Cloudburst: A Novel - Hardcover

Pearson, Ryne Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688122469 ISBN 13: 9780688122461

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1993

Synopsis

Immediately after two Libyans assassinate the U.S. president, the United States is hit with a second blow when political extremists hijack a crowded American 747. 20,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.

About this title

About the Author

Ryne Douglas Pearson is an accomplished novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of several novels, including Cloudburst, October's Ghost, Capitol Punishment, Simple Simon, Top Ten,The Donzerly Light, All For One, and Confessions. He is also the author of the short story collection, Dark and Darker. His novel Simple Simon was made into the film Mercury Rising. As a screenwriter he has worked on numerous movies. The film Knowing, based on his original script, was released in 2009 and opened #1 at the box office. Receiving Four Stars from Roger Ebert, who branded it 'among the best science-fiction films I've seen', it went on to earn more than $180 million worldwide. He has also done uncredited work on films such as the remakes of The Day The EarthStood Still and The Eye.

Despite the often 'dark' nature of his novels and films, Pearson has been noted to have a 'sweet, disarming quality' by Entertainment Weekly-an accusation he has been unable to shake. When not writing he is usually thinking about writing, or touting the wonders of bacon in online conversations. He is addicted to diet soda and the sound of his children laughing. A west coast native, he lives in California with his wife, children, a Doberman Shepherd and a Beagle Vizsla.

From Kirkus Reviews

Hyperreal whiz-bang first novel by a gifted high-tech specialist. The President is assassinated in L.A. by Libyan terrorists as the first act of a three-act vengeance scenario by Qaddafi, who is dying of leukemia from tainted blood introduced into him during surgery by order of the former CIA head. James ``Bud'' DiContino, named head of the National Security Agency when his boss is killed with the President, leads an immense cast of all variety of specialists whose working methods Pearson knows inside out and relates here with impressive realism. Bud answers directly to the new President as his team sets out to bust up acts two and three of Qaddafi's plot. An American 747 out of Athens is hijacked by a terrorist team, flown to Benghazi, loaded with a thermonuclear device, and then headed toward the States to blow itself up, praise Allah, in a suicide mission over the already mourning Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, we follow various FBI, Secret Service, and CIA teams as they try to fill in backgrounds on the terrorists, and we join an antiterrorist military team out to thwart the hijackers. We also hop all over the globe as enormous force is mobilized both to blow the passenger-laden 747 out of the air, if necessary, and to strike a fantastically big retaliatory atomic attack on Libya. Pearson keeps us alert to the drama aboard the plane and to a rising storm front causing the diversion of the aircraft to Havana, where it's refueled after a disastrous landing that all but disables it. And we also follow the progress of Joe Anderson, who may be able to disarm the nuclear device if by some miracle he can get close enough to it. The widespread plot includes an attempt to pluck out of Libya a high-placed informant who's kept the US up to date on Qaddafi's hideous activities. Newcomer Pearson ranges about smartly indeed with mind- boggling expertise. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0688122469
• ISBN 13: 9780688122461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 347