able One, or ABL-1, is a modified 747 fitted with a high powered laser able to knock out missiles in flight. But both the laser's technology and the jet's crew are untested. What was originally a training flight with a skeleton crew turns into a desperate race to destroy the two remaining nukes. Will Able One's experimental technology be enough to prevent World War III especially when it becomes clear that a saboteur is on board?
Publishers Weekly
Hugo-winner Bova (The Green Trap) combines cutting-edge science and geopolitics in a fast-paced but flimsy near-future technothriller. When a rogue faction of the North Korean army detonates a nuclear missile in space, an electromagnetic shockwave takes out numerous satellites and cripples communications worldwide. Fearing another attack, the U.S. military launches ABL-1, a powerful but untested 747-mounted laser that should be able to destroy a missile in flight. The effort will be a baptism in fire for the skeleton crew, one of whom may be a saboteur. Meanwhile, the president struggles to respond to the crisis without starting a world war. The tense atmosphere, swiftly unfolding plot, and scientific details do little to hide a host of meaningless subplots and shallow characters, resulting in a Clancyesque tale that lacks the power and focus of Bova's better and better-known hard SF. (Feb.)