** spoiler alert ** Political thriller. I picked it up because I recently saw the author interviewed on CNN by Glenn Beck about his latest book. I first read and enjoyed his book, Epicenter, in which he describes how he arrived at the ideas for his series of political thrillers. This is the first book in the series. He bases the series on prophecies about the last days in the Book of Ezekiel. I was interested in trying one of the books out. I've given it only two stars because I had to struggle through it. There were some breathless moments in the storyline but the writing on the whole wasn't great and the female characters were too fluffy. The characters were hard to keep straight. The story did not move along quickly enough. I was disgusted at the beginning by the "test" that Bennett, the main character, had to pass to prove his loyalty to the president. And I found the whole oil-as-a-means-for-world-peace idea completely unbelievable. Thank God the real Iraq war did not come off as badly as this author painted it. Authors often depict the future as being more grim that it actually proves to be.