Steve Alten appears in episode 84 of the C-Realm Podcast.

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Product Description

From the Publisher

The events of September 11th, 2001,the invasion of Iraq,the threat of radical Islam,an impending showdown with Iran. What do these situations have in common? Oil. And the world is running out. The SHELL GAME is far more than a thriller, it is a MUST-READ cautionary tale that exposes the next 9/11 event a deception that will lead to a retaliatory chemical weapons strike on Iran and the terrorist elements the regime supports. Though the novel is written as fiction, it is filled with all-too-real details provided by insiders in the oil industry, military, and Middle Eastern affairs that extrapolates real events from the past and present that will lead us down a path of self-destruction.Unless we stop the insanity now!

Product Description

The story opens in 2007 when two CIA spooks meet with an American Colonel in military intelligence. The war is going badly, and President Bush, who steadfastly refuses to back down, remains unchallenged at home as Democrats and Republicans continue to toss verbal grenades positioning themselves for the 2008 elections. Meanwhile, Iran s pursuit of nuclear energy will yield enriched uranium within five years, uranium that can be used to manufacture suitcase nukes. The United States military is too drained to invade Iran, and a preemptive strike is out of the question,unless a nuclear detonation were to occur in an American city, the enriched uranium traced back to Iran. A U.S. reprisal would strike a death-blow against radical Islam, quell the insurgent violence in Iraq,and yield more oil. Yes, the cost is unthinkable but if we sit back and do nothing then one day a dozen suitcase bombs could go off in a dozen American cities bringing with it anarchy and the collapse of Western civilization. December 2011: Ashley Ace Futrell is an oil expert working for PetroConsultants, married to Kelli Doyle, a former National Security Advisor and one of the CIA spooks from the opening scene. When Kelli threatens to expose the plot, Ace finds his existence hurtling down a rabbit s hole of deceit where the orchestrated lies of the powerful few could lead to the darkest days of human existence, and the death knell for billions.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20814 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Even die-hard conspiracy theorists will be dubious about the sinister government-led plots that form the shaky foundation of this political thriller. Alten, best-known for his gory novels featuring giant prehistoric sharks (Meg; The Trench), goes well beyond the already far-fetched idea that the Bush administration let the devastating 9/11 attacks happen to further the neoconservative agenda of reshaping the Middle East. In 2012, with centrist conservative David McKuin in the White House, the federal government plots to detonate a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city and blame Iran as a cover to take out that country's radical leadership. Standing in the plotters' way is Ace Futrell, an energy expert whose murdered wife was possibly targeted by U.S. intelligence. An awkward mix of actual and fictional political figures (Hillary Clinton is still in the Senate in 2012, having lost the 2008 election to McKuin) doesn't make this paranoid and superficial book more plausible. (Jan.)
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Review
A nerve-wracking thriller about America's addiction to Middle Eastern sweet crude and the network of enablers who keep our dependent nation away from detox. --Kirkus Reviews

Steve Alten proves his versatility in his latest thriller THE SHELL GAME, a tour-de-force thriller tackling oil, politics, and the state of the world. Controversial, shocking, meticulously researched, and sure to raise many eyebrows in Washington, Alten has produced both a dazzling political thriller and to a cautionary tale for our times. Anyone interested in the labyrinthine world of politics, international gamemanship, and the control of oil in society needs to read this book. --James Rollins, New York Times bestseller of The Judas Strain

Whether you embrace it or refute it, The Shell Game cannot, and should not, be easily dismissed. This is Steve Alten s boldest, bravest book to date. He s fearless, in fact, and his skills as a storyteller have not dulled. The Shell Game leaves you shattered, angry, and demanding change. -Andrew Tallackson, Michigan City (Indiana) News-Dispatch entertainment editor

Action packed, intense, and politically probing, The Shell Game is an intriguing blend of fiction and nonfiction that will most certainly disturb the practitioners of the game, because it will make readers stop and think about American foreign policy in the oil-rich Middle East. --Richard Folsom, Washington Daily News

About the Author
A native of Philadelphia, Steve Alten earned his Bachelor s degree from Penn State University, his Masters from the University of Delaware, and his Doctorate from Temple University. He is the author of the best-selling Meg series, Domain series, Goliath, and The Loch. Steve Alten is also founder and director of Adopt-An-Author, a free nationwide teen reading program that is now being used in thousands of secondary school classrooms across the country to excite reluctant readers to read.

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Customer Reviews

This should be required reading!
This book should be required reading for all voters before the election. Steve Alten takes you through the twists and turns of both real and immaginary political chicanery.

A Must Read
I don't normally read fiction. However, "The Shell Game" was recommended to me by a friend. The book is very fast-paced, plausible and unfortunately, disturbing. I say disturbing because the author wraps the story around little known facts surrounding 9/11, Iraq and our current Oil Crisis. It's clear that Steve Alten chose "fiction" as a genre to convey that the United States, if not the rest of the world, is smack in the middle of a geopolitical and environment crisis. If we don't wake up from our deep sleep, the crisis will only get larger and we will all suffer as a result.

Regardless, it's worth your time to read this book. If for no other reason, it will make you think and that's not such a bad thing, particularly before a Presidential election.

Political Insanity!
I have read Steve Alten's other books in the past and have mostly enjoyed them. This is the first book that I stopped reading halfway through in 10 years. It left such a bad taste in my mouth, I just couldn't bring myself to read the whole thing. Alten's liberal political agenda taint this book to the point that I had to look closely to find the real story. Alten's viewpoints clearly mirror those of anti-american bomb throwers like Michael Moore, Rosie O"Donnell, and Sean Penn etc. If you believe that the President and other top officials knew about 9/11 before that date and purposely allowed it to happen, then you will like this book (God help us all!) if not, then throw this book in the trash where it belongs.