Publishers Weekly
North’s clichéd fourth thriller featuring Peter Newman (after 2010’s The Assassins), the first without coauthor Joe Musser, offers plenty of red meat for political conservatives. In 2032, Newman’s son, James, who works with his father as a top executive at a private security firm, finds himself in the crosshairs of the unnamed U.S. president, the first woman to hold that office, who bears him a grudge from a 2026 congressional investigation. Meanwhile, fearful that the truth could spoil her re-election chances, the president is eager to blame terror attacks in Houston on domestic malcontents rather than on Islamic fundamentalists since she cut a deal with an Islamic leader that purportedly ended Muslim terror. Despite the passage of 20 years, little has changed technologically, apart from the Web being renamed the Mesh. Predictability and inattention to detail (would the president and the vice president fly in the same plane?) further mar this pallid effort. Agent: Bob Barnett. (Nov.)
Kirkus Reviews
North (Mission Compromised, 2002, etc.) forecasts a near future with a liberal government gone authoritarian, and it's left to Anarks (Anti-American Religious Kooks) and other right-thinkers to defend Constitutional ideals. Part thriller, part conspiracy novel, part political screed, this book follows the Newman family, led by father-son USMC heroes Peter and James, as it becomes embroiled in the 2032 election year's dirty politics subsequent to a September 11 terrorist attack on a scientific conference: Old-school Clancy in a brave new world. The Caliphate, an Islamic hagiography, controls everything from North Africa to Indonesia, although the ever-combative Iranians, picking at scabs of the Sunni-Shia split, are no peaceful disciples. The U.S. has ceded personal liberties to the U.N. Citizens have a PERT (Personal Electronic Radio Tag) embedded in their bodies, and everyone carries traceable PIDs (Personal Interface Device) connecting to MESH, the fourth-generation Internet. North's Acronym World 2032 needs an 11-page glossary, but the action is securely rooted in standard thriller dynamic. The catalyst is the apparent engineering of a fuel cell by Martin Cohen, retired admiral and professor, kidnapped during the conference attack. Cohen was Peter Newman's Naval Academy classmate. Rumors were the fuel cell would be available for free, something that doesn't go down well with the Iranians. Led by the widow of the previous incumbent, the current corrupt U.S. administration doesn't want the attack blamed on the Caliphate, since her reelection depends on Caliphate money and its no-terror cooperation. An administration conspiracy labels the Newmans as Anarks and blames James Newman for the attack. The Newmans have the resources of their all-powerful intelligence/paramilitary company, Centurion Solutions Group, and have Sen. Mackintosh Caperton, another Academy classmate, as an ally. As the jargon-loaded narrative unfolds, the Newmans retreat to their private island; Cohen washes ashore in Yucatan post-hurricane; and drug smugglers allied with the Mexican government, Iranians and CSG operatives led by James Newman converge on scene for the de rigueur shootout, escape and resolution. Predictable action sponsoring a political and social agenda.
