Customer Reviews

Ultimatum

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

Ultimatum has an interesting premise - A can-do energetic young President takes office, assembles a team of rivals for advisors, and hopes to confront the unprecedented problems facing America. In fact, the problems turn out to be much worse than the President-elect had known. Sound familiar? Yes. The difference here is that the danger facing America accelerating global warming that threatens vast stretches of America and the world. The book starts fast and proceeds at breakneck pace towards its conclusion.

But what could be an extremely interesting take on the near-future is undercut by the lack of a consistent voice. Is this science fiction? Is this a White House insider's account? Is it a geo-political thriller? The book tries to be all three, but by so doing, loses its sustainability.

Finally, and probably most disappointingly, the characters are cardboard stereotypes: the steadfast wife, the wily political advisor, the war-hawk generals, the off-the-reservation Secretary, the inscrutable Asian, the sly English PM, etc. Even the protagonist fails to really grow in character - he ends up sort of where he started out emotionally, which seems incredible, given the decisions he must make along the way.

My recommendation: don't buy, but if it comes to a library near you, take a look at it. As long as it's considered pool-side reading this summer, you might be satisfied for a couple of hours.

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 bought this book based on a review in the Economist, and ended up returning it a few days later. This was the least interesting book that I have picked up in a long while. The characters were simplistic paper cut-outs, and the book had a plot to match. The writer, whom I believe is English, was writing an intimate inside futuristic novel of the White House, and it simply ddn't resonate with me, at all. There was no vision in his imagining of the future; it simply seemed made to conform to the author's ideas of global climate change. A polemic disguised as a bad novel is no fun to read. I thought long and hard before giving this book 2 stars, instead of 1. It was coherent. That is the only positive thing I can say.

I am absolutely NOT telling you that you will agree with the issues brought out in the book. But I honestly feel you should become better informed on the primary issue of global warming.This is of course fiction, set in the year 2032...not all of us will necessarily still be here to see that year. However, this is a very possible scenario of what is ahead of us as a planet.Global warming has become a political issue. Even this book portrays Democrats as concerned with the issue and Republicans as disbelievers that it is happening.The truth is that this is not a political issue, but a scientific one. I personally (as a Californian at the time) have lived through the era in which many believed that California was going to sink into the ocean. However, I believe there is sounder scientific evidence that we are in a period of climactic change.Therefore, I find a portrayal of a 2032 in which many Florida residents as well as those in the San Francisco era are facing relocation as very much in the realm of possibility.And so I find this book as one that will set you to thinking regardless of your political affiliation.This novel effectively portrays what it is to be in the office of President of the U.S. We become involved with all of the issues concerning the person in this high office, including the self-serving issues. So I'm not saying that you necessarily will find this a great novel. However, I do believe that it will have you thiking about gloval warming and what it might mean to you, your children, and your grandchildren. And this is the purpose of the book. It's not persuasion. It's to get you to honestly thinking about the issue.'Nuff said.

The story line here is that in the future the US and China will be on a collision course in many areas and that it is only through our learning to understand their culture and political motivations that we will have a chance to come to terms. Granted that seem like an over simplification...but the book doesn't have much else memorable to speak of. The reaction of the main characters to the major plot points and events in the point is shallow and more like a TV movie than a novel. There is no depth here the characters are like card board cut outs and ....well I prefer a character with depth and a soul...both good and bad. The development lacks backbone. I finished the book over many nights...a chapter or even 5 or 10 pages at a time. I really did not ever get that need to keep reading feeling...need to know what happens in my gut you know...maybe that's why I was so disappointed....I just never got sucked into the story or the characters.

A decent storyline but not a good novel or evev good read. Its all dialogue. Very little description, action or narration. He's just an ok writer although its hard to tell since no character development, insight into the characters, etc. The writing is not really enough to keep the reader engaged. You read on just to see how it ends - rather abruptly and simplistically actually. I actually started skipping whole sections of dialogue and it didnt seem to matter. He just can't hold you through that much talking. After awhile it started to sound all the same Any distinctness the voices ever had was pretty much lost. It began to sound like the same speech over and over again. My guess is that if it hadnt been so topical, the reviews would have been much more focused on the of quality as a novel as opposed to the themes. And this review is coming from a guy who is a Canadian liberal (read: commie Eastern intellectual big government tree hugger in the States).

Read the headlines regarding global warming as a result of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in out atmosphere, and it will make you wonder what will be the consequences over the next few decades. That's the idea behind Ultimatum, a geopolitical page-turner from Matthew Glass, and his debut novel.

Set in the fall of 2032, new President-elect Joe Benton faces tougher decisions than any of the forty-seven that have preceded him. The continuing effects of global warming have caused much of the entire US southwest to become deserts, and Florida is faced with the invasion of tides from the rising seas that surround it. He meets with the outgoing president and finds that the situation is far worse than the public has been told by the government or the press, and it's happening at a faster rate than might have been expected.

The global effects and destruction are imminent, so Benton idealistically tried to get the world leaders to work together and implement immediate measures to stop the causes of the global warming before its too late. China, the biggest source of carbon emissions, overtly distrustful of Benton's proposals. Their diplomatic meetings grow progressively more tense, and as a result, China and the United States face each others at the brink of total thermonuclear war.

Ultimatum is a page-turner, but because of the overly large cast of character, you may be turning those same pages backwards to track of some of the characters. There is a lot of dialogue that might have been better replaced with descriptions of events, but that's just a minor thing, as you want to continue on through its 400 pages to see what happens next. There are a few technical and scientific issues that an astute reader may stumble over, but it's best to remember that this is a thriller, and not a scientific dissertation.

This book is a seemingly prophetic and profoundly disturbing thriller, one that delves into what may be the forthcoming future of our planet due to ongoing global warming. It will cause the reader to pause and think about what our world will be like in the nest decades, and wonder what will be the result beyond mid-century. Don't expect a happy ending; that's all that I'm saying about it, but buy or borrow this book, and read it.

It's a fascinating and entertaining read, and one that will make you think.

Given the author's approach to this political thriller, "Ultimatum" is a driving, political force, a novel and author to be reckoned with. Never have I been so aware of the author's presence as creator as in this particular novel. Why? His sheer imagination and attention to details were truly awesome!

What do I mean? This is more than a political thriller: it's a political mantra for national leaders to ever beware of their potential powers of destruction and annihilation. Joe Benton has been elected president of the United States. It is 2032. Carbon emissions have moved to the forefront of his political choices, driving his domestic agenda aground. Computer data projects that coastal destruction will force relocation of millions and millions of people all across the globe. The two most guilty parties of carbon emissions are the United States and China, also the two most prosperous economies which will take major hits by reducing their emissions.

That's the backdrop for this precautionary tale. Yet what most impressed me was not the plot but the thought behind the plot. Unfortunately but necessarily for this novel, fully the first half of the novel droned on via staff discussions to problem-solve. What is so amazing is the detail of thought that formed these discussions, both calm and panicked. That means that M Glass had to imagine and create each scenario and set up all the immediate and peripheral characters to participate. With each character comes a new line of thought which Glass had to imagine.

What the reader most realizes from these detailed discussions is the amount of focus and single-mindedness the president must carry. Although cabinet members and advisors surround him to provide commentary and ideas, the president alone makes the final decision. "The buck stops here," he says near the end.

The second reader realization is how each and every decision determines the direction of the new action. When things go horribly wrong, both the president and the reader can trace back to that point that probably brought the story to imminent world destruction. If you think of your own life and all those tiny and major decisions you made early on, surely you can pinpoint just where the direction of your life changed. President Benton could pick out several, with each one leading further into destruction.

By mid-point when Glass had everything in place for the real action to begin, pow! it does! From mid-point on, the action is relentless, compelling, and deeply disturbing. Yet Glass gives insight into political, global decision-making based on negotiations with people totally alien to each others ideas and ideals. Here, it is head-on conflict between an American president who comes from the democratic ideal of change and a Chinese authoritarian in a non-electable position of permanance (more or less), thus misunderstandings are bound to occur. And they do!

By novel's end the reader will never take for granted a president's horrendous schedule, private or public, or his decisions, domestic or foreign, for they are not made lightly, but with dissension, genuine give and take, hard-headed ideas all around, and make-do negotiations. A key word used throughout the story in creating an agenda to deal equitably with all participants toward carbon emissions is pain.

"Ultimatum" is a novel to put on your reading list to keep nudging forward and forward. If a book opens public discussion, it has gone far beyond its immediate goal of entertaining. "Ultimatum" has that potential.

What impressed me most--even more than presenting a president's very difficult life--is Glass's resolution. Often (for me) modern writers muddy up endings, either contriving them or hurrying up, as if an agent is after them to finish. Glass presents a perfectly understandable ending to the situation created. It's not what the reader wants or expects, but certainly what is bound to happen, given the circumstances of ultimatums.