Pillars of Fire [Hardcover]

Steve Shagan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Author of a half-dozen previous adventure novels, Shagan develops this fast-moving techno-thriller around the "Muslim bomb." The year is 1992. Pakistan is manufacturing nuclear warheads for supply to Libya, whose targets are Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The rockets are being made by a German firm shielding neo-Nazi scientists. The Israeli task is to destroy both the Libyan launch sites and the Pakistani nuclear facility without triggering a world war. But their plans depend on a deep-cover CIA agent, journalist Tom Lawford, who is facing a crisis of conscience. The key of the work is Shagan's insistence that a continuum exists between the Holocaust and current Islamic hostility to Israel. In developing this point, however, he devotes excessive space to a subplot marginal to the novel's resolution. Otherwise, the complex story line is handled well, the denouement making clever use of contemporary technologies--including one aircraft just canceled by the U.S. Characterization of Israel as a warfare state by necessity adds a chilling dimension to a provocative story. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Shagan's ( Vendetta, LJ 7/86) latest thriller is set in the immediate future and is an all too plausible extrapolation of today's news. Tom Lawford, a successful journalist and deep cover CIA agent, is assigned to help Israeli intelligence locate a missile launch site somewhere in the Libyan desert. His cover story is the investigation of a German company, controlled by aging Nazi rocket pioneers, which is exporting technology to Libya. All indications point to the rockets being used for a nuclear strike against Israel with war heads developed at a Pakistani nuclear research center. The nonstop action, which prevents disaster with seconds to spare, covers several countries and contains a neatly presented, and solved, technical problem. Great escapist reading, despite its terrifying possibility.
- John North, NorCom Enterprises, Toronto
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 371 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1St Edition edition (August 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671689398
• ISBN-13: 978-0671689391
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #682,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great book, April 1, 2002

By 

chazeem "pakpwr" (Corsicana, Tx United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PILLARS OF FIRE (Paperback)

The book addreses the mid east problem and the bond between the islamic countries. It is a great book to read through but if you are looking for some thing to interpret on, foget about it. As usual it displays only one side of the conflict portraying the muslims as the root of evil, while ignoring the position the "villians" stand on. The author sure did his research but the technicalities of the events are all wrong. The hero is depicted as an almost ultimate human and the villians as incompident, idiotic fools. It cruises nicely through out and is hard to put down. It gets a little cheesy with soap opera type romance but that does not shadow the supperior wrting style. If you're more concerned with reality, technicalities, and interpertations etc, I'd advise to pass on. But if you're looking for a simple escape with out any major thinking, You're in for a good treat. Enjoy

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Time line is Off, June 2, 2010

By 

Anthony Oresteen (Central Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PILLARS OF FIRE (Paperback)

One problem is that the book is set in 1991. Checkpoint Charlie was opened up when Germany Reunited in Oct 1990. The book has East Germany as a sperate country and with Checkpoint Charlie fully active 1n 1991 which it wasn't. This is too basic of an error. The Wall fell in 1989 & the book is copyrighted 1990. Seems like it was written before the Berlin Wall fell.

I've lived in Lahore, Pakistan and the landmarks descrivedare accruate.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, but cliched, October 4, 2001

By 

"tmershats" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pillars of Fire (Hardcover)

Steve Shagan shows his considerable skill at plotting, but unfortunately, his prose is lacking. American journalist (and CIA agent) Tom Lawford becomes involved in a German/Libyan/Pakistani plot to nuke Israel. His participation in the plot is relatively plausible, which is to say not the stuff of action movies. He mopes around Germany until he--in the book's lone headscratcher--takes on a mission for the Mossad. The real action is undertaken by the Israeli intelligence and military, whose ever-vigilant warriors Shagan clearly admires.
The plot moves quickly and intricately, sketching out the reactions of all countries concerned and their neighboring countries as well. The downside is that Shagan's prose is not up to the task, and his characters never come to live. Lawford is your typical beefy hero; his female contact in Germany immediately falls in love with him. Everybody else is exactly who you would think--the head of the CIA is cold and practical; the head of the Israeli secret operations division is world-weary; the brilliant Israeli scientist is of course eccentric.
Reading "The Pillars of Fire," the events have the ring of truth, but the characters have the ring of a Steven Segal movie.