The Road to Armageddon

by Larry Collins Narrated by Scott Brick

Overview

When Iran's deadly nuclear game is revealed, CIA agent Frank Williams realizes there is only one man made for the job of traveling to the other side of the world to neutralize this threat-his disgraced former partner, agent Jim Duffy. Williams travels to Duffy's quiet Maine hideaway and presents the facts of the case: The world's largest heroin dealers have carved a path straight to America's doorsteps and may possess six of the deadliest weapons known to man. Duffy doesn't want to yield to the Agency that rudely cast him aside. But a sense of duty and a love of country will not let him stand by, idle. Not since The Manchurian Candidate has the thriller so closely walked the line between fact and fiction, as readers try to ascertain if this is really happening? Are we on the brink of our planet's final conflict?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

The startling cover of Collins's new thriller, of a nuclear bomb exploding along a country road, well fits this frightening speculative tale, which describes how Iran might come into possession of a nuclear weapon. "As you read this," veteran journalist Collins (Fall from Grace; Oh, Jerusalem with Dominique Lapierre; etc.) writes in an author's note, "Iran possesses at least three, and possibly as many as six nuclear weapons," and then goes on to warn that "much of what you are about to read is true." The story Collins tells follows two basic plot lines: one follows the money, as Iranians transform opium gathered from Afghan poppies into heroin by way of Turkey, then into cash to fund their weapons program; the second follows disaffected CIA agent Jim Duffy as he's recruited from his Maine hideaway to prevent the Iranians from obtaining triggers for their nuclear devices. Both plot lines grab interest, but the novel would have been stronger if they were better integrated. The story is grounded in the deep research Collins is known for, which takes the reader into such arcane matters as encryption; nuclear arms; drug growing, drug processing and drug-running; money counterfeiting and laundering; Special Forces techniques. There's even a bit of romance, as Duffy falls for a widowed American ex-pat. "Many have asked why I didn't write this as a work of nonfiction," writes Collins. "I'm afraid that is just not possible. It would put innocent people at great risk." Nonetheless, this gripping novel features, along with strong action sequences and a wicked surprise ending, enough detail and verisimilitude to unnerve most readers at the same time that it entertains them. 150,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; 3-city author tour. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

After the death of his wife, Jim Duffy retired from the CIA and led a lonely and isolated life. A friend's plea to return to the agency, however, leads him to investigate a mass influx of heroin from Afghanistan. Soon after, a businessman is murdered in London, and the death appears to be related to several missing nuclear devices. Can Duffy stop the terrorists from enacting their diabolical plot? Readers may not finish the book to find out. Several roadblocks hinder the narrative-threadbare characterizations and phony dialog are only the tip of the iceberg. In a preface, Collins, a former UPI and Newsweek correspondent who cowrote many best sellers with Dominique LaPierre (Is Paris Burning?), emphasizes how much of the narrative is based on nonfiction (i.e., Iran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons). Yet the fictive elements as he renders them seem forced around those true events. Though Armageddon is paved with good intentions, take a detour.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

When loose nukes turn up in the wrong hands. Three years of research, the author mentions, have convinced him that "Iran possesses at least three and possibly six nuclear weapons." They previously belonged to the Russians, who apparently got careless with them. At any rate, it falls to fictional Jim Duffy, ex-CIA, to pinpoint their whereabouts. Once he was a golden boy, shining brilliantly on the Afghanistan desk in the closing days of the USSR's adventure there. Office politics brought him down, but now he's up again, charged with rescuing the West from nuclear catastrophe-Israel first, because the Iranian faction that has latched on to the WMDs has prioritized its hatreds. "Islam has two principal enemies, Israel and the United States," Duffy tells the president, to whom the information seems fresh, adding: "Some of the mullahs ruling Iran, not all of them any more, but some of their top clerics, are blind fanatics." Plan Khalid, it's called, and the Islamic fundamentalists who've devised it are opportunistically financing it through a burgeoning heroin trade. Which is why Duffy is first dispatched to the CIA's Counter Narcotic Center, where the grunt work grates-until the brutal murder of Tari Harmian, an Iranian businessman living in London, sets off a chain reaction that brings Plan Khalid into focus. Duffy heads for London, meets the charming widow Harmian, finds her compatible, takes off to attend to business, returns to comfort and be comforted in a world now saved, temporarily at least, from conflagration. Collins's latest (after Black Eagles, 1995)-he calls it "a faction novel"-may well be catnip to technophiles and conspiracy theorists. But if you like your thrillerscharacter-driven, you'll search in vain here for someone to care about.

JUN/JUL 04 - AudioFile

Listeners will have trouble separating fact from fiction in this well-researched novel, which depicts the relationship between the opium and heroin trade, Iranian terrorists, and the production of nuclear weapons. Afghanistan, Germany, London, Istanbul, and Amsterdam are the settings for this exciting but frightening story. Scott Brick's performance is right on target, from the detailed descriptions of drug manufacturing and terrorist plots to the special operations action. A multitude of international voices do not present any difficulty as he moves from one foreign accent to another. Vocal modulation and varied rhythms and tempos convey both the action and the rich descriptions. The story will keep listeners engaged as they try to distinguish the real from the made-up. S.S.R. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940174826823
Publisher:	Phoenix Books, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2003
Edition description:	Unabridged

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