The Writing on the Wall (Hardcover)

~ Hannes Artens (Author) "Gray skies, gray concrete, gray faces..." (more)
Key Phrases: new great game, tapestry room, aerial strikes, United States, Jim Whitman, President Whitman (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A tautly narrated thriller. --Midwest Book Review

Product Description

Iraq was only a prelude to the horrors of an eventual war with Iran.

A coalition of aching-for-Armageddon televangelists, big oil, and false prophets of democracy manipulate maverick Senator-become-President-in 08, Jim Whitman, into aerial strikes against Tehran. This is a confrontation he knows the United States must avoid by all means. Yet the powers he has pandered to on his road to the White House no longer follow his command. When the cakewalk into Iran turns a gauntlet, America finds itself on the brink of a military quagmire, economic depression and nuclear war.

Political pundit Hannes Artens delivers the most controversial political fiction in years; a gripping and thought-provoking depiction of America in tomorrow s troubled world as topical as a Frontline® documentary that is bound to trigger fierce debate. The Writing on the Wall is as much a no-holds-barred accounting for the last six years as a forceful premonition of what may follow if the United States were to attack Iran. With provocative frankness and an abundance of political allusions some will find too realistic to handle, this cautionary tale exposes the forces that opened the Pandora s Box of the Middle East. Through stirring personal fates, it guides us into the gray area where today s frightening fiction can become the future s bloody fact - a future we may still have the power to change.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Cosmos & Polis Press (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979632005
• ISBN-13: 978-0979632006
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,709,892 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The American version of Harris' "The Ghost", March 16, 2008

By	W. Gentry (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"The Writing on the Wall" by political analyst Hannes Artens is exactly what political junkies and foreign policy aficionados have been waiting for. He proves that one doesn't need the name recognition of a Richard Clarke to write bloodcurdlingly realistic fiction. And unlike Clarke, Artens creates characters you feel for. In fact, the scene where the U.S. President, who was tortured for years as a POW in Vietnam and who, as a senator, sponsored major legislation to ban torture in Guantanamo, has to order suspects to be tortured to prevent another terrorist attack on American soil, is one of the most emotionally moving and intense sequences I've ever read in a political thriller.

This fictitious take on a showdown between the U.S. and Iran is loaded with allusions to real life politicians and events. Artens doesn't shy away from naming names; he seems to be deliberately out to provoke with his realism. Not only are the aerial strikes against Iran masterminded by the fictitious CEOs of ExxonMobil and Northrop Grumman at the Dallas Theological Seminary; his President, Jim Whitman, is a "maverick, straight talking" former senator and POW who pandered so excessively to evangelicals and special interests during his election campaign that he can't control them once he's won the White House. The author's legally necessary disclaimers won't wash: this is the American version of Robert Harris', "The Ghost", and President Whitman is a barely disguised John McCain. And yet, "The Writing on the Wall" is not a partisan vendetta; Jim Whitman is the tragic hero of the book who founders against powers he thought he could manipulate, but who actually have him tied up on puppet's strings.

Its realism is also the book's only drawback. This is not a fluffy read to be enjoyed by the pool while your toddler buries toys in the sandpile. It requires a bit of an effort to read, even more for the not so politically savvy. But for all those who spend hours blogging every night about America's self-created quagmire in Iraq, and who hang on the delegate count of this presidential campaign, it's a must read. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing is scarier than the truth, November 30, 2007

By	Eric Castater (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

As the cover of this book suggests, Mr. Artens' vision of what world events could develop in the short to medium term future is not rosy, to say the least. But it is not only the devastation that he envisions that is so scary, it is the fact that the issues he has written about are the "recent developments" in the Middle East that cover the front pages of our newspapers today. For instance, he describes mounting political pressure within the United States to go to war with Iran, the overthrow of the government of Pakistan by Islamic radicals, and Turkish plans to invade northern Iraq. If you think that world geopolitics is a series of random events that cannot be predicted by an astute and thoughtful student of the world, then be prepared to change the way you think.

Artens shows how various moneyed and powered interests within America and around the world manipulate the public, political leaders, and perhaps even themselves, into taking horrendous actions that could provoke chain reactions that result in even more dire consequences. The author does not superficially examine the above mentioned issues from a bird's eye perspective, but instead shows the inner workings and interconnectedness of big business, national governments, international organizations, regional movements and organized religion and how they make up the political reality we now find ourselves in. This is not to say that the book is an academic exercise, as his characters' intimate relationships leave us caring about world events not just because of the magnitude of their effect and our own personal stake, but because of the individuals around the world who are caught in the horrible web of international affairs and "realpolitik", either as victims, creators, or both. I recommend this book strongly, as it will entertain you, inform you, make you think, and hopefully lead you to act before more of Artens' predictions come true.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars out of the ordinary, January 20, 2008

By	Jane L. Miller "golden" - See all my reviews

This ain't your usual international/political thriller. There's no cookie-cutter, gun totin' hero who sniffs out and overcomes all the bad guys and their evil plots. The characters are real. You'd know them if you passed them on the street. And they all have the same fatal flaw that we have - they see the world through a fun house mirror of their own creation.
Despite the lack of guns, there's plenty of action and tension. All are ready to fight for their delusions and some are even willing to die for them. Plot counters plot and until almost the end, we're not always sure who is on which side.
While this is fiction and written a couple of years in the future, one can see the predicted events already happening. How much of this might become real may depend on the decision we make in the upcoming political races. Well researched and believeable.