Maximum Vigilance [Paperback]

Steve R. Pieczenik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993

Pieczenik (Blood Heat) is a world-famous international crisis manager, hostage negotiator, political psychiatrist, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. Now his insider knowledge and experience come together in a thrilling political novel scheduled to be a major motion picture from Paramount.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Loading a catastrophe into every chapter and "using psychosexual constructs to explain world events," Pieczenik ( Blood Heat ) draws on his State Department crisis management experience to fuel this provocative political thriller. Dr. Desaix Clark, psychiatrist and crisis consultant for the White House, returns home from a negotiating session in Japan to find Washington poised for nuclear war, locked in the worst crisis since presidents Westview and Zotov succeeded Bush and Yeltsin. Westview warns of a coup against his presidency, while the Secretary of State insists that Westview himself is behind the plot and begs Clark to declare him insane. Meanwhile, Zotov is abducted in a Russian coup that seems connected to the U.S. crisis by a mysterious "Project Baltimore." As top cabinet personnel are assassinated, Clark and Mary Dougherty, Westview's security chief, team up to crack the mystery. Only intermittently suspenseful, the narrative would have been more successful if the protagonists had less ego and libido and more integrity. Much of the confused action is espionage cliche, but readers may remain focused, since the question of who the bad guys are is adroitly withheld until the end.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

An unusual hero makes his debut in this geopolitical thriller, which pits the Russian and American heads of state against their own security aides. Desaix Clark is a psychiatrist and crisis manager who not only tutors major multinational corporations in psychological principles but also serves in the president's inner circle. The author, who himself followed this unusual career path, conveys a sure grip of technical information and peppers the narrative with literary quotes. But he also relies on a degree of vicious and manipulative violence that overshadows his innovative merit. In addition, his penchant for loading up characterizations with irrelevant details distracts from the narrative. Finally, while a far-fetched plot is not a handicap in this genre, the double- and quadruple-crosses of this plot are so convoluted that its amusement value dissipates early on. Not an essential purchase, though libraries owning Pieczenik's Blood Heat ( LJ 4/1/88) and the out-of-print The Mind Palace may get requests.
-Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446364681
• ISBN-13: 978-0446364683
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,938,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst book I've ever read, December 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Maximum Vigilance (Paperback)

I was just surfing through amazon.com with no intention of writing a review on anything. By chance I came across this book that I read several years ago. I can't resist being the first to review it. I read about 100 books a year, and to tell the truth only about 10 of them make any impression. This was one of them. The worst book I've ever read (and I just finished the horrible "wizards and glass" by Stephen King. You have to read this book to believe it. Truly terrible.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Highly Improbable, November 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Maximum Vigilance (Paperback)

I had recently been reading some of the Tom Clancy novels and ran across this book. Clancy wrote a glowing foreword for the book and I began reading it with high expectations. I found it difficult to follow - needlessly complex in some areas and terribly oversimplified in others. The main character, Desaix Clark, seemed a composite of James Bond, Arnold Schwartzenegger and Sigmund Freud. From the relatively obscure position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Desaix not only saves the world from World War III he also foils attempted coups in the US and Russia. With a beautiful (and lesbian) secret service agent as his principal ally he survives despite being pitted against the President, Secretaries of State and Defense, the CIA and the Military Machine. Then there is the obligatory high-stakes poker game with the Russian Marshal Kulikov, who's ready to push the button send the world into oblivion. The ending certainly didn't take much imagination to figure out.

Although the book had some interesting insights on government workings at the highest level, I was disappointed on the whole. I certainly expected something more believable from an author with the resume of Pieczenik.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars good lord, May 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Maximum Vigilance (Paperback)

with out a doubt the worst book I have ever read