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: #311644 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781599550947
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

First Choice
I had a stack of books to read over the holidays and the most irresistable was The Shell Game by Steve Alten. While some might dismiss the book as a political fantasy, the drama struck me as painfully real, vital, urgent, and timely, given our current reality.

The book is laced with quotes from sources which question the official story of 9/11, and the action casts light on "the next 9/11, a nuclear 9/11," how to stop it, and and how to stop World War IV. There are villains and heroes, lovers, lies, children, insights into the mindset of the Neo-Cons who have been trying to dominate the planet for these past decades.

There are surprises, too. It is one of those very hard to put down sort of books, as you want to know - what will happen next, will the protagonist succeeed in the impossible task, who will live, who will die, and what will be humanity's fate.

The political becomes personal, and the personal political, and the stakes grow higher and higher. Whether a person lives or dies, their intentions and actions have tremendous consequences in The Shell Game, and I think in the current world that we live in. One person, waking up spiritually, politically, intellectually to the profound reality of the moment, and taking action can make a tremendous difference.

What I love about The Shell Game is the evolution of the main characters who are transformed by their own very personal understanding of political events, events which they themselves participated in. Not all the "evil villains" become "good guys" and there are those who steadfastedly continue to lie to themselves and others. The book delves into the extraordinary complexities of human understanding, the modern political system, and the mega-mainstream communications system which shapes human understanding, and can be used to seize and manipulate political power.

For those who have struggled against the machine, the book holds some precious nuggets of truth, hope, and insight. For those seeking to stop the next 9/11 and World War IV, the book is a great opening for a dialogue on the painful truths and realities that most journalists and politicians do not dare to speak about. For those who dismiss the news and focus on their personal realities, and feel insulated from the struggles of the majority of people, this book will challenge their perception of reality, and perhaps inspire them to stop being a spectator and recognize their own power and responsibility to shape the future.

I highly recommend it as a first choice on what to read, and hope that readers follow up on the source books, and give the author a hand in preventing "the next 9/11."

The Most Frightening Book of the Decade - Genius!
Steve Alten clearly states that many of the factual threads running throughout "The Shell Game" were based upon the extensive research found in my book, "Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil". I actually didn't know about Shell Game until after it had been written, when Steve offered to send me a review copy. I am so glad he did.

My book is 600 pages of non-fiction with a thousand footnotes. It is in the Harvard Business School Library.

Steve's book is a gripping, fire-breathing, page-turning novel that the great Robert Ludlum would envy. Both books convey exactly the same message: that the world is running out of oil fast; that human civilization hangs in the balance; and that the US government used this crisis as a rationale for perpetrating the attacks of 9-11 and (very likely) attacks yet to come.

Why? The American people would never allow their sons and daughters to be used and sacrificed as bloody oil conquistadors unless we could call ourselves victims.-- We are victims, but not that kind.

Steve's absolute genius is in his ability to make the unpalatable irresistible. It lies also in his ability to separate research "ice cream" from research "bs". "Children", hucksters and some with more sinister motives have hijacked the so-called 9-11 "truth movement." That clear thinking is what makes "The Shell Game" slice through consciousness and reach the soul like a hot scalpel through butter. Steve takes us into a terrifying future as though he were reading a military GPS locator.

"The Shell Game" is a novel and a ticking time bomb for the psyche. It is the red pill from "The Matrix". Steve has brilliantly created a masterpiece that is going to rock the planet while entertaining and teaching millions at the same time. I applaud both his genius and also what I see as his divine inspiration.

Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil

-- Michael C. Ruppert

Be afraid, be very afraid...
This is one of the scariest, but very entertaining, thrillers I've ever read, mostly because it has lots of facts and connects a lot of dots, and is very plausible. Steve Alten has digested a lot of info about 9/11 and come to conclusions that any sane, thinking person would reasonably come to after impartially evaluating the evidence, that 9/11 was either an inside job or an enabled job in order to provide a "new Pearl Harbor" to facilitate the well-known neo-con goals of complete US control of declining mid-East oil. Alten plays out a scenario in 2011 where a much worse "black flag" operation partially succeeds with much more horrific results. Lots of plot and action and not a lot of character development, but this is not a literary novel. It's really a thoughtful, courageous wake-up call which will keep you riveted and maybe up all night with a sense of real forboding and not-irrational fear for our country and its future in the months ahead.