Blowback [Hardcover]

Eric Fullilove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2001

A terrifying international incident has just begun the countdown to nuclear war.

The one man who can stop it has just been framed for the murder of one of Washington, D.C.'s darlings.

The clock is running. So is he.

On India's border, a weapon of mass destruction tips the world's balance of power. In Washington, D.C., a well-dressed man is stopped by the cops for DWB -- Driving While Black. In a darkened hallway, a killer waits for a beautiful woman to come home. And Eric James Fullilove's shattering, relentlessly suspenseful thriller about race, power, and justice has just begun.

The president's national security advisor, Richard Whelan, is tough, smart, and black. Coming from Harvard to the White House, he knows how to play political games. But be's about to get a refresher course in the rules of the street. Framed for a brutal murder, Whelan is suddenly a fugitive on the run, a pawn in a chilling conspiracy, and the only man who can put the pieces together and stop a nuclear holocaust -- if he can just stay alive.

In Blowback, author Eric James Fullilove introduces an exciting, new black character who is part Richard Kimball, part Jack Ryan, part Shaft -- and all hero.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This new thriller is so high concept that it might just give readers a nosebleed: picture Colin Powell meeting O.J. Simpson on the brink of nuclear war. Richard Whelan, the national security adviser, is the highest-ranking African-American in the administration of President Edgar Roswell. Following his white lover, Mary Jacobs, home from a party where they've had a loud argument, Whelan is pulled over by two white cops in an unmarked car, who proceed to insult and pistol-whip him. Then, at Mary's apartment, Whelan enters to find her dead body. He calls 911 on his cell phone, reports the killing, then gets a call from the White House summoning him to an urgent meeting. Does he say, "I'll be there as soon as I've convinced the cops that I didn't kill my girlfriend?" Not a chance: in the first of many jaw-dropping lapses of sense, Whelan rushes back to the Situation Room, where he learns that India has dropped a neutron bomb on Pakistani troops in Kashmir. As one character says to Whelan, "What I don't see is how all this fits in with your girlfriend's death." Can it have something to do with Mary Jacobs's father funneling dirty money to both President Roswell and the CIA? Will Whelan's smart friend Bettina at the State Department be able to get into his White House computer before severe blowback "It's what happens when the repercussions of one action spin out of control," says the CIA chief? And has Denzel Washington or Samuel L. Jackson already signed to play Whelan in the film version of this highly unlikely but thrillingly fast-paced adventure? Author appearances in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Richard Whelan is the National Security Advisor to the president of the U.S. He's also on the run, framed for a murder he didn't commit. As if that weren't enough, Whelan--if he can stay alive and out of jail--is the only person capable of stopping a nuclear detonation that threatens to destroy a large chunk of the world. This fastpaced thriller will appeal to readers who value excitement above all else. Its dialogue is sometimes clunky, its storytelling overly slick, its characters rudimentary, but somehow none of that seems to matter. The novel succeeds on pure narrative adrenalin, piling on the action until we hardly notice that we can't remember the names of most of the supporting players, let alone what they look like. As a craftsman, author Fullilove is a notch or two below such midrange genre names as James Grippando or Ken Goddard, but anyone who can do action the way he can has the potential to be a contender. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Amistad; 1st edition (September 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066212502
• ISBN-13: 978-0066212500
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,935,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting Read with a Quick Plot, December 28, 2001

By 

JC "JC" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blowback (Hardcover)

Richard Whelan, a Harvard Graduate and National Security Advisor, is framed for the murder of his girlfriend, the daughter of a major defense contractor. At the same time, India uses a nuclear weapon against Pakistan, bringing the region to the brink of war.

Rarely does one find a novel with a plot that moves as quickly as this. This book is easily readable in one sitting and readers will no doubt be fully entertained. While at some points the story becomes somewhat overly spectacular, readers who can suspend belief for a while will enjoy Blowback in much the same way they would enjoy a movie like Air Force One or Clear and Present Danger.

I have only one complaint about Blowback, and it is a minor one at that. I felt that the main character's race became too much of a focal point at times. While this is, in some other cases, necessary to develop the characters in a story, I felt that the fact that every one of the 'bad guys' was at least moderately racist while all of the 'good guys' were not detracted from the story. While this complaint by no means makes Blowback any less worthy of reading, I do feel that the author has crafted too good a story to rely on racial tension to make his lead character any more heroic.

I would recommend this book to anyone who reads James Patterson, Brad Meltzer, John Sandford, or Jeffery Deaver.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Barely 4 stars, October 19, 2001

By 

Konrad Kern (OFallon, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blowback (Hardcover)

Richard Whelan, an African American, is National Security Advisor to the President. When he and his white girlfriend get into a fight at a party, they decide that he should follow her home to get his things out of her apartment. On the way there, he is pulled over, by what he thinks are the police, and beaten. He makes it to the apartment and discovers his girlfriends dead body. He calls 911, and before the police show up, he is called back to the White House for an emergency meeting. Him leaving the scene was the biggest mistake he ever made--and really doesnt make much sense either. Whelan is framed for the murder and soon becomes the victim of numerous frame-ups. Being pursued by the CIA and the Secret Service as well as the Washington Police, our hero Whelan must escape capture, and at the same time try to diffuse an international incident involving China, Pakistan, and India.

Shallow characters dont seem to put too much of a damper on the action and fast-paced narrative.

With some more time under his belt. I think Fullimore will become quite a good thriller writer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Superior Thriller, February 21, 2002

By 

Mark K. Mcdonough "Mark McDonough" (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blowback (Hardcover)

This is probably the best thriller I've read in the last 2 or 3 years. The characters are believable, the action is dizzyingly fast, and the plot is not an insult to one's intelligence. In fact, quite the opposite -- the book actually gets you to think about some big issues, not least the danger of having an utterly amoral person in the White House. I also found Fullilove's protagonist refreshing. Yes he's macho, handsome, and brilliant -- the usual thriller virtues. But he also has flaws, faults and fears. There is none of the cartoony quality that you find in so many best-selling thrillers.

Fullilove also does an excellent job with the Washington background (something tells me he must have had some career connection with the world of intelligence, but if not he's certainly done his homework). I also liked the fact that the books various crises and disasters grow out of the failures and miscalculations of ordinary people -- just like in real life. Truly superior!