This is a horror story. Not a ghosts and chainsaw wielding type, but still horrifying. Set in the not-too-distant future, it’s the story of our headlong rush to global nuclear war using trigger points of today.
The US President, three years into her first term, is harried by a populist, sabre-rattling rival. Her personal life is giving her grief, but this pales in the face of rising global tensions. In Chad, CIA Agent Tamara must deal with her incompetent seniors, a poverty-stricken nation, worry about an operative incognito in the field, and the possibility of love. When a US Drone is stolen in Chad and used to exact revenge on an old enemy, there are ramifications no-one could have seen.
Kiah is a widow with a small child, desperate to leave Chad and make it to France, joining the great movement of trafficked and vulnerable people seeking a better life. In China, Chiang Kai is working in National Security and is trying to keep his famous actress wife from falling foul of the Communist Government. In North Korea a rebel uprising is causing angst and South Korea has a new President, swept to victory on a platform of unification. As elements of the world today, they make for an explosive mix.
I found it too long and frankly thought it could do with a good edit. But it brings to the fore the fragile nature of peace, the incongruence of proportionate responses, and how the world is in the hands of leaders who may or may not be thinking rationally. Read it and be terrified. I was.
Reviewed by Lesley West
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Follett is one of the world’s most successful authors. Over 188 million copies of the 36 books he has written have been sold in over 80 countries and in 40 languages.
Born on 5 June, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995.
He started his career as a reporter, first with his hometown newspaper the South Wales Echo and then with the London Evening News. Subsequently, he worked for a small London publishing house, Everest Books, eventually becoming Deputy Managing Director.
BOOKS
Ken’s first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. A World War II thriller set in England, this book earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It remains one of Ken’s most popular books.
In 1989, Ken’s epic novel about the building of a medieval cathedral, The Pillars of the Earth, was published. It reached number one on best-seller lists everywhere and was turned into a major television series produced by Ridley Scott, which aired in 2010. World Without End, the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, proved equally popular when it was published in 2007. In 2023, Ken launched an online course on Writing Bestselling Fiction with BBC Maestro.
Ken has been active in numerous literacy charities and was president of Dyslexia Action for ten years. He was chair of the National Year of Reading, a joint initiative between government and businesses. He is also active in many local charities and Patron of Home-Start Hertfordshire.
Ken, who loves music almost as much as he loves books, is an enthusiastic bass guitar player. He lives in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, with his wife Barbara, the former Labour Member of Parliament for Stevenage. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren and three Labradors.
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