Reviews for Blowback

by James Patterson and Brendan DuBois

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A rogue president schemes to start, and end, a cyberwar with China.It feels almost like business as usual to CIA field operative Benjamin Lucas when the defection of his Stanford schoolmate Chin Lin from the Chinese Ministry of State Security goes pear-shaped: Masked men storm the meeting in which Chin is handing over supersecret information, Chin gets shot, Ben gets abducted and imprisoned. But Chins imperious boss, Xi Dejiang, is the least of their problems, or their nations'. Shuttling back and forth to reveal a constantly widening panorama, Patterson and DuBois focus on deputy CIA director Hannah Abrams stalled nomination as director, inoffensive finance officer Donna Ottersons suicide when shes arrested for passing CIA secrets to the Chinese, and the mysterious poisoning thats sent Vice President Laura Hernandez into a coma. The spider at the center of all this skulduggery is President Keegan Barrett, whos ordered CIA operatives Liam Grey and Noa Himel to assemble secret teams to terminate with extreme prejudice any Chinese espionage operations they can find inside or outside the U.S. Convinced that hes been ordained to rend Chinas digital infrastructure from top to bottom, Barrett has insulated himself from second-guessing by surrounding himself with yes men and neutralizing any dissenting voices by canceling their communications capabilities or having them assassinated. Echoing Fletcher Knebel's Night of Camp David, which they acknowledge, and Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove, which they dont, the authors set their rousing tale of a few good citizens determined to wrestle the country back from a delusional paranoiac in a world thats at once absolutely menacing and deeply nostalgic.The perfect beach read for political junkies willing to change the frequency for a few hours. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A rogue president schemes to start, and end, a cyberwar with China. It feels almost like business as usual to CIA field operative Benjamin Lucas when the defection of his Stanford schoolmate Chin Lin from the Chinese Ministry of State Security goes pear-shaped: Masked men storm the meeting in which Chin is handing over supersecret information, Chin gets shot, Ben gets abducted and imprisoned. But Chin’s imperious boss, Xi Dejiang, is the least of their problems, or their nations'. Shuttling back and forth to reveal a constantly widening panorama, Patterson and DuBois focus on deputy CIA director Hannah Abrams’ stalled nomination as director, inoffensive finance officer Donna Otterson’s suicide when she’s arrested for passing CIA secrets to the Chinese, and the mysterious poisoning that’s sent Vice President Laura Hernandez into a coma. The spider at the center of all this skulduggery is President Keegan Barrett, who’s ordered CIA operatives Liam Grey and Noa Himel to assemble secret teams to terminate with extreme prejudice any Chinese espionage operations they can find inside or outside the U.S. Convinced that he’s been ordained to rend China’s digital infrastructure from top to bottom, Barrett has insulated himself from second-guessing by surrounding himself with yes men and neutralizing any dissenting voices by canceling their communications capabilities or having them assassinated. Echoing Fletcher Knebel's Night of Camp David, which they acknowledge, and Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove, which they don’t, the authors set their rousing tale of a few good citizens determined to wrestle the country back from a delusional paranoiac in a world that’s at once absolutely menacing and deeply nostalgic. The perfect beach read for political junkies willing to change the frequency for a few hours. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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