The Better Angels » (Reprint)

Charles McCarry "remains the greatest espionage writer that America has produced," wrote Otto Penzler in the New York Sun. He established an international reputation with the publication of the worldwide bestseller The Tears of Autumn in 1975 and is the author of nine other critically acclaimed novels. During the Cold War he was an intelligence office operating under deep cover in Europe, Africa, and Asia. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Lenox, Massachusetts.

When Charles McCarry's The Better Angels was first published almost 30 years ago, one reviewer lamented that its premise—that terrorists would use passenger-filled airliners as tools of terror—was so incredible that it would pose an obstacle to the reader's suspension of disbelief. In retrospect, this was to be just one of many of the novel's facets that would prove to be prophetic.

The Better Angels takes place in an election year close to the turn of the century in a deeply polarized America. The presidential race matches a tall, lantern-jawed liberal to a far-right former businessman with deep ties to the energy industry. Meanwhile, elusive Islamic terrorists led by an oil-rich Arab prince, desperate to acquire nuclear bombs to use against Israel or major American cities, disrupt the presidential campaign by a series of bloody suicide bombing. Finally the election itself is stolen, as one side hacks into computerized voting systems to change the tallies in key states.

From the writer the New York Times Book Review called "the genuine article," The Better Angels is a thrilling and relevant masterwork.

Michael Rogers Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information - School Library Journal

Initially published in 1979, this is being dubbed by Overlook "the prophetic thriller." It features Islamic terrorists plotting to use passenger liners as weapons during a turn-of-the-century election year, with the front runner being a far-right businessman with ties to the energy industry. How scary is that? McCarry has a solid following.