November 2032. Joe Benton has just been elected the forty-eighth president of the United States. Only days after winning, Benton learns from his predecessor that previous estimates regarding the effect of global warming on rising sea levels have been grossly underestimated. For the United States, a leading carbon emitter for decades, the prospects are devastating: thirty million coastal-dwelling citizens will need to be relocated; Miami will be washed into the ocean and southern California will waste away to desert; the relocation process will cost trillions of dollars. With the world frighteningly close to catastrophe, Benton opts to abandon multilateral negotiations in the Kyoto 4 summit and resumes secret bilateral negotiations with the Chinese—the world’s worst polluter. As the two superpowers lock horns, the ensuing battle of wits becomes a race against time. Ultimatum is a visionary and deeply unsettling thriller that explores the most pressing issue of the twenty-first century—the future of our planet—and boldly predicts the way the world will be in twenty-five years.
Ultimatum
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Glass's debut, an anxiety-inducing thriller about global warming, effectively taps a hot topic and handles it with flair. In 2032, vast regions of America's coast—Florida, Texas, California—are underwater. Catastrophic hurricanes regularly sweep through the South. Much of the West has been without rainfall for years, as wildfires rage. More than 25 million people face relocation to higher ground, where new cities must be created. The newly elected U.S. president, Joe Benton, frustrated with the failed Kyoto Treaty process, proposes radical solutions worldwide, with devastating economic consequences. When the earth's greatest polluter, China, won't go along with the deal and escalates the argument to the nuclear level, the narrative shifts into overdrive. A contrived conclusion and passages belaboring the machinations of government and its various bureaucrats are the only weaknesses in what is otherwise a compelling tale of environmental doom. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In this near-future thriller, Joe Benton, the newly elected president of the U.S., is shocked to learn that his predecessor’s administration has been knowingly underreporting the catastrophic effects of global warming. In truth, the world is dangerously close to disaster, forcing Benton to find a way to broker an accord between the world’s worst polluter, China, and the U.S. But can the new president forge a path to peace with the U.S.’s old enemy? Fans of political thrillers will flock to this one, which combines realistic characters with shrewd political and environmental commentary. Some readers might quibble that the world of 2032 is a bit vaguely formed (with small changes, the novel could as easily have been set next year), but that’s a fairly minor quibble. The novel is propelled by character and dialogue, but it’s solidly plotted, too, and given the current public interest in global warming, it may spark some interesting debate on the subject. --David Pitt
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Matthew Glass has written a story in a genre that is new to me. Tom Clancy writes military/political techno-thrillers. Matthew Glass has put together a diplomatico-politico-thriller.
The basic premis of this story is that in 2032 a newly elected US president learns that all previous predictions of the levels of environmental backlash related to global warming and sea-level rise were grossly underestimated, and that huge numbers of people will have to be relocated from vulnerable areas to higher ground. He also realizes that the US cannot alone reduce emissions to the levels needed to offset the long-term effects and impacts of new projections of sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
The President knows that he has to bring China (the biggest greenhouse gas emitter for the previous 25 years) on board to be a full participant in the planning and implementation of emissions reductions that will be needed world wide. But, differences in agendas between the president and China's political leadership precipitate unforeseen dipolmatic, political, and even military consquences.
The book surprised me. I actually started reading it with low expectations, because my daughter, who normally consumes books was not able to finish it. She got about halfway through it, and when she quit reading I asked her why. She said, "It's just more of the same."
I can now see why she would say that. If you are thinking about reading this book you need to be prepared to work your way through a good 150pp or so of dialog related to negotiations and diplomatic meetings, and their nuances, between US and Chinese representatives. I actually found that part of the book to be quite fascinating. Glass did a good job of showing what those kinds of negotiations might be like.
The last 100 pp or so of the book really picked up as global pressures came to a head, and produced events that were completely unpredictable. I won't say what those are...you'll have to read the book to find that out...but it definitely held my attention. In my opinion this book is much better than Michael Crichton's environmental thriller (well, sort of thriller) "State of Fear".
I found that the writing did not get in the way of the story in "Ultimatum", yet the writing is not what I'd call top-notch literature. The characters were believable and interesting.
FYI - Be prepared for a smattering of mild foul language, with a few instances of strong foul language.
I have to take my hat off to Matthew Glass, because he was able to resist the all too common tendency to have a "strikingly beautiful" female character that somehow becomes involved with the "handsome" main protagonist. Those contrived romance side storylines are so tiresome! In fact, there are no inappropriate side storylines that detract from the main story in this book. Thanks, I appreciate that!
You will probably enjoy this book if have a leaning towards environmentalism, politics, diplomacy, or even international economics.
In my opinion, this book is worth 4 stars. That is, you will be happy you read it, and it has a relatively wide appeal, but it will almost certainly not climb into your top favorite books list.
The basic premis of this story is that in 2032 a newly elected US president learns that all previous predictions of the levels of environmental backlash related to global warming and sea-level rise were grossly underestimated, and that huge numbers of people will have to be relocated from vulnerable areas to higher ground. He also realizes that the US cannot alone reduce emissions to the levels needed to offset the long-term effects and impacts of new projections of sea-level rise and coastal flooding.
The President knows that he has to bring China (the biggest greenhouse gas emitter for the previous 25 years) on board to be a full participant in the planning and implementation of emissions reductions that will be needed world wide. But, differences in agendas between the president and China's political leadership precipitate unforeseen dipolmatic, political, and even military consquences.
The book surprised me. I actually started reading it with low expectations, because my daughter, who normally consumes books was not able to finish it. She got about halfway through it, and when she quit reading I asked her why. She said, "It's just more of the same."
I can now see why she would say that. If you are thinking about reading this book you need to be prepared to work your way through a good 150pp or so of dialog related to negotiations and diplomatic meetings, and their nuances, between US and Chinese representatives. I actually found that part of the book to be quite fascinating. Glass did a good job of showing what those kinds of negotiations might be like.
The last 100 pp or so of the book really picked up as global pressures came to a head, and produced events that were completely unpredictable. I won't say what those are...you'll have to read the book to find that out...but it definitely held my attention. In my opinion this book is much better than Michael Crichton's environmental thriller (well, sort of thriller) "State of Fear".
I found that the writing did not get in the way of the story in "Ultimatum", yet the writing is not what I'd call top-notch literature. The characters were believable and interesting.
FYI - Be prepared for a smattering of mild foul language, with a few instances of strong foul language.
I have to take my hat off to Matthew Glass, because he was able to resist the all too common tendency to have a "strikingly beautiful" female character that somehow becomes involved with the "handsome" main protagonist. Those contrived romance side storylines are so tiresome! In fact, there are no inappropriate side storylines that detract from the main story in this book. Thanks, I appreciate that!
You will probably enjoy this book if have a leaning towards environmentalism, politics, diplomacy, or even international economics.
In my opinion, this book is worth 4 stars. That is, you will be happy you read it, and it has a relatively wide appeal, but it will almost certainly not climb into your top favorite books list.
30 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
It had to happen eventually. With overwhelming scientific evidence today proving that global warming caused by human activities (more precisely, "anthropogenic climate change") is for real, a mainstream novel about the subject was perhaps overdue. "Ultimatum," by Matthew Glass, incorporates what we now know for certain is happening to the world around us. British author J.G. Ballard's 1960's quartet of end-of-the-world novels ("The Wind from Nowhere," "The Drowned World," "The Burning World" and "The Crystal World") still stand today as the genre classics (and are well worth reading if you can find them). "Ultimatum" is a decent, if somewhat unexciting, addition to the field of "global disaster" novels.
Writing a novel about global warming today is risky. In 1962, when Ballard penned "The Drowned World," the topic was pure science fiction. His imaginative story of submerged cities, verdant tropical lagoons in formerly temperate climes, and nature gone wild in "the forgotten paradises of the reborn Sun" was, at the time, merely an entertaining yarn with no more basis in reality than, say, faster-than-light travel or bug-eyed monsters. But today, global climate change is apparent to anyone who cares to look at the evidence.
It is impossible for a modern author to tackle the subject without immediately running afoul of politics and religion--the two forces that continue to tear the world apart today. Whether or not global warming is "real" is hotly debated along ideological and religious lines. Consequently, your opinion of "Ultimatum" will probably depend on your political and religious persuasion, and therefore on whether or not you believe the evidence. If you believe it, "Ultimatum" is a realistic tale that shows (or, at least, talks about) the consequences to America, and to the world, of failing to act decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If you don't believe the evidence, you'll probably dismiss "Ultimatum" as just another biased, left-wing diatribe from a liberal author--a Limey, no less--with a political axe to grind.
I won't go into the details of plot, setting, characterization and so on--other reviewers have covered these points nicely. However, I must point out that, for all of the author's obvious political acumen and passion for the subject, "Ultimatum" has many of the flaws of a first novel. For example, the characters are in no way distinct or delineated, and there are far too many of them for the reader to distinguish among them. I found myself constantly flipping back and forth--"Now who the heck is this person again?" But my biggest beef, and one that made it hard for me to get into the story at all, is that there is WAY too much dialogue and WAY too little action. Mr. Glass tends to relate unseen events by having characters talk about them endlessly, not by showing them, and almost all of the book consists of conversations among characters. His style is a little ponderous and didactic, and the book lacks the crispness and immediacy that a more experienced author might have brought to the party. With that said, if you tackle "Ultimatum" and can overlook its shortcomings, you will gain a better understanding of some of the real issues of global warming and of the political minefields involved in trying to solve the problem. I recommend it with reservations.
Writing a novel about global warming today is risky. In 1962, when Ballard penned "The Drowned World," the topic was pure science fiction. His imaginative story of submerged cities, verdant tropical lagoons in formerly temperate climes, and nature gone wild in "the forgotten paradises of the reborn Sun" was, at the time, merely an entertaining yarn with no more basis in reality than, say, faster-than-light travel or bug-eyed monsters. But today, global climate change is apparent to anyone who cares to look at the evidence.
It is impossible for a modern author to tackle the subject without immediately running afoul of politics and religion--the two forces that continue to tear the world apart today. Whether or not global warming is "real" is hotly debated along ideological and religious lines. Consequently, your opinion of "Ultimatum" will probably depend on your political and religious persuasion, and therefore on whether or not you believe the evidence. If you believe it, "Ultimatum" is a realistic tale that shows (or, at least, talks about) the consequences to America, and to the world, of failing to act decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If you don't believe the evidence, you'll probably dismiss "Ultimatum" as just another biased, left-wing diatribe from a liberal author--a Limey, no less--with a political axe to grind.
I won't go into the details of plot, setting, characterization and so on--other reviewers have covered these points nicely. However, I must point out that, for all of the author's obvious political acumen and passion for the subject, "Ultimatum" has many of the flaws of a first novel. For example, the characters are in no way distinct or delineated, and there are far too many of them for the reader to distinguish among them. I found myself constantly flipping back and forth--"Now who the heck is this person again?" But my biggest beef, and one that made it hard for me to get into the story at all, is that there is WAY too much dialogue and WAY too little action. Mr. Glass tends to relate unseen events by having characters talk about them endlessly, not by showing them, and almost all of the book consists of conversations among characters. His style is a little ponderous and didactic, and the book lacks the crispness and immediacy that a more experienced author might have brought to the party. With that said, if you tackle "Ultimatum" and can overlook its shortcomings, you will gain a better understanding of some of the real issues of global warming and of the political minefields involved in trying to solve the problem. I recommend it with reservations.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Let me explain from the outset: I believe Man-made Global Warming is the biggest hoax politics has ever pushed on scientific inquiry. The only near comparison is what the Inquisition tried to do to science during the Dark Ages. Al Gore gets credit for victimizing scientific inquiry to the absolute dogma of political agenda whims. So when Gore declared that partial melting of the polar icecaps and Greenland ice shelf would cause oceans to rise 22 feet, then tacked on, "The debate is over," he single-handedly ended science as we used to know it, leaving inquiry based on skeptical proof of doubt in the Dark Ages. Even the IPCC and scientific projections estimate sea level rises maxing at 22 inches. That left Gore's apocalypse only at a 1,200 percent over-exaggeration.
I address Gore, because Matthew Glass goes on the premise that everything we've predicted about Global Warming estimates has been grossly underestimated. So, if Gore's miscalculation might be 1,200 percent off the mark, Glass's premise says it might have been that percentage off in the direction of correction, not miscalculation! My first impulse was to ignore "Ultimatum" as a fear-mongering liberal agenda novel that had no clue of climate politics as a tool to overturn national sovereignty to the hands of international-rule. But then I thought, why not give Glass a fair hearing, just to see how he handles the material? After all, we give authors like Clive Cussler a lot of leeway to come up with improbable premisses. My commitment in reading Ultimatum was to keep an open mind and judge the book on its own merits, not on the flimsy basis of facts.
What is Ultimatum? It's a political thriller that goes through a lot of back-room discussions and negotiations to pre-empt an ecological and social disaster that no one is prepared to admit, and nations are unwilling to address. It begins to get its feet about half-way through when it becomes apparent the Chinese government will not make concessions as the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. But it's actually around page 300 when the action starts, and the chain of events leads to unexpected political consequences. The climax, even though it it is set up and made inevitable throughout the book, comes as a crisis of unexpected proportions.
Glass patiently lays out the political machinations of the plot, perhaps a little to patiently. There is a LOT of talk about what to do. How will allies or opponents react to a certain course of events or proposals? How does a determined elected official lay out the case for drastic actions no one is willing to take, and everyone is looking to someone else to take the first move? But once Glass has laid down the pipeline, the story becomes explosive and thought provoking. He could have made the premise any world threat (such as terrorism or bully nations) and still brought out the big climax of inescapable consequences. It just happened to hang the story on the popular notion that climate change will be the big precipitator of crisis.
Glass accomplishes his objective of delivering a big story that resonates with consequences of action or inaction. He doesn't shy away from introspection and doubt (just not doubt of the initial premise). He doesn't play politics as much as trying to make a democratic president with a full legislative mandate look like a genuine, responsible agent for addressing needed change and having to face the consequences of the decisions he heads. The themes are drawn as large as the challenges. Ultimatum will leave you thinking about consequences long after the end. It's weighty, thought-provoking.
I address Gore, because Matthew Glass goes on the premise that everything we've predicted about Global Warming estimates has been grossly underestimated. So, if Gore's miscalculation might be 1,200 percent off the mark, Glass's premise says it might have been that percentage off in the direction of correction, not miscalculation! My first impulse was to ignore "Ultimatum" as a fear-mongering liberal agenda novel that had no clue of climate politics as a tool to overturn national sovereignty to the hands of international-rule. But then I thought, why not give Glass a fair hearing, just to see how he handles the material? After all, we give authors like Clive Cussler a lot of leeway to come up with improbable premisses. My commitment in reading Ultimatum was to keep an open mind and judge the book on its own merits, not on the flimsy basis of facts.
What is Ultimatum? It's a political thriller that goes through a lot of back-room discussions and negotiations to pre-empt an ecological and social disaster that no one is prepared to admit, and nations are unwilling to address. It begins to get its feet about half-way through when it becomes apparent the Chinese government will not make concessions as the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. But it's actually around page 300 when the action starts, and the chain of events leads to unexpected political consequences. The climax, even though it it is set up and made inevitable throughout the book, comes as a crisis of unexpected proportions.
Glass patiently lays out the political machinations of the plot, perhaps a little to patiently. There is a LOT of talk about what to do. How will allies or opponents react to a certain course of events or proposals? How does a determined elected official lay out the case for drastic actions no one is willing to take, and everyone is looking to someone else to take the first move? But once Glass has laid down the pipeline, the story becomes explosive and thought provoking. He could have made the premise any world threat (such as terrorism or bully nations) and still brought out the big climax of inescapable consequences. It just happened to hang the story on the popular notion that climate change will be the big precipitator of crisis.
Glass accomplishes his objective of delivering a big story that resonates with consequences of action or inaction. He doesn't shy away from introspection and doubt (just not doubt of the initial premise). He doesn't play politics as much as trying to make a democratic president with a full legislative mandate look like a genuine, responsible agent for addressing needed change and having to face the consequences of the decisions he heads. The themes are drawn as large as the challenges. Ultimatum will leave you thinking about consequences long after the end. It's weighty, thought-provoking.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you like political manoeuvring!
Kind of a "Cuban missile crisis" of the future novel, based on global warming. It's 2032 and guess what, we kicked the global warming can so far down the road that the world is... Read more
Published 4 months ago by John Briginshaw
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nope, I would pass
Stereotype characters and most of them come across as having little humanity or personality. The story line is a current concern and would have been done better with a lot more... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Darla Mcgranaghan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Consequences of political ultimatums: a terrible journey
Given the author's approach to this political thriller, "Ultimatum" is a driving, political force, a novel and author to be reckoned with. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Judy K. Polhemus
4.0 out of 5 stars
Makes boring goverment meetings exciting
The real global warming battles will be fought in long diplomatic and government meetings and the author has depicted those very well. Not your typical book. Read more
Published on May 15, 2011 by Gary Denton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb thriller
Well written thriller with vivid characters and a believable scenario that delivers surprise after surprise just when you think you got a handle on it. Couldn't put it down!
Published on August 5, 2010 by Hamfar
3.0 out of 5 stars
Took me a while...
... but I finished it. 90% of the time I don't finish book that I don't like because I have better things to do AND read. Read more
Published on July 23, 2010 by Jason Frost
3.0 out of 5 stars
not much has changed
i am disappointed that the author believes the world isnt going to be much different than today. the book has some suspense but it is more about the authors need to preach.
Published on April 9, 2010 by Terance P. John
2.0 out of 5 stars
Standing around talking does not make a novel
I was really interested in the premise of this novel -- the consequences of global warming come cascading down, and the president has to take radical steps to save not only the US,... Read more
Published on February 19, 2010 by M. Garrison
2.0 out of 5 stars
Attention grabbing but many deep flaws
I think it's great that someone has put out a fast paced novel that reflects some concern for global warming. This book does keep your attention and it's an easy read. Read more
Published on February 18, 2010 by Digital Rights
1.0 out of 5 stars
It's all dialogue
A decent storyline but not a good novel or evev good read. Its all dialogue. Very little description, action or narration. Read more
Published on February 15, 2010 by Alec
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