ROOM 1D343

In LaFalce’s thriller, an American con man is called back by his foreign bosses to perform one last job—to help launch an atomic bomb on Washington, D.C.

The novel opens on May 31, 2017, as a minor atomic bomb goes off near the Pentagon. The incident triggers a presidential evacuation and an intense investigation into who is responsible. The narrative then jumps back to 1980 to introduce 22-year-old Mike, who works an entry-level government job while stealing credit cards in his spare time. From there, the story continues skipping around chronologically, chronicling Mike’s con-artist grandparents in the 1950s, Mike’s college friendship with a young Iranian named Ahmed, and Mike’s decision to sell classified information to Middle Eastern spies. In the present day, the now middle-aged Mike is once again called upon by his former foreign bosses—this time, to help with an atomic bomb attack on the United States. But when Ahmed suddenly reappears and U.S. agents are hot on his heels, Mike is no longer sure exactly who he can trust. The only thing he does know is that he’ll have to use all the tricks he’s learned as a grifter if he wants to escape with his life. LaFalce offers detailed insights into the inner workings of political protocols, such as how to go about launching a retaliatory nuclear strike. Some of this material will likely come across as a little too detailed to casual readers, and the novel’s tone remains consistently detached—almost sterile. This unfortunately results in less-than-exciting action scenes (“a chemical and fission detonator triggered molecular fusion within the highly enriched uranium core of the weapon”), and the protagonists never feel emotionally authentic (“Like a Halloween witch, she cackled as the auto glided away. He did not care”). Ultimately, despite such a dramatically charged premise, the execution falls flat.

A convoluted political thriller with granular technical details likely to appeal only to hardcore fans of the genre.