Customer Reviews

The Third World War: A Future History

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Have to admit, I wrote a scathing review for Dragon Strike and with good reason, it had a lot of techinal mistakes, and was a dry read overall.

So with a bit of trepidation, I picked up The Third World War. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. This book is up there with the best efforts of Clancy (Red October, Red Storm Rising) and Bond (Red Phoenix, Cauldron).

It has been a few months since I read it, and I was so moved by the story I was going to write a review then, but put it off until now.

Even though the story is not fresh in my mind, I can say that I was literally riveted all the way throughout, and the mistakes that plagued Dragon Strike were not present at all.

The story is gripping, and disturbing, from beginning to end. You are pulled right in as we globe hop from flare-up to flare-up, as events spiral completely out of control.

And the ending, well let's just say it left me chilled, and very few books have managed to accomplish this.

For any fan of the geopolitical/technothriller genre, this is a must read IMHO, and you will not come away dissapointed!

The author has absolutely no concept of the military - from small unit tactics to "big picture" items like early warning capabilities. This made the book unreadable for me. If he had any technical advisors at all, they learned everything they knew from made for TV movies. If you aren't bothered by dozens of technical and tactical errors, and also don't mind clipped sentences, improper use of apostrophes, etc, then you might enjoy the book. I found the plot - that is, what little of it I actually managed to read - implausible. In my opinion, this book shouldn't be more than 99 cents.

I am flabbergassed why this novel has not had wide distributuin in the United States. I got it on Thursday and with a busy schedule just finished on Sunday Night. The way it is written is engaging and realistic; and very cautionary. It crystalizes the geopolitical relations we have today, and each countries agenda when looked at in a historic context are no relationships at all. The actual war is very realistic as modern terrrorist incidents and experimental Rouge Nation missile tests touch off a conflagaration. This book is well written, suspenseful and very entertaining. It is also realistic and frightening because the scenario centers around South Asia and the Far East, which in terms of international competition are violent and on the rise. There needs to be a publisher that can pick this book up and distribute in the USA, a must read for gobal war watchers! As good or better than Arc Light which up to this point was one of my must read novels.

On the Beach was a product of its era. People were terrified of nuclear war. At base, though, people didn't really think it would ever happen. They believed that humanity was ultimately not capable of destroying itself. Certainly, On the Beach ends very sadly, but both on the journey to that ending and in the ending itself the focus is not on the struggles of nations, national leaders, and religions. Instead, it focuses on ordinary people, whether military or political figures or civilians, and is filled with passion, kindness, leadership, nobility, and love. To me, On the Beach is a hopeful book, showing the strength and grace of ordinary people right up to a relentlessly approaching end.

Hawksley's "The Third World War" is a lineal descendant of On the Beach, but it reflects the reality that humanity destroying itself is no longer unthinkable. Despite some effort at establishing loving relationships, the focus is on less personal motivations -- the struggles between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, North Korea and Islamic fundamentalists versus the United States and its allies, and China versus the United States in the struggle for world primacy -- and the cruel, blinding, dehumanizing effect of national interest and religious ideology. From the beginning, you get the feeling that this isn't going to turn out alright, for any character, country, or religion. As disasters unfold, from conventional strikes, to use of nuclear and biological weapons, national leaders temporize and obfuscate, lie and delay, and pursue hidden agendas. There is very little here that is noble, and any nobility, such as the forbearance of the Indian Prime Minister, is dwarfed by the Machiavellian maneuverings of the other characters. At the end of On the Beach, the reader's great sorrow mixes with hope sown by the reactions of ordinary people to an unspeakable tragedy. This book leaves the reader feeling frustrated and desolate of hope, and the light dusting of humanity throughout only serves to highlight what will inevitably happen when rigid, exclusionary ideology and the struggle for primacy control events.

I recommend the book on two levels. As a primer on power relationships and national and religious capabilities and intentions, it is very strong. On the other hand, in terms of pacing and action and plausibility of the possible uses of weapons of mass destruction, it is also very good. On the other hand, there are some very implausible elements, such as meetings of all important world leaders on a few hours notice, uber globetrotting by a diminutive, female Secretary of State, who, despite extreme jet lag singlehandedly fights off determined assasins, and cliche caricature characterizations of world leaders. Also, the characterization tends to the superficial (although this may be artful, as a contrast to the inhuman elements controlling events); especially in assigning dialogue and inner motivations to female characters, Hawksley doesn't quite have the touch. All in all though, you'll likely finish this at 1:45 A.M., as I did last night, and have a hard time banishing reflection to get some sleep.

Hawksley is by turns brilliant, earnest, insightful, and frustrated. The eye and ear of a knowledgeable World Correspondent for disasters in the making calls out loud and clear. If an economic concept creates opportunities for man's deadly sins to play themselves out with horrific consequences, then The Third World War sets about showing us the possibilities. Hawksley expertly examines the roles of such things as chance, betrayal, confusion, greed, arrogance, misunderstanding, technology, against the backdrop of the Free Market notions which have no definable center. "If you lose India, you lose" says one character. "And if China withdraws support?" says another. "It is more complicated than that." Perhaps this is key to his view of potential cataclysm. Driving the text of The Third World War is Hawksley's seasoned, global experience of complexity, error, the role of communications and communicators, the narrow edge of facts known in time by decisionmakers. This is not a rousing tale for the adventurer in us. It is a call to thought and leaves us wondering why the global political/industrial complex in which we live has so few failsafe options. Common sense? Hawksley seems to say that no longer exists locally or globally. The Third World War is a provocative, timely and urgent read. To say it is 'chilling' is an understatement. It should be read inside the Beltway, at Downing Street, from Beijing to Geneva, from Singapore to Delhi, from Stockholm to Tokyo and Seoul. Weeping and flailing of hands is not enough. This is a call to action and cooperative action at that. Or as Hawksley intimates, is it more complicated than that?

I couldn't get pass the first chapter due to the fact that the kindle edition doesn't have any indentations, looking at a wall of text drove me nuts. Hopefully they'll update this version and make it readable, for it seems like something I would enjoy.

Even though I am generally optimistic and forward looking, rather than pessimistic and cynical, I have always, paradoxically, enjoyed novels with an apocalyptic theme. This one did not disappoint. It is a well paced recitation of the way in which political and military intrigues and miscalculations can produce a chain of events, and lead to a catastrophe unanticipated by the actors and out of their control. Although a few of the players are fairly one-dimensional and chiched (including an obligatory seemingly superhuman B-novel assassin) most of the characters are surprisingly complex in their thinking and motivations. I had expected a typical European left wing harangue about unchecked American imperialism and hubris but found something more subtle. I am surprised that Humphrey Hawksley's book has not been distributed in the United States. Thanks to electronic book distribution, I was able to download it to my Kindle. A minor caution to anyone on this side of the pond: The Third World War uses British spelling and punctuation in the electronic edition. If it is going to bother you, for example, to have apostrophes used for punctuation marks, then don't buy the book.

Sooner or later I will learn that bargain prices often coincide with sloppy work. There appears to be no indentation of paragraphs and apostrophes are used in place of quotation marks. These mistakes make for very tedious reading and I'm bailing out early. $4.99 down the drain. :-(

Not bad. The first 9/10 of the book lead up to the final conflict. The last 2 or 3 chapters were really exciting but I wish there was more dramatic conflict earlier in the book.

I enjoyed this book more than I originally expected. The narrative is good and the story pace is breathtaking. I'm certainly going to check his other publications.