Ascendant

Warfare goes digital in movie and TV writer Drew Chapmans fast-moving debut, a high-stakes thriller that pits the online might of China against that of the United States (Publishers Weekly) as reluctant patriot Garrett Reilly races around the globe to avert total war.Numbers dont lieNot according to Garrett Reilly who, just two weeks past his twenty-sixth birthday, thinks hes probably the best bond analyst at his brokerage, maybe the best in all of lower Manhattan. Garretts memory for numbers is photographic. But he doesnt just memorize numbers: he sorts them, ranks them, senses patterns. As he watches buy and sell numbers float across his computer monitor, Garrett notices what nobody else can: that US Treasury bonds are being sold off at an alarming rate. Two hundred billion dollars worth. Its a discovery that Garrett knows will make him stinking rich. But then the US military arrives at his office and Garretts life is thrown into free fall. Captain Alexis Truffant explains that Garrett has stumbled on something bigger and scarier than he could have ever imagined: the first attack in a covert war of unthinkable proportions. Garrett begins to link a series of seemingly unrelatedand very dangerousevents that start in New York, but continue to Las Vegas, Oregon, and all lead back to rural China. Suddenly, Garrett is the only one left standing between an unknown enemy and the very security of our country. The only problem? Numbers dont liebut sometimes governments do. The Hunt for Red October meets HackersAscendant is a must-read for international thriller fans (Booklist, starred review). This is a wild ride through the headlines of our times (Kirkus Reviews).