What if?
What if one country's leader goes on the offense, and his or her enemy retaliates? And he retaliates back? At what point is escalation made into WAR? At what point can no amount of negotiation prevent annihilation??
No one argues that Ken Follett is a treasure of an author. His book The Pillars of the Earth is one of my all-time FAVORITE stories. This one is not historical fiction (yet) but more futuristic ponderings. The politics of spying, of manipulation, of guessing how far a person in control of nuclear and biological weapons will really go to hold on to or create power.
This story brought back Cold War vibes while also weaving in current political climate issues in China, North and South Korea, and other nations. Focusing on four main characters, we watch each side try to keep the peace, or at least hold back full-scale war. A female US President, a Chinese spymaster, a CIA agent, and an undercover agent living with jihadists all do their part for peace. Will it work? Or do all these small actions set up an avalanche that will destroy the world as we know it? The novel is divided into five parts, starting with DEFCON 5, which covers about half of the novel. Each successive part gets progressively shorter. Just like an escalation. Hmmmm.
Action packed and with simplistic prose, this is an easy if disturbing read. A few love stories are thrown in, but honestly the trouble with the President's marriage seemed superfluous. Not Follett's best work, but then maybe the subject matter just bothered me, because he made it seem so....possible. Scary.
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