Customer Reviews

King of Bombs: A Novel About Nuclear Terrorism

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

King of Bombs is an enjoyable thriller. In the Tom Clancy tradition, author Filger provides `inside stuff' detail concerning nuclear weaponry, technology, border security, interrogation and chain-of-command protocol. The plot's momentum builds and builds until literally the last page. I couldn't put this one down and I highly recommend it.

Sheldon Filger has written a very knowledgeable and scary novel about nuclear terrorisim.

Starting with the crash of a B-52 in a lake in Canada during the Cuban missle crisis we learn that the plane sank without a trace. The USAF advised that it carried no nuclear weapons and even though this was not the truth, they honestly believed that the difficulty of detonating the bombs made them quite safe at the bottom of the lake. The bombs it carried were hydrogen bombs.

A series of events in Canada alert some of their authorities to the possibility that terrorists are in the area and aware of the location of the B-52 crash. A search of the lake confirms that the bombs are no longer with the aircraft.

David Cole is the Director of Counter Terrorisim for the US. News of the Canadian's find along with ominous matters involving surveilance of Islamic websites and intelligence alert him to the possibility that something is afoot. His problem is convincing others in the US Government that this is a problem worth taking seriously.

[The only weakness the book has, in my opinion, is the use of many fictional characters who are at David Cole's level of authority and then thinly veiled charicatures of Condaleza Rice who is back at her old job of NSA, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush who have the jobs they were elected to. The author has a far different opinion of Cheney and Bush than I do and how they would have reacted in many of the situations that confront them and I would have enjoyed the book much more had he simply dealt with completely fictional characters. It is because the story line and the research of the book are so good that I resisted the temptation to give it fewer stars because of my irritation with this one aspect of it.]

The mastermind behind the attack on America is known as The Lion and his plans for an attack on the US are elaborate and masterful. The story draws you along as those who are unraveling his plans meet with resistance at various levels of various governments. The final twist in the story comes out of left field and is a doozy. With the qualification I have previously noted, this is quite a book.

A bizarre murder in Northern Ontario leads intelligence agents on a path that unveils a conspiracy that may lead to the worst terrorism nightmare since 9/11. "King of Bombs" compares with Dan Brown and "The Da Vinci Code" in its meticulous research, dark and chilling plot and suspenseful turns and twists. It is almost prophetic in its description of a presidential administration based on George W. Bush and Dick Cheney that is dysfunctional and massively incompetent in responding to growing evidence that Al-Qaeda is planning a nuclear version of 9/11 in its next attack on America. "King of Bombs" is not only an entertaining techno-thriller and espionage novel, it is also a disturbingly realistic insight into what could actually happen-unless we all take the threat of nuclear terrorism far more seriously.

"King of Bombs" is a terrifying novel about nuclear terrorism. The author has clearly done extensive research on the subject. As the plot builds with suspense, Iran and North Korea conspire with Al-Qaeda in a scenario that is both frightening yet also highly plausible. You won't be able to put down this excellent novel. The ending has a shocking surprise. Well written with an amazing plot, "King of Bombs" brings home the threat of nuclear terrorism in a manner that is simply bone-chilling.

Canadian born author Sheldon Filger's "King of Bombs" is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a thoroughly researched novel about terrorists with sophisticated technology at their disposal who plan to detonate thermonuclear weapons within the borders of the United States. If such an apocalypse were to occur, it would claim millions of lives immediately, with many more dead from radiation poisoning in the weeks following the blast, and it would make North America uninhabitable for many years to come.

"King of Bombs" is a no-nonsense story that mercifully avoids silly romantic subplots. The main characters are elected and appointed government officials in the United States and Canada. David Cole, the American Director of Counter-Terrorism, is a voice in the wilderness, as he tries to convince his superiors that there is credible intelligence pointing to an imminent attack. Amelia Baldwin is a Arabic translator who works for Cole; she passes on alarming information that she has gleaned from a Jihadist Web site that has accurately predicted terrorist incidents in the past. Cole has an ally in Alex Dunlop, the Deputy Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. It seems that the nuclear device is somehow being transported from Canada into the United States. Even if the President and Vice-President were to take this threat seriously, which they are not inclined to do, how could disposal experts find the bomb in time to disarm it?

Filger's astonishing knowledge of the composition and mechanics of nuclear weapons lends an air of credibility to his story. His book couldn't be more timely, with its references to racial profiling, the use of torture to extract information, and the games that politicians play to further their own careers. The book has several weaknesses, as well. It has a number of typographical, grammatical, and spelling errors. The dialogue is often preachy and wooden, and the villains are one-dimensional stereotypes. Nonetheless, "King of Bombs" is quite suspenseful, and it is filled with fascinating and arcane information. Filger has written a daring and in-your-face thriller that challenges members of the free world to confront the grim realities facing us in this scary age of loose nukes.

King of Bombs is a first time novel by Sheldon Filger about nuclear terrorism. Filger is a native of New York City and, like all New Yorkers, the attack on the Twin Towers changed the way Filger looked at the world.

He began to wonder if a nuclear terrorist attack was feasible, and if feasible, exactly how could it be carried out.

On the jacket of the book Filger prints the following quote from Suleiman Abu Gheith, "We have the right to kill four million Americans - 2 million of them children."

And "If a bomb was dropped on them that would annihilate 10 million and burn their lands...this is permissible." -Sheikh Nasir bin Hamid al-Fahd, prominent Saudi cleric close to Al-Qaeda.

Chilling fiction? No. Those two quotes are chilling fact. They are accurate quotes from people close to or members of Al-Qaeda. Filger takes those pronouncements and weaves them into a chilling novel about nuclear terrorism.

The novel is not perfect. It is self-published and would have benefited from the attention of a skilled editor with a red pen. But that is not to say that the book is not a good read. Far from it. This book is a very good read.

It is gripping and the research Filger has obviously painstakingly undertaken is interwoven with the story to very good effect. There really was a Russian nuclear device called The Tsar Bomba ("King of Bombs") and the idea of terrorists obtaining nuclear material from a crashed USAAF bomber in Canada was told in such a way that it seemed plausible, as is the method they used to obtain the designs for the bomb.

The book, although written by an American rather intriguingly has the Canadian government and the Canadian Secret Service as the heroes attempting to track the terrorist bomb which is due to explode in New York. Aided by a renegade CIA agent who realises that his own government are too stupid to see that the terrorists do not propose to use a simple dirty bomb but a 100% accurate copy of the King of Bombs.

The novel does not pull any punches. The good guys use a South American torture expert to rip information from a Pakistani scientist, and the Canadian Secret Service operate illegally in America because the US government is too stupid to see the risk of the King of Bombs being detonated.

Of course, the good guys win through in the end. Well, they DO don't they? You will need to read the book to find out. But there is one hell of a twist to this novel, which I, for one, did not see coming.

It is published by Authorhouse and the ISBN is 1-4208-6055-0. It is available form Amazon UK at £14.49 for paperback and £25.49 hardback.

If you find it entertaining to be scared out of your wits, not about some far-out sci-fi scenario but about something that could actually happen to YOU, then you should definitely read Sheldon Filger's book, "King of Bombs." At first glance, this book may sound like sci-fi, but the more you learn, the more you realize it's all-too-realistic.

In fact, there really WAS a "King of Bombs," aka "Tsar Bomba" -- the largest nuclear weapon ever constructed or detonated. The bomb was developed in 1961 on the orders of Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschchev, designed by Andrei Sakharov, and detonated a few months later. The "Tsar Bomba" was useless from a military point of view, but as a terror and propaganda device, this 100-megaton (or more) monstrosity was highly effective. Basically, this bomb could kill incredible numbers of people. As Filger's character "Dr. Lazar" explains in the book, detonation of this doomsday device in downtown Manhattan would incinerate New York City, and most of the city's suburbs in Connecticut, New Jersey and Long Island. Beyond that, "cities such as Philadelphia and New Haven would be severely damaged," while "the fallout [would] cause mass casualties across a wide portion of the American eastern seaboard and Midwest..." In the end, such a bomb would probably kill 80 million people.

Against another nation, of course, like the Soviet Union, we had our own nuclear deterrent to an attack with such a weapon. Essentially, "Mutually Assured Destruction" (MAD) held - for 50 years and counting. Unfortunately, in the age of terror, the formula for "MAD" may no longer hold, since groups like Al Qaead are non-state actors without a "return address" where we could annhilate them. Without MAD, the main hope of stopping such an attack, which would essentially end America as we know it, is intelligence, nuclear non-proliferation efforts, and counter-terrorist activities of various kinds. Even with all that, however, it is still possible that a group like Al Qaeda could -- possibly with the help of scientists from places like Pakistan, North Korea and Russia (the scenario spelled out in "King of Bombs") -- construct such a device. Then, the only issue is whether or not the terrorists could actually get the thing into the United States and detonate it.

That's where Sheldon Filger comes in, with his page-turning, riveting, terrifying novel of nuclear terrorism. Once you pick this book up, you'll have a hard time putting it down. In fact, you'll probably read it in a few hours, possibly in a cold sweat, but certainly with a strong feeling of unease.

My main criticisms of this book are twofold: 1) it needs a good editing to work out some of the awkward sentences and grammar (a hazard of self-publishing); and 2) it probably should be a bit less heavy-handed in its portrayal of the thinly-veiled George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and others. Not that I have any sympathy for the job this Administration has done on nuclear non-proliferation or on securing the "homeland," but it would be a shame if some readers were turned off by the strong political viewpoint. On the other hand, Filger evens things out somehwat with a scathing indictment of the ACLU, so he's relatively even-handed, not just heavy-handed, in his criticisms.

The bottom line that this book illustrates so powerfully is that, four years after 9/11, we are at least as vulnerable as we were then to a devastating terrorist attack that could make 9/11 look like child's play. Yet, many high government officials continue to believe firmly that a group like Al Qaeda could never construct an actual nuclear bomb, and that we only have to worry about attacks by nation-states (hence the continued emphasis on missile defense). To them, I say, read "King of Bombs," and think again - before it's too late!!

Nuclear terrorism is a subject that keeps many awake at night. Filger's terrific novel, "King of Bombs," will not put any minds at ease. But it is a very intelligent, insightful, as well as entertaining thriller about the worst possible scenario for terrorism. The novel pits Al-Qaeda and its allies, Iran and North Korea, in a sinister yet ingenius scheme to destroy the United States as a world power, against an incompetent administration in Washington. The author has many twists and turns in the novel, keeping the reader guessing as to the final outcome. For anyone concerned about the direction of world events and the safety of America in the post-9/11 world, "King of Bombs" should be required reading.

King of Bombs is an enjoyable thriller. In the Tom Clancy tradition, author Filger provides `inside stuff' detail concerning nuclear weaponry, technology, border security, interrogation and chain-of-command protocol. The plot's momentum builds and builds until literally the last page. I couldn't put this one down and I highly recommend it.

Sheldon Filger's novel, "King of Bombs," provides the reader with an understanding of how real the threat of nuclear terrorism actually is. His characters are well constructed, the book fast-paced, with a plot loaded with intrigue, suspense and surprises. Some readers may object to the thinly-veiled George W. Bush as the U.S. President versus Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, however, I thought this added much realism to this terrifying novel, and the book certainly makes one realize that nuclear terrorism is not a pipe dream, but something that could really happen. "King of Bombs" is an outstanding read, which I highly recommend to anyone worried about the direction of the war on terrorism and nuclear proliferation.