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Average Customer Rating:

A Battle For The Future Of Islam

Customer Rating:

What can't be said as speculation is usually good fodder for fiction. No one wants to talk about just how volatile the middle east is or has become, except for Richard Clarke. He recognizes the inevitable changes to come and how they will affect middle eastern relations, the world oil market and will probably result in the fall of the Royal House of Saud. These nightmare scenarios are the outward expressions of a much more important internal battle for the heart of Islam. Will the moderate, rational, educated muslims win over the future of this fast growing religion or will the greedy and often irrational extremists prevail? The world is watching and we all have a stake in the outcome.

Thought Provoking Story	Customer Rating:
If you are big into Middle East troubles you will not be able to put this book down. Easy reading and keeps your attention very well.

Pretty good novel...	Customer Rating:
i enjoyed reading it. it's a quick,action filled, thriller, not bad for a first effort! beats anything i could ever create! kinda confusing, in terms of the many acronyms, numerous cast of characters, etc. but enjoyable, nontheless. worth reading, for sure.

Nice start	Customer Rating:
Very nice first military/espionage/polical thriller. Clarke creates an interesting scenario with some plausibility. Pure escapism for some.

Against All Friends

Customer Rating:

Clarke's novel is a sprawling story, with dozens of major characters and foreign intrigue between Iran, China, Iraq, the former Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, and the United States (but, curiously, not Israel). The crosses and double-crosses get hard to follow, and the assorted government representatives who take off in rogue directions make it even harder to follow the white hats. One wishes for a simplification along the lines of Michael Crichton, where good-is-good and bad-is-bad, and the plot resolves to a tidy finish. It is not to be. Clarke is well familiar with the messes made by inept civilian leadership, and his novel reflects the multi-faceted nuanced nature of real-world diplomacy. It is a chess game where the pieces have no rules, and the board is constantly shifting. Some of his speculations -- particularly about the fate of Saudi Arabia after a coup, or the destabilizing ambitions of the Iranian regime -- sound eerily plausible and frighteningly impactful. Let us hope they do not become prophetic. Like the movies Syriana or The Kingdom, this novel represents the forefront of a new era in American approach to the Middle East. Instead of a simple-minded black-and-white Rumsfeld-like approach, he embraces the profound complexities of the region: centuries-old antagonisms, the dwindling resources, a people increasingly marginalized by anachronism and religion, the diminishing opportunities to put in place permanent cultural advances with the remaining unearned wealth. His novel requires more than a modicum of attention, and it will cause the attentive reader to think deeply about the large and serious issues he raises.