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- “After many years working on intelligence and war issues, I now believe we’re about to have a worldwide nuclear war. We and nearly all life will probably soon be incinerated in a superheated radioactive dust that chokes the atmosphere for decades and turns most of the Earth to ice. Billions of us will die instantly, the rest in slow agony from radiation, burns and hunger.”
“Our rulers have this power and may use it. Unless we stop them.”
That’s the setup for CRUDE, the latest innovative thriller from Mike Bond, author of 12 bestselling novels set in the world’s most dangerous places. He has been called by the BBC “the master of the existential thriller.”
Bond is a former war journalist, intelligence expert, U.S. Senate candidate, diplomat, investment banker, and international energy company CEO. He is also considered an expert on world crude supply and oil refining.
In CRUDE, late one night on a huge oil and gas platform in the South China Sea, a young geologist, Liz Chaplin, stands on a high deck watching the Southern Cross. Below her, under the vast unrolling waves, a diver is clamping explosives to the tower’s underwater struts.
In New York, the platform’s owner, Rawhide Energy CEO Ross Bullock, tells journalists the president’s actions are leading irrevocably to nuclear war.
The platform explodes in a tower of flame. Because she is outside, Liz is the only survivor. Meanwhile 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.
Days later, Rawhide’s Wyoming refinery is damaged by a bomb, then its UK electric company is hacked.
Bullock enlists an old friend, former Navy Seal Turk Holman, to investigate the platform sabotage, while Bullock and his team start to hunt down the refinery attackers, aided by a cranky, brilliant Wyoming sheriff, Lyle Brant.
The search leads to further dangers in Mongolia, Indonesia, Washington D.C., 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.
Mike Bond has received the highest praises for his riveting, authentic novels:
“One of America’s best thriller writers.” – CULTURE BUZZ
“A master of the storytelling craft.” – MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
“One of the 21st Century’s most exciting authors.” – WASHINGTON TIMES
“Bond’s deft thriller will reinforce your worst fears.” –PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“An exhilarating spy novel.” – KIRKUS
“Mike Bond is a masterful storyteller.” – SACRAMENTO BEE
CRUDE is available at https://amzn.to/3VuN2gF.
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