This past April, Atlantic Monthly Press published a frightening and unusual thriller -- ULTIMATUM, by a British physician writing under the pseudonym Matthew Glass.
My son, who runs a non-profit company called CALCEF (California Clean Energy Fund), read a review of Ultimatum in The Economist, and because of its subject matter bought an Advance Review Copy from ABE. He was immediately gripped -- as was I when I began to read it on my new Kindle.
The book is set in 2032, when a new Democratic president is elected after years of unemployment, growing public anger and failed environmental promises by a Republican very much like George W. Bush. Shortly after his election, the Democrat is summoned by the outgoing president to a private meeting. There he gets the news that greenhouse gas emissions have begun to increase at an alarming rate. The Republican president and his aides have tried to open secret negotiations with China, the world's worst polluters of the atmosphere, but the Chinese government decides to wait until the new president takes office.
Ultimatum, in short, is an amazing piece of work -- a political thriller that is unusually full of both believable politics and genuine thrills.
Now comes the real mystery. Ultimatum was published in April, to very little notice -- no reviews in either the New York or Los Angeles Times. Its sales rank on Amazon is lower than a Philly fan's spirits.
Why is virtually nobody buying or reading this most worthy thriller? It's available on Kindle, a few copies can be found at Book Finder, and a paperback version is due out in February, 2010.
Now you know.
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