Act of War, by Brad Thor

Scott Harvath, once again, is tasked with saving humanity.  In Brad Thor's 2015 novel Act of War, the enemy is China (to be fair, rogue elements in the Chinese power structure, but in a country like China, how do we distinguish. . . .) and the weapon of choice is a large-scale coordinated EMP attack.  Of course, it takes a while for Harvath and his colleagues to put all this together. 

Act of War features a plot that, like many of Harvath's novels, seems almost too realistic and plausible.  One of the "nose under the tent" elements is Obama's NASA program to reach out to Muslims "to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science" (that, by the way is an actual Obama quote).  The Chinese use this program to recruit Muslim students to enter the U.S., but then the students stick around and take part in the plot to launch the EMP attack.  It's quite a scheme, but Harvath, with the help of his Carlton Group colleagues, the FBI, and other government entities, gets to the bottom of it and averts disaster.

Thor is known for his realistic writing and insider information, so it makes me wonder how concerned I should be about this sort of attack.  If you've read any apocalyptic novels or seen the movies, you know what sort of impact such an attack could have.  Harvath gets it and knows that if they don't foil this plot, it would be disastrous for the U.S. and the world.  But Harvath comes through, saves the world, and serves justice on the plotters in typical Harvath fashion.

This is obviously a work of fiction, but Harvath/Thor holds nothing back in his contempt for Obama and his policies, even if Obama is not named.  Also, given that this was published before Trump even announced his candidacy, it's interesting to read the ways that Thor's successor to the fictional Obama aligns with Trump.  Thor sensed the need for change and prophetically and/or hopefully wrote the future.  I don't know who the actual, real-life Harvaths are, but I have no doubt that he or she and their counterparts are working on the front lines and behind the scenes to secure and protect the United States.  Let's hope so, anyway.