Rubicon one - Dennis Jones (First UK edition)

When Israel’s enemies are armed with nuclear weapons, and a dangerous extremist comes to power in the Kremlin, the most terrifying predictions of RUBICON seem about to come true. For the past year, the CIA’s giant computer at Langley has been forecasting world affairs with chilling accuracy. Now, with the printouts reading Armageddon, the CIA chiefs see no alternative but to launch the most secret of all secret operations — the last-resort scenario, RUBICON ONE.

Lured out of his New Hampshire retreat ex-CIA agent David Thorne is caught up in a project much bolder and more dangerous than he bargained for. In the Soviet Union, too, where rivalry between the Army and the KGB must soon explode in violence, a young intelligence officer, Nikolai Andreyev, is groomed for his part in a mission of unprecedented risk and cunning.

As the long conflict in the Middle East enters a new and deadly phase, and decisions fall — through accident and assassination — into the hands of fools and madmen, the nuclear threat becomes a nuclear reality. It is up to one man finally, choosing his own judgement and humanity above the logical insanity of RUBICON, to pull the world back from the edge of nightmare.

Moving between Washington and Moscow, Damascus and Tel-Aviv, between jails, airports, oceans, battlefields, Rubicon One brings the reader breathless to the brink of the abyss... Alarmingly plausible, a novel of heart-stopping suspense by a brilliant and extraordinary new writer, Rubicon One leaps to the front rank of political thrillers — cool, flawlessly detailed and hypnotic.