Balance of Power: A Novel - Hardcover

Huston, James W

3.89

747 ratings by Goodreads

9780688159177: Balance of Power: A Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688159176 ISBN 13: 9780688159177

Publisher: William Morrow, 1998

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Tom Clancy meets David Baldacci in this electrifying debut -- a blockbuster tale of terrorism, naval action, legal intrigue, and a historic showdown on Capitol Hill.

Balance of Power opens with a bang when pirates hijack the world's fastest merchant ship in a ruthless plan to spark an international incident. Instead, the attack provokes a Constitutional crisis -- and splits the U.S. government down the middle.

Jim Dillon, Special Assistant to the Speaker of the House, discovers a long-forgotten clause in the Constitution that allows Congress to take military action without presidential approval, and his ambitious boss sees an opportunity to humiliate his rival in the Oval Office. Over at the White House, Dillon's old friend Molly is working feverishly on a legal strategy to block the Speaker's gambit; the case moves swiftly toward the Supreme Court -- and a trial drama that equals anything found in a Grisham thriller.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, a "rogue" U.S. Navy battle group races toward a deadly rendezvous with terrorists. With H-Hour drawing ever closer, fighter jocks, Navy SEALs, and Marine assault teams prepare for action in a frenzy of activity that sweeps from the carrier's high-tech intelligence center to the high-tension cockpit of an F-14 to the Marines storming ashore on a tropical island. The author was a carrier pilot himself, and the military scenes crackle with authentic detail that outdoes Clancy.

Flashing between the political clash in Washington and the countdown to assault halfway around the globe, Balance of Power builds to a suspenseful crescendo that blends political battles, legal skirmishing, and naval warfare into a blockbuster that's sure to explode onto bestseller lists all over America.

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Review:

John Stanbridge, the Speaker of the House in James W. Huston's exciting and exceptionally timely first thriller, isn't exactly Newt Gingrich ("He was of average height with dark brown hair that was stiff and unruly. He wore it parted on the side, but the only time his hair looked neat was in the morning when it was still wet") but he is a hawkish, confrontational Republican who can't stand the idea that President Edward Manchester--a Democrat and a pacifist--is Commander in Chief of America's armed forces. So when Indonesian terrorists hijack a new American supercargo vessel and torture the captain and crew on live TV, Stanbridge is delighted to discover a clause in the Constitution that lets Congress go behind the president's unwilling back and authorize military action on its own. This leads to a Constitutional crisis, which lawyer Huston describes crisply, as well as some air and sea military action, on which former jet pilot Huston also brings a lot of personal expertise to bear. There's even a love story, involving top aides of the Speaker and the president, ensuring that Balance of Power will soon be playing at a movie theater near you. --Dick Adler

About the Author:

A graduate of TOPGUN, James W. Huston flew F-14s off the USS Nimitz with the Jolly Rogers. He served as a naval flight officer and worked in Naval Intelligence before becoming a lawyer and the acclaimed author of The Shadows of Power, Balance of Power, The Price of Power, Flash Point, and Fallout. He lives in San Diego, California.

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