Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2011
352 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
The Devil's Light tells the story of an Al Qaeda operative named Amer Al Zaroor, who, on orders from Osama Bin Laden, directs the theft of a nuclear weapon from the Pakistani military, and then transports it toward its intended target, Israel. Meanwhile Bin Laden announces to the world that he will make a major terrorist strike on 9/11/10, the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Deep inside Washington, Brooke Chandler, a CIA operative whose cover was blown by an incompetent colleague in Lebanon, thinks he knows how the bomb is being moved toward its target and how to find it. First he must overcome the skepticism of the CIA and the White House, and then he must find the bomb and disable or detonate it before it causes the Middle East to go up in flames.
"Patterson does an excellent job of delineating the very complex politics in the Middle East from all sides, but the result is that the book is more informative than it is pulse-pounding... But the threat Patterson imagines is frighteningly realistic, and the result is a thoroughly engrossing look at a complex and volatile region." - BookList
"Patterson grabs you with an all-too-plausible fantasy of nuclear Armageddon, but the tension oozes away in the wait for his fictional puppets to hit their preordained marks." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Discussing nuclear proliferation, counterterrorism, and loose nuclear weapons on the anniversary of 9/11 requires authority and accuracy. Patterson masterfully achieves this objective." - Library Journal
"Masterful and illuminating, The Devil's Light is Richard North Patterson at his best. You will not want, or be able to, put this story down. It is tomorrow's catastrophe riding on the 'gleaming wings of science.'" - William S. Cohen, former Secretary of Defense
"Impossible to dismiss as mere fiction, The Devil's Light is a terrifying vision of what very well could bring down our world as we know it. With its real-life spies locked in a deathly struggle, this thrillingly told novel is all too real." - Robert Baer, former CIA field officer and New York Times bestselling author
This information about The Devil's Light was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Richard North Patterson was born on February 22, 1947 in Berkeley, California. He grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1968. In 1971 he graduated from Case Western Reserve Law School and went on to serve as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He was a partner in several of the country's leading law firms and also served as the liaison for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to the Watergate Special Prosecutor.
He started writing at the age of 29 when he had completed law school. He began his first book, The Lasko Tangent, as part of a creative writing course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the category "Best First Mystery Novel (American)" in 1980.
In 1993, ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Richard North Patterson's Website
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
