Unrealistic with little detail. Forgettable characters with little to no development. This book takes extreme liberties while completely disregarding entire sections of National Security and policy. It basically plays on this idea that one computer program could simultaneously hack every network, to include independently operated networks that don’t overlap or “talk” to each other, and bring the world to a halt. A student of even the most rudimentary computer networking class or security certificate would be able to understand how this isn’t realistic in the slightest. It would’ve been more realistic to have the PRC utilize a spectrum of cyber warfare in a specific capacity such as a singular attack on the stock market, the power grid, NATO communications or even the military’s LINK 16 network. This book also completely ignores NATO and U.S. allies, satellites, space warfare, and the basic logistics of war. Don’t waste your time.

Most the action was skipped in the book. Made the rest of the book very dry with nothing to grab you to keep reading. The book was very easy to put down.

If you like wokeness and extremely unrealistic writing, this is a book worth reading.

The bones of the story never get fleshed out. Sorely lacking on detail, character development. It is a halfhearted try

Great first chapter but then goes off the track. Too short on character development and keeps rotating the few he has through too many positions and events. Had hoped for better.

The book raises awareness of a real peril we face today, sounds an alarm. All Americans should be aware of the situations and possibilities portrayed in the book. Having said that. If you are looking for a ‘competence porn’ or a real war game write-up, you’re not going to find it in this book. The book reads like a collection of images/impressions of a possible future. It’s pretty short on not descriptions of mechanics and dynamics of interactions between humans, machines, and environment.

Great insight of the destiny of our country and the world. We are the creators of our suicide. Hubris and ego were the attributes our leaders would adopt. Recommend highly.

Pretty good; I’m no intel analyst but the incremental brinksmanship portrayed in this novel seems realistic, opportunistic mid rank Chinese military officials causing a flare up to advance rank in the party, condescending/racist Washington security staff making dumb decisions like the Russian Tsars did against the Japanese, and a broken US political system definitely all check out as I turn on the news and type this. The major wild card left out of this book is climate change, however. The Pentagon has said the Climate Change represents a huge national security threat and China likewise has much of its population in coastal cities and its inland ones are being inundated with floods in the year 2021, forcing the central government to commit more and more resources toward mitigating its effects. There is little to no mention of such a huge strategic factor in this book.

With an Admiral as co-writer, I had hope of a creative and maybe innovative or at least realistic plot. My high school boys could have come up with a more original story line with the same level of military insight. If you are hoping to find the next Clancy, this is not it.

Well the premise was good I think too much time was spent on the individual characters and not on the overall premise of the book.