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Code Word: Paternity, A Presidential Thriller
The Armageddon genie—nuclear terrorism—is out of the bottle, freed by bin-Laden’s heedless avengers and “a pissant dictator with Ray-Bans and a fondness for movies,” as America’s president puts it privately a few hours before announcing a decision that will mark him forever as either a hero or a mass murderer.
In a twenty-first century Pearl Harbor, nuclear terrorism takes its first city—Las Vegas—and stalks Baltimore. The terrorists have no return address—but the nuke they used does. A scientific trail scented by an ultra-secret U.S. program hidden for years behind the code word “Paternity” points toward the nation that made the bomb.
But there’s no smoking gun. Struggling to lead a divided, panicked America, wring support from uncertain allies, and blunt the opportunism of rivals, the president faces an ethical dilemma threatening his marriage, his presidency, and his very soul. As commander-in-chief, controlling nearly unfathomable power to retaliate, he can put the Armageddon genie back in the bottle—but at what cost and to whom? Ambition, conscience, and duty collide as heads of state, politicians, diplomats, and generals maneuver with the lives of millions at stake.
Code Word: Paternity is forthcoming in trade paperback from Dog Ear Press in November 2012.
In a twenty-first century Pearl Harbor, nuclear terrorism takes its first city—Las Vegas—and stalks Baltimore. The terrorists have no return address—but the nuke they used does. A scientific trail scented by an ultra-secret U.S. program hidden for years behind the code word “Paternity” points toward the nation that made the bomb.
But there’s no smoking gun. Struggling to lead a divided, panicked America, wring support from uncertain allies, and blunt the opportunism of rivals, the president faces an ethical dilemma threatening his marriage, his presidency, and his very soul. As commander-in-chief, controlling nearly unfathomable power to retaliate, he can put the Armageddon genie back in the bottle—but at what cost and to whom? Ambition, conscience, and duty collide as heads of state, politicians, diplomats, and generals maneuver with the lives of millions at stake.
Code Word: Paternity is forthcoming in trade paperback from Dog Ear Press in November 2012.
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 26, 2012
4 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Doug Norton
2 books10 followersDoug Norton draws on both experience and research to pen the Code Word Series. As a warship captain during the cold war Doug held launch codes for nuclear weapons and was prepared to use them, but he also participated in high-stakes international negotiations to reduce their numbers and the chance of nuclear war. In Geneva, Brussels, London, and Washington he experienced diplomacy and politics in tense meetings, glittering receptions, and deadline-driven all-nighters.
A graduate of the Naval Academy and of the University of Washington, Doug was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and Director of International Studies at the Naval Academy. After serving more than twenty-five years, Captain Norton retired from the navy and was an executive recruiter for fifteen years. Doug and his wife live in Annapolis, where he volunteered with the Coast Guard Auxiliary in search and rescue and Anne Arundel Medical Center in the emergency department. He loves to meet readers and has signed books in bars, hospitals, and hotels as well as book stores, libraries, and book clubs.
A graduate of the Naval Academy and of the University of Washington, Doug was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and Director of International Studies at the Naval Academy. After serving more than twenty-five years, Captain Norton retired from the navy and was an executive recruiter for fifteen years. Doug and his wife live in Annapolis, where he volunteered with the Coast Guard Auxiliary in search and rescue and Anne Arundel Medical Center in the emergency department. He loves to meet readers and has signed books in bars, hospitals, and hotels as well as book stores, libraries, and book clubs.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 17, 2013
If you are a Kinder reader (sorry Arminius), I highly recommend that you join the Amazon Kindle group here on Goodreads. In that group there is a thread for free books in which authors frequently post titles that are available for free for a short period of time on Amazon. I’m here to testify that I find some of my favorite books in this manner. Most of which I would not have known about otherwise. This is the latest find. . .
Wow! An emotionally exhausting, terrifying, suspense filled prophetic thriller portraying what the US & world reaction would be to Las Vegas being destroyed by a nuclear device. The political game being played within the United States and the corresponding diplomatic chess game that could result internationally. It amazed me to think that it’s possible I don’t know and possibly can’t trust those whom we think are our friends.
Disturbing to the point that it actually made me angry. I don’t think a book has ever done that. It all seemed so real given the current state of events in the world today.
Wow! An emotionally exhausting, terrifying, suspense filled prophetic thriller portraying what the US & world reaction would be to Las Vegas being destroyed by a nuclear device. The political game being played within the United States and the corresponding diplomatic chess game that could result internationally. It amazed me to think that it’s possible I don’t know and possibly can’t trust those whom we think are our friends.
Disturbing to the point that it actually made me angry. I don’t think a book has ever done that. It all seemed so real given the current state of events in the world today.
July 8, 2017
Well before most of us started to pay serious attention to the nuclear threat from North Korea, author Doug Norton had already imagined the worst. CODE WORK: PATERNITY, published in 2012, is a frightening tale of nuclear terrorism carried out by the rogue nation in collusion with Islamic extremists seeking to avenge Bin Laden’s death. Norton is a retired U.S. Naval officer with substantial experience in diplomacy and politics related to nuclear deterrence. He expertly weaves an interlocking plot involving a devastating attack on the U.S. homeland; the looming prospect of additional attacks; the challenges faced by the intelligence community in identifying the perpetrators; the administration’s frustrating efforts to partner with China to deal with the North Korean threat; and the president’s struggles to reconcile political realities and his personal ethical code. Even more timely today than when it was written, CODE WORD: PATERNITY is a gripping, highly plausible read that could be lifted from tomorrow’s headlines.
January 18, 2018
A fascinating and convincing account of decision making at the Presidential level and a great page turner. The author puts you inside the minds of all the actors: the conflicted President, the ardent terrorist, the sincere and deluded Dear Leader of North Korea, and the constellation of people creating and trying to solve a life-and-megadeath problem. While being a tough-minded thriller, part of the fun of reading this book is the sense that many of the author's insights derive from his personal participation, as a senior US Navy officer, in nuclear deterrence and diplomacy. And if you are looking for something to make you think deeper, underlying all this fast-paced action, the quote from Epictetus at the beginning is a clue.
July 9, 2017
So much truth in this fiction!
In today's world this is an astoundingly pertinent read. It tackles global security issues in an exciting yet thoughtful way. Your heart will beat quickly and you will will probably wrestle with some tough questions. Read this!
In today's world this is an astoundingly pertinent read. It tackles global security issues in an exciting yet thoughtful way. Your heart will beat quickly and you will will probably wrestle with some tough questions. Read this!
October 9, 2012
Doug Norton's novel reads like it was ripped from the headlines of a newspaper in a parallel universe--one uncomfortably close to our own. In this universe, the unthinkable has happened: a nuclear weapon has gotten into the hands of a rogue terrorist cell. And the commander-in-chief of the United States faces a dreadful decision once the terrorists strike on American soil.
This worst-case scenario is unnerving for the degree to which Norton takes pains to spin a plausible plot, one that leads the reader down a shadowy, conditional path of "could have been" or "might even be." The novel's geopolitics--with an ascendant China, a defiant North Korea, and a post-9/11 United States--mirror the real ones. And planted among the fictional characters of the story--a thriller somewhere between historical and science fiction--are some real ones, one infamous one in particular, that readers will know.
But the real focus of the story is not the day of, but the day after.
For much of the book, the main character, President Rick Martin, hangs on the horns of a dilemma, and you, the reader, hang along with him, swinging in suspense, pondering a choice between terrible options. The story reads a little like a thought experiment cooked up by an ethical philosopher to tease out the knotty nuances of empathy, utilitarianism, and morality: Imagine you are standing on an overpass, and below you a train is barreling down the tracks toward a group of five persons tied helplessly to the rails. Next to you stands a large man whom you could push off the bridge, down onto the tracks, to stop the speeding the train and save the five people. Do you do it?
President Rick Martin faces a similar dilemma, but his is scaled up to the magnitude of the world stage. And his fat man is, rather, a "Fat Man" of the Nagasaki kind.
Coming up on a presidential election that seems set to turn on the issue of the domestic economy, Doug Norton's "Code Word: Paternity" reminds us that it could all turn on a dime, and tomorrow, tomorrow someday, could become the day after.
This worst-case scenario is unnerving for the degree to which Norton takes pains to spin a plausible plot, one that leads the reader down a shadowy, conditional path of "could have been" or "might even be." The novel's geopolitics--with an ascendant China, a defiant North Korea, and a post-9/11 United States--mirror the real ones. And planted among the fictional characters of the story--a thriller somewhere between historical and science fiction--are some real ones, one infamous one in particular, that readers will know.
But the real focus of the story is not the day of, but the day after.
For much of the book, the main character, President Rick Martin, hangs on the horns of a dilemma, and you, the reader, hang along with him, swinging in suspense, pondering a choice between terrible options. The story reads a little like a thought experiment cooked up by an ethical philosopher to tease out the knotty nuances of empathy, utilitarianism, and morality: Imagine you are standing on an overpass, and below you a train is barreling down the tracks toward a group of five persons tied helplessly to the rails. Next to you stands a large man whom you could push off the bridge, down onto the tracks, to stop the speeding the train and save the five people. Do you do it?
President Rick Martin faces a similar dilemma, but his is scaled up to the magnitude of the world stage. And his fat man is, rather, a "Fat Man" of the Nagasaki kind.
Coming up on a presidential election that seems set to turn on the issue of the domestic economy, Doug Norton's "Code Word: Paternity" reminds us that it could all turn on a dime, and tomorrow, tomorrow someday, could become the day after.
December 12, 2013
A Thinking Man’s Political Thriller
Doug Norton’s Code Word: Paternity opens on the unthinkable: al-Qaeda terrorists have detonated a nuclear bomb in Las Vegas, wiping out the city and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans. In the blink of an eye, President Rick Martin is faced with a nation in panic demanding swift vengeance. But when the secret Paternity Project delivers proof that the bomb sold to the terrorists actually originated in North Korea, the true political nightmare begins, as the President must confront shifting allies, enemies masquerading as friends and the moral uncertainty of a possible nuclear response.
Drawing on his experience as a naval officer, Norton delivers a thinking man’s political thriller. Far from being some superman Navy Seal with all the answers, President Martin is a fully realized protagonist, struggling to piece together an international coalition while facing unbearable political pressure at home. Norton does not shy away from difficult ethical questions, and I recommend his book to any reader interested in grappling with a realistic examination of the hard realities and horrors of nuclear terrorism.
Doug Norton’s Code Word: Paternity opens on the unthinkable: al-Qaeda terrorists have detonated a nuclear bomb in Las Vegas, wiping out the city and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans. In the blink of an eye, President Rick Martin is faced with a nation in panic demanding swift vengeance. But when the secret Paternity Project delivers proof that the bomb sold to the terrorists actually originated in North Korea, the true political nightmare begins, as the President must confront shifting allies, enemies masquerading as friends and the moral uncertainty of a possible nuclear response.
Drawing on his experience as a naval officer, Norton delivers a thinking man’s political thriller. Far from being some superman Navy Seal with all the answers, President Martin is a fully realized protagonist, struggling to piece together an international coalition while facing unbearable political pressure at home. Norton does not shy away from difficult ethical questions, and I recommend his book to any reader interested in grappling with a realistic examination of the hard realities and horrors of nuclear terrorism.
October 16, 2012
It could be a story beginning the day after tomorrow – a daunting vision into a terrible, but unfortunately plausible, future. Faced with the worst catastrophe to occur on U.S. soil, the explosion of a nuclear weapon, the story takes you inside the head of a circumspect, moral man, a proudly calm, rational man, who is the President of the United States. You also are taken into the minds of the major players, members of the President’s cabinet as well as heads of state, as they wrestle with their private perspectives, their responsibilities, and their egos amid the current diplomatic complexities in the world. What emerges is both a compelling story and a cautionary tale, and one set in the world as it is, not the one those of any political persuasion wish it were.
December 22, 2014
Code Word: Paternity is a real nail-biter that we all hope never happens, but is still a very engaging read. The book is fast-paced and well-researched, but I think the book's greatest strength is in allowing us to get inside the mind of the President of the United States and watch him as he's faced with a multitude of decisions that the average person probably can't even begin to fathom. Not only do these decisions weigh heavily on him, but we also see his doubts, fears, and anger all coming through. Any of these decisions could trigger multiple (and deadly) consequences and the tension sustained through making them is incredible. Well done, Mr. Norton!
March 29, 2015
Doug Norton writes an exciting account of how the US president and his advisers would react in the event of a nuclear detonation on US soil. Mr. Norton cleverly shows the great difficulty our leaders would have making a decision on how to react to this disaster. He often will transition between dialog among the characters and their italicized private thoughts, which is an effective way to display the myriad conflicts that arise. This is an extremely well written account of an issue that has become more relevant as countries today (see Iran) try to procure nuclear arms. I look forward to reading more of Doug Norton's books in the future.
August 6, 2013
While the President of the United States is sailing his Sunfish on the Chesapeake, a terrorist nuclear bomb, made in North Korea, destroys Las Vegas. How's that to get your attention? And the story continues, as the Presidnet wrestles with the moral dilemma of how to respond, knowing that more innocent people will die.
Norton clearly knows of which he writes, and writes it well. "Ideals are important, but if you stick to them while someone with a different set is using yours to kill you, you're gonna die."
Highly recommended.
Norton clearly knows of which he writes, and writes it well. "Ideals are important, but if you stick to them while someone with a different set is using yours to kill you, you're gonna die."
Highly recommended.
January 24, 2013
This book hit way too close to home with me - reading/thinking about North Korea and nuclear bombs is not something I want to do for fun when I can just check it out for real on CNN. Thanks anyway, Doug Norton.
January 16, 2013
I recommend this new author if you like political thrillers....
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews