Dragon Strike

From Publishers Weekly Long on political detail and short on well-drawn characters, this debut thriller from a pair of British foreign correspondents posits a chilling nuclear standoff with China that remains compelling despite the lack of a conventional cast of characters. Conflict is sparked when the Chinese begin a series of preemptive strikes against the Vietnamese in the South China Sea, intent on taking several small islands to gain control of critical trade routes in the resource-rich region. At first the battle seems like a controllable local incident. But when the Chinese sink an American vessel attempting to rescue U.S. workers stranded on one of the islands as de facto political prisoners, tension escalates exponentially, driven by a series of border skirmishes between the Vietnamese and Chinese and an underground nuclear test conducted by Japan in response to the Chinese aggression. Rather than creating the usual cast of high-placed political characters to carry the story, the authors have chosen to make the representatives of the nations themselves the characters, via a relentless series of dispatches documenting in detail the various moves of China, America, Britain, France, India, Vietnam, Korea and Japan as nuclear war becomes imminent. Their device is a series of dense, detail-riddled reports that will appeal to CNN junkies. It's a tribute to both the power and plausibility of the plot that this "narrative" remains riveting despite the difficulties inherent in plowing through wire service-like prose, and this title seems likely to attract attention, especially in political circles. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal In this timely novel, set in the year 2001, China attacks other Asian nations, hoping to deflect attention from internal woes while achieving some economic gains and retaking "traditional" territories lost in decades past. The United States, Great Britain, and France are soon drawn in, and the world stands on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. The novel, which draws on the authors' extensive knowledge of Asia, acquired while working for the BBC and the Financial Times, is told as a future history and even includes an index. Despite some dry "briefings" and technical passages about world finances, this is a surprisingly fast, gripping, and all-too-plausible read that is particularly relevant considering our current relations with China. For larger collections.ARobert Conroy, Warren, MI Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews From two experienced British journalists, a step-by-step scenario describing the world's brisk march toward self-destruction. Though subtitled a novel, it isn't really, at least not in the accepted sense. No heroes, no villains, no psychological delving into character, no insights into the human condition, no sex, none of the stuff that has always made fiction so sturdy an escape vehicle. ``Future history'' is the way the authors describe what they're aboutan exercise in military and political prediction.'' It all begins with China's attack on North Vietnam on February 18, 2001. Ostensibly, the quarrel is over offshore oil in the South China Seathe Vietnamese control it, the Chinese want it in order to be less dependent on untrustworthy sources. But Dragonstrike, as China dubs the operation, is far more complex than that. Dragonstrike shows China shedding its inferiority complex, flexing its superpower muscles, and unmasking its global aspirations. Dragonstrike's real goal, then, is to force a confrontation with the US, driving the despised interloper first from the South China Sea and ultimately from Asia. The Chinese attack is a provocation that causes diverse and often opportunistic reaction in the international community. France sees geopolitical advantage in offering aid to Vietnam, its erstwhile enemy. Japan seizes its chance to become a nuclear power. When the US sends a ship to rescue a group of oil workers held hostage by China, the Chinese sink it. Air and sea battles rage as those nations with high-tech toys rush to employ them. At length, China and the US go one-on-one, facing each other's threat of nuclear extinctionneither doubting that under certain circumstances the other would pull the trigger. In Hawksley and Hollertons scenario the world survives, but the authors leave behind a dismal epigraph from Plato: ``Only the dead have seen the end of war.'' Meticulous, persuasive, disheartening. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. [A] savvy first novel... -- The New York Times Book Review , Charles Wilson From the Publisher "Ominous and insightful, Dragon Strike is a thinking man's thriller that will glue you to your chair." --Stephen Coonts, bestselling author of Fortunes of War and Cuba "Humphrey Hawksley is one of only a handful of writers taking the thriller in important new directions." --Craig Thomas, bestselling author of Firefox " Dragon Strike is a cracking read by two fine journalists who know what they are talking about. Realistic and gripping, it goes to the heart of some of the most worrying issues with which the world will be grappling in the Millennium." --Chris Patten, last Governor of Hong Kong "Hawksley and Holberton...jam their book with enough technological detail to satisfy even the most compulsive player of fantasy warfare." -- Time "Ingenious...bounces along, with plenty of knowledge of weaponry and tactical strengths." -- The Economist "Graphic and...realistic." -- The Financial Times "An ingenious thriller...chilling." -- The Daily Telegraph Humphrey Hawksley has been a BBC correspondent in Asia for ten years. He has pursued assignments in more than twenty Asian countries, and has been present for some of the most exciting moments in their tumultuous recent history. In 1994 he was appointed China Bureau Chief and became BBC's first television correspondent based in Beijing. Simon Holberton has completed two tours of Asia as a journalist. Most recently he was Hong Kong Bureau Chief for the Financial Times . Read more