His second novel,' Breakpoint' , is even better than The Scorpion's Gate, his debut fiction effort. Set in 2012, this futuristic technothriller pits a clandestine trio of U.S. government investigators against an elusive crew of cyberspace terrorists. As in his previous novel, Clarke peppers the action with realistic modules of cutting-edge expertise. An escapist read with real-world relevance. From the Publisher Against All Enemies warned about how we were conducting the war against terror. The Scorpion's Gate demonstrated what could happen. And now America's preeminent counterterrorism expert and #1 bestselling author shows us all . . .hat might come next. The global village-an intricately intertwined network of technology that binds together the world's economies, governments, and communication systems. So large, so vital-and so fragile. Now a sophisticated group is seeking to "disconnect the globe"-destroying computer grids, communications satellites, Internet cable centers, biotech firms. Hard to do? If only that were so. Quickly, a dedicated team of men and women assembles to try to track the group down, searching through right-wing militias and Russian organized crime, Jihadist terrorists and enemy nation-states. But the attacks are coming more swiftly now, and growing in destructiveness. Soon, they will reach the breakpoint- and then there may be nothing anybody can do. Reviewers everywhere praised the suspense and pace of The Scorpion's Gate, the vivid depictions of war, espionage, and bureaucracy, but most of all they hailed its authenticity. "Unlike most novelists, the man has been there and done that," said The New York Times Book Review. "Some of us," added The Washington Post, "have learned to listen when Richard A. Clarke has something to say." And we'd better hope they're listening now. Vanity Fair Yikes! Richard A. Clarke's nail-biter suspense novel (Putnam) irrefutably proves that there is nothing like being America's pre-eminent counterterrorism expert to goose up your book with real terror. The Washington Post - William Stevenson The skeptical reader will be seduced by the action. Clarke whizzes from aerial laser-gun dogfights between China and Taiwan to the Bahamas, where Susan tries to rescue the extra-chromosome children of wealthy clients at a baby clinic with a secret agenda. Drawing upon stacks of current scientific research, all carefully sourced, Clarke dangles the carrot of speculation about the enemy's identity until the very end. In a final author's note, he reviews current technologies that could be used for good or for ill. As he sees it, "sometimes you can tell more truth through fiction," which may lead the reader to the uneasy conclusion that the real enemy is us. Publishers Weekly In a techno-thriller as timely as today's exploding Internet, counterterrorism expert Clarke and veteran actor Dean team up for an exciting and truly frightening audio experience. There are no artful metaphors or other writer's flourishes in this story?just a major download of insider info, which obviously comes from the author's impressive sources. Set in 2012, Breakpointtells about a computer program called Living Software, designed to surge across the Internet, invent new software and clean up past mistakes on its own, without any human help. There's also a group called the Transhumanist Movement, where children with extraordinary new chromosomes are being grown. But somebody (the Russians? A business rival of the Movement's sponsor?) is blowing up Internet connections, destroying labs and killing scientists in an apparent attempt to derail the project. Dean guides listeners calmly and logically through this murky tangle, finally reaching an ending that will surprise and enlighten as well as scare their socks off. Published at Twenty Six dollars.  Penguin Group (USA) 0-399-15378-0 / 9780399153785
Hardcover As New Condition  New York 

Price: 22.34 USD

It's a brilliant conceit, and though it's sometimes drowned out by the din of various axes being ground ("It''s 68 degrees [in Washington]on January 28 and the White House still claims that global warming isn't a problem?"), the story is crowded with terrific double crosses, defections and deceptions. They're icing, though: Clarke's dramatic micro explanations of how things "really" work;from a hand who served Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes;are the true story. This is the first novel to shift all the way from Clancy's Cold War to the present war on terror.

From The Washington Post: Some of us have learned to listen when Richard A. Clarke has something to say. As the long-time White House counterterrorism chief, he warned the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century in 1999 that terrorists were coming. We listened, but when we passed the warning on to President Bush, he did not. Now Clarke comes with a novel that, even if you swallow only a portion of it, will keep you awake at night. It's basically about turmoil in the Middle East, threatening to lead to World War III between the United States and China involving -- guess what? -- oil.

Reading The Scorpion's Gate will require you to contemplate the consequences of the fall of the House of Saud, indigenous democracy on the Arabian Peninsula in a successor government of moderate Islamists, the profound fissure between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, possible Chinese military intervention in the Middle East, America's disastrous energy policy, the costs of the Iraq War, the simple-minded U.S. understanding of the Middle East, and the political complexities of that region. The book's plot defies easy summary. A revolution in Saudi Arabia (now renamed Islamyah) leads the Qods Force -- the covert-action arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard -- to try to destabilize the Persian Gulf, attacking U.S. facilities in the guise of Iraqis, all in the interest of establishing Shiite hegemony in the region. Two Chinese carrier task groups deploy to the Persian Gulf to deliver nuclear warheads to the hard-line Shura Council that is running Islamyah and to secure China's oil supplies. Meanwhile, under the guise of massive military exercises, a corrupt U.S. secretary of defense conspires to usurp command over the military, divert U.S. forces to invade Islamyah and reinstate the Saudis.

Against this intricate backdrop, a senior American intelligence analyst named Russell "Rusty" MacIntyre makes contact with high-level dissident officials from Islamyah (former al Qaeda operatives converted to patriotic democrats -- don't ask); British intelligence's station chief in Bahrain, Brian Douglas, survives an assassination attempt and reactivates a source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry; and New York Journal reporter Kate Delmarco uncovers Defense Secretary Conrad's corrupt ties to the Saudis (for whom Clarke has little use). Putnam Adult 0-399-15294-6 / 9780399152948
Hardcover very good condition New York 

Price: 19.31 USD