Crude - by Mike Bond (Paperback)

About the Book

"One night, far out in the South China Sea, a diver sets explosive charges under a huge oil platform. On the platform above, geologist Liz Chaplin stands watching the Southern Cross sink beneath the waves. In New York, Ross Bullock, the CEO of Rawhide Energy and the platform's owner, states during a televised press conference that our country has made a fatal mistake in Ukraine and is headed for nuclear war. Immediately the White House, intelligence agencies, the media and financial world attack Rawhide for raising the specter of nuclear war and thus threatening the president's reelection. The action expands to Mongolia, Indonesia, Washington, and Ukraine. The true perpetrator of these crimes becomes known - it is impossible, unbelievable, but true. Is the White House behind it? The president threatens nuclear war with Russia to distract voters from his fraudulent Ukraine and China deals and worsening polls. The Russians respond by increasing their nuclear readiness. But the president alone can decide to launch a nuclear war as he clings to the nuclear button"--

Book Synopsis

From the "master of the existential thriller" (BBC) comes "an exhilarating spy novel" (Kirkus Reviews) that blends cinematic geopolitical intrigue, a chilling global threat, and an ending no one will see coming.

"One of the 21st Century's most exciting authors." - Washington Times

"IN A NUCLEAR ATTACK, FIND SHELTER AT ONCE."

Preceded by a loud beeping sound, this FEMA Presidential Emergency Alert hit every television, radio, and phone. The Doomsday clock was set. There was no time to lose.

The US President is escalating tensions with Russia, dragging the country to the brink of nuclear war. CEO of Rawhide Energy, Ross Bullock, invites members of every prominent news organization in the country for the most important announcement he is ever going make in his life: a warning that we are headed into Armageddon if the administration doesn't pull back.

As the press eats him alive for raising the specter of nuclear annihilation, and putting the President's re-election in jeopardy, Bullock finds out that one of his oil platforms in the South China Sea has been blown to bits, along with hundreds of team members.

Someone is trying to take him down. The question is: is the call coming from inside the house? Or is it a geopolitical adversary that would have more to gain if he was brought down to his knees?

Unfolding across Mongolia, Indonesia, Washington D.C., Wyoming, and Ukraine, Crude is a masterfully written super-thriller that takes us to the door of world annihilation and shows us what's inside.

PRAISE

A "riveting, authentic novel." - ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

"Grips the reader from the opening chapter and never lets go." - MIAMI HERALD

"Bond's deft thriller will reinforce your worst fears about the CIA and the Bomb." - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"One of America's best thriller writers" - CULTURE BUZZ

"A master of the storytelling craft" - MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

"Mike Bond is a masterful storyteller." - SACRAMENTO BEE

"Mike Bond's books are a national treasure." -WVOX

Review Quotes

"Bond's deft thriller will reinforce your worst fears about the CIA and the Bomb."-- "PUBLISHERS WEEKLY"

"Grips the reader from the opening chapter and never lets go."-- "MIAMI HERALD"

"Mike Bond is a masterful storyteller."-- "SACRAMENTO BEE"

"Mike Bond is the master of the existential thriller."-- "BBC"

"Mike Bond's books are a national treasure."-- "WVOX"

"One of the 21st Century's most exciting authors." -- "Washington Times"

"Unseen forces hold sway in this arresting political thriller."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

A "riveting, authentic novel."-- "ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH"

About the Author

Called "master of the existential thriller" by BBC, "one of America's best thriller writers" by Culture Buzz, and "one of the 21st century's most exciting authors" by the Washington Times, Mike Bond is a best-selling novelist, war and human rights journalist, and environmental activist. He has covered guerrilla wars, death squads, and military dictatorships in Latin America and Africa, Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, and ivory poaching and other environmental battles in East Africa and Asia.

His critically acclaimed novels take the reader into intense situations in the world's most perilous places, into wars, revolutions, dangerous love affairs and political and corporate conspiracies, making "readers sweat with [their] relentless pace." (Kirkus) and drawing them "into a land and a time I had not known but left me with my senses reeling." (NetGalley Reviews)

His books have been named among the best of the year by reviewers and readers alike. He speaks multiple languages, has climbed and trekked over 50,000 miles on every continent from the Antarctic to Siberia, and is at home in some of the most primitive and dangerous places on the planet.