โ Scribed by David Baldacci
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Usually a sophisticated plotter, bestseller Baldacci (Absolute Power) offers a story line and villain on a par with an average James Bond film in what's billed as his first international thriller. Nicholas Creel, the head of the Ares Corporation, a huge defense contractor, hires a perception management firm to start a second cold war by planting fake news stories on the Internet about Russian atrocities. The propaganda campaign soon turns violent with the massacre of the members of a London think tank, the Phoenix Group, apparently by a Russian hit team. Creel hopes that the Phoenix Group's links with the Chinese government will lead to war between Russia and China as well as feed a worldwide arms race that will profit his company. A shadowy operative, A Shaw, whose fiancรฉe perished in the London attack, allies himself with a disgraced female journalist in an effort to thwart Creel's evil plot. While some readers may find it a stretch that a resurgent Russia should so easily overshadow all other world crises, Baldacci in an author's note makes an eloquent case for the very real threat of perception management. (Apr. 22)
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Baldacci masterfully plays on the American paranoia in the wake of the War on Terror in this bizarre international thriller. โRemember Constantinโ is the battle cry du jour across America after a frightening piece of video makes the rounds on the Internet. In it, Constantin, a young Russian, claims that the release of the video means he has been executed by the Russian Federation. The fear of a return to the cold war is so palpable that nations across the globe are preparing for the worst. But is it a hoax? Nicolas Creel, the Machiavellian head of the largest defense contractor in the U.S., and his buddy Dick Pender, the image-maker (think evil, cartoonish versions of Cheney and Rove, respectively), are hell bent on keeping the terror levels high so that they become the ultimate go-to guys. But Shawโthatโs it, our heroโs nameโs just Shawโhas other plans and risks his life and limb in order to keep the peace. Shaw answers to a secret global intelligence agency, and though heโs not too keen on their tactics, either, heโs determined to stay with the good guys, however negligible the distinction may be. Meanwhile journalist Katie James is after the โwhole truthโ behind this twisted version of king of the hill. Baldacciโs ability to make international intrigue light and readable is uncanny. It hovers on the verge ofย superhero nonsense, but the dialogue snaps forth on cue, the plot never slows, and the ending packs a genuine punch. Read-alikes? Tom Clancy, of course. --Mary Frances Wilkens
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SUMMARY: Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. He's retained Dick Pender to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating world conflicts. Shaw (no first name), a man with a truly unique past, travels th
*"Dick, I need a war."* Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even gr
SUMMARY: Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. He's retained Dick Pender to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating world conflicts. Shaw (no first name), a man with a truly unique past, travels th
SUMMARY: Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. He's retained Dick Pender to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating world conflicts. Shaw (no first name), a man with a truly unique past, travels th