Critical Mass [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Whitley Strieber (Author), Paul Boehmer (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2009

What would we do if a nuclear weapon were detonated in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. government suddenly disappeared? What would we do if a terrorist organization announced that it had concealed nuclear weapons in every major Western city and then demanded that the entire planet embrace its twisted brand of Muslim fundamentalism?In Critical Mass, Whitley Strieber explores this unthinkable but real possibility in a furious story that is almost too terrifying to tell. Nuclear interdiction expert James Deutsch and his Muslim wife, Nabila, struggle to stop an impending nuclear attack on a great American city. Along the way, they delve deep into the hidden world of nuclear terrorism and the experts who strive to contain it, and get a compelling look at the titanic battle within Islam over its own future-fundamentalist and rejecting, or compassionate and life-embracing.Like Strieber's classics Warday and The Coming Global Superstorm, Critical Mass is torn straight from the dark pages of a very dangerous and very possible future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this overheated thriller about nuclear terrorism from bestseller Strieber (2012: The War for Souls), Jim Deutsch, a CIA contract employee whose expertise is counterproliferation, has the world's fate in his hands as he races to foil the Islamic master-terrorist known as the Madhi. When Deutsch learns that some plutonium has been smuggled over the U.S. border from Mexico, he begins to suspect that America's elaborate homeland security apparatus has been compromised. His valiant efforts, alas, aren't enough to prevent the destruction of Las Vegas. As U.S. president William Fitzgerald ponders whether to launch devastating counterattacks aimed at much of the Muslim world, the tension rises, but the impact is undercut by some uneven prose (She looked back at him as if from another dimension, her gaze resplendent with the unquenchable hope of youth, her mother's proud lips, determined, supremely confident that her dad was the great man she believed him to be). (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Strieber, known for his science fiction and nonfiction speculation about extraterrestrials, tackles the war on terror in a page-turning thriller. James Deutsch, a government agent and expert on nuclear weapons, fears that a terrorist organization has brought a bomb across the Mexican border. While investigating, he finds himself facing roadblocks at every turn, forcing him not to trust anyone. Does someone in the government have inside knowledge? Then the unthinkable happens, and it appears to be only a matter of time before the U.S. collapses. Strieber knows how to create suspense, and he provides a too-realistic-for-comfort scenario that should land him on the talk-show circuit declaiming on terrorism. For thriller readers, though, the important thing to remember is that this novel is less a Vince Flynn–type action romp than it is a rant about the bureaucratic bunglings of government agencies amid the chaos of a terrorist threat, so steer readers accordingly. --Jeff Ayers --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged,Unabridged CD edition (March 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400111579
• ISBN-13: 978-1400111572
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,273,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre Thriller, June 26, 2009

By 

Pangloss "soldierblue" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Critical Mass (Hardcover)

I am big fan of Mr. Strieber but this story just does not hit its mark. The plot is topical and could have been exciting and suspenseful but the story seemed hurried and not really developed. Nor are the characters fleshed out and seem very typical and one diminsionable. In fact, some of the dialogue is quite corny and contrived. Fleshing out the characters and making the book somewhat longer would have helped. This is more of a "book to a movie" type of story. Wait for the paperback.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apocalyptic Terror, February 26, 2009

By 

Eileen Granfors (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Critical Mass (Hardcover)

Whitley Streiber's new novel, "Critical Mass," is more than a thriller, more than a spy story, more than science fiction.

It takes on the premise: what if terrorists DID nuke an American city and had devices in place to terminate Western civilization? What if America could counter extremists with an equally devastating weapon of reprisal?

The hero, Jim Deutsch, is equal parts McGyver, Jack Ryan, Indiana Jones, and Bourne. Add in Jim's love, a Moslem woman, Nabila, who works for American security. A cast of characters from the Pope to the American president to a host of foreign extremists completes the page-turning tension.

Streiber is at his best with the small details of horrifying death [the people] "tumbling toward the flame, in the dust, in the chaos," and "The wall exploded inward. . .burying the smoking chucks of . . .bodies in the fiery debris. So each soul started with a question, entered a moment of horror, then knew death."

Moreover, he uses the clarity of the theme of people in power, those who could prevent catastrophe, those who do not act. And he warns that this time is coming, that nuclear proliferation is a threat to life as we know it. As he did in "Nature's End," Streiber presents the facts of environmental and human disaster, using the evidence that is already in front of us, but personalizing it with characters we care about.

Although the narrator states, ". . .nuclear destruction remained something that was really beyond imagination, and its effects were far more terrible than its planners had anticipated," it is clear that Streiber is calling for action NOW to prevent disaster SOON.

This is a terrifying, realistic, absorbing book

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disapointing, April 3, 2009

By 

V. Patterson (Marsh Harbour, Bahamas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Critical Mass (Hardcover)

I have enjoyed a number of Mr. Strieber's books, but this wasn't one of them. At the end of the day, there was just too much that was not believable. In short, it's about terrorist organization who managed to penetrate the US government and to acquire nuclear weapons - one of which it uses on Las Vegas early in the book. I find it unbelievable that such an organization would be unknown to everyone but the Russians (as is suggested) and that they would be able to get as much nuclear material as they did. The way the president acted throughout the book never made much sense, either.
A lot is never explained - how did the terrorists penetrate the government as deeply as they did? How did they get a recording of that the President was saying? The actions of the Russian government were also totally unbelievable.
I didn't find the hero of the book to be very interesting - nor his ex-wife for that matter. Overall, I wanted to like it and the fast pace was good, but overall it just wasn't a very good book.