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THE DEVIL’S LIGHT tells the story of an AL Qaeda operative named Amer Al Zaroor, who, on orders from Osama Bin Laden, directs the theft of a nuclear weapon from the Pakistani military, and then transports it toward its intended target, Israel. Meanwhile Bin Laden announces to the world that he will make a major terrorist strike on 9/11/10, the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Deep inside Washington, Brooke Chandler, a CIA operative whose cover was blown by an incompetent colleague in Lebanon, thinks he knows how the bomb is being moved toward its target and how to find it. First he must overcome the skepticism of the CIA and the White House, and then he must find the bomb and disable or detonate it before it causes the Middle East to go up in flames.
About the Author
Richard North Patterson is the author of The Devil’s Light, In the Name of Honor, The Spire, and sixteen other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. He lives in Martha's Vineyard, San Francisco, and Cabo San Lucas with his wife, Dr. Nancy Clair.
Publishers Weekly
Patterson (In the Name of Honor) brings his usual encyclopedic research to
this exploration of what is quickly becoming a tiresome thriller subgenre, the
Arab terrorist with a nuclear bomb. History lectures and political lessons tend
to slow what is generally an interesting if only mildly suspenseful account of a
terrorist plot involving bin Laden himself from the early planning stages to the
very gates of nuclear disaster. CIA agent Brooke Chandler and his retired agency
mentor, Carter Grey, believe that the target of the attack, which they know is
scheduled for September 11, 2011, will be Tel Aviv rather than an American city.
This unpopular opinion forces the two men almost singlehandedly to hunt down a
deadly terrorist, Amer Al Zaroor, to foil the bomb plot. Patterson's work is
always serious, detailed, and meticulous, which makes this a scary how-to manual
for terrorists, but something less for readers looking for straight-out action
and thrills. (May) The Preacher Camilla Läckberg, trans. from the Swedish by
Steven T. Murray Pegasus (Norton, dist.), .95 (432p) ISBN 978-1-60598-173-4
Swedish bestseller Läckberg's worthy second thriller set in the coastal town of
Fjällbacka (after The Ice Princess) opens with a grim discovery—the naked
fresh corpse of Tanja Schmidt, a German tourist, on top of the skeletal remains
of two young women, later identified as Mona Thernblad and Siv Lantin. All three
were killed in the same way, but as Det. Patrik Hedström and his team soon
discover, Mona and Siv went missing in 1979, and Johannes Hult, the prime
suspect in their disappearances, is long dead. The reason for a sadistic
killer's reappearance may be hidden among the many secrets and conflicts of a
local clan of religious eccentrics. The troubled Hults, from conniving founder
(known as the Preacher) to philandering spouses, show a Ross Macdonaldesque love
of twisted family relationships, while Läckberg's colorful, diverse police
force, staffed with the competent, the incompetent, and the merely distracted,
recalls the humanist touch of Dutch author Janwillem van de Wetering. (May)
Library Journal
In Patterson's 19th thriller (after In the Name of Honor), two skilled
tacticians maneuver toward an ultimate goal. Osama bin Laden orders Amer Al
Zaroor, an al-Qaeda operational genius, to smuggle a nuclear weapon from
Pakistan and detonate it over Tel Aviv. U.S. intelligence officials commission
Brooke Chandler, a highly trained CIA agent, to prevent the devastation on the
tenth anniversary of 9/11. The two adversaries gain assistance from colleagues
throughout the Middle East. Patterson, known for his extensive research,
consulted with past and present members within the U.S. intelligence and defense
communities, which enabled him to craft a highly credible plot. Their varied
insights and experiences enrich Patterson's compelling story, which is also
steeped with history and nuance. VERDICT Discussing nuclear proliferation,
counterterrorism, and loose nuclear weapons on the anniversary of 9/11 requires
authority and accuracy. Patterson masterfully achieves this objective. Fans of
Patterson and other thrillers will welcome this gripping read. [See Prepub
Alert, 11/22/10.]—Jerry P. Miller, Cambridge, MA
Kirkus Reviews
Al Qaeda gets the Bomb.
Osama bin Laden lieutenant Amer Al Zaroor has a dream: a city in flames, its
buildings reduced to rubble, its inhabitants dead, its neighbors maimed, cowed
and utterly demoralized. It can all come true, he promises, if only al-Qaeda can
hijack a nuclear device from Pakistan. Al Zaroor's plan is ingenious and
terrifyingly plausible. Since the country's nuclear arsenal will be least secure
when it's being moved into position for a possible war against India, he hires
bombers to provoke a crisis between the two nations and a crack team to grab a
200-pound device as trucks carry it over roads that are doubly treacherous. The
theft goes off without a hitch—Pakistan even unwittingly cooperates by denying
that any such theft took place—but the sharpest eyes over at the CIA aren't
taken in by bin Laden's broadcast announcement that he has a bomb and intends to
detonate it over a major U.S. city on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. As most of
the Agency types are scurrying to secure America's porous borders, Brooke
Chandler, a field officer back stateside after barely surviving his last posting
to Lebanon, voices a contrary suspicion: What if bin Laden really intends to
bomb Tel Aviv in the hope of provoking Israeli and American retaliation against
Iran? (Readers who scoff at the unlikelihood that America, attacked by stateless
terrorists, would strike back at a sovereign state are gently reminded of our
recent adventures in Iraq.) So far, so chilling. But Chandler turns out to be
one more Patterson superhero with a symbolically troubled back story, an
ideologically challenging ex-lover and improbably greater gifts for intelligence
and survival than the disposable supporting cast.
Patterson (In the Name of Honor,2010, etc.) grabs you with an
all-too-plausible fantasy of nuclear Armageddon, but the tension oozes away in
the wait for his fictional puppets to hit their preordained marks. Sometimes
truth is scarier than fiction.
Other Reviews
"THE DEVIL'S LIGHT dazzles and illuminates, a page-turner that smartly and in breath-taking fashion snaps to life the complexities of the middle east and the struggle of nations and players for power. The books literally barrels along as the stakes grow ever higher. Deeply researched and thoroughly plausible, Patterson's is one of the most intelligent and entertaining thrillers about the world as it is, and the possible world to come."
--Doug Stanton, author of "Horse Soldiers "and" In Harm's Way"
ISBN: 9781451616804
ISBN-10: 1451616805
Audience:
General
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 342
Published: 3rd May 2011
Dimensions (cm): 23.495 x 16.383
x 2.997
Weight (kg): 0.499
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