Politically Insightful
Thinking this book would be full of action and thrills - mainly about losing coastal land and the relocation of millions - I plunged into it. Instead it was a behind-the-scenes political story about a new U.S. President taking on this issue. Before his inauguration, the outgoing President informs him that the situation is many times more dire than is publicly known. The new President must select all of his cabinet members, be inaugurated, and then create a core group around him who know how dire the situation is. Then, they must try to convince China to come on board as the U.S. and China are the superpowers in 2032. Secret negotiations take place in Oslo but as they think they are ready to sign a pact initiating stringent proposals, China leaves the table.
The negotiations, the complexities of China's internal power struggles, the news conferences in which the U.S. President must skirt around the issues prior to his being ready to announce them, the talks with Great Britain's prime minister, the workings behind the scenes that are mostly unknown by citizens all are pulled together tightly by this author and make compellig reading. So, I did experience a suspenseful thriller after all.