The Golden Hour

Starred review from July 28, 2014
Set largely in West Africa, Moss’s outstanding debut stars an Amherst college professor turned diplomat, Judd Ryker. An expert in conflict and coup-risk metrics, Judd believes in the Golden Hour principle: international political trauma can be reversed if dealt with swiftly and professionally. His timetable on coups d’état is 100 hours. When he’s named the director of a new State Department Crisis Reaction Unit just hours after a coup in Mali, where he once was part of a survey team assessing community water-management in Kidal, his theory is immediately put to the test. But Judd quickly realizes that every organization and country with an interest in Mali has an agenda—and he soon finds himself inundated with misinformation and treated as a pawn in a game where the stakes are about more than simply securing a country’s political freedom. An intriguing cast of morally dubious characters, an intricately constructed plot, and a tantalizing cliffhanger make this thriller a page-turner of the highest order. Advance praise from Douglas Preston, W.E.B. Griffin, John Sandford, and Francis Fukuyama bodes well for the book’s success. Author tour. Agent: Josh Getzler, HSG Agency.

October 1, 2014
If you can teach about political conflicts, you can manage them: That's the message directed at Amherst professor Judd Ryker when he's unexpectedly plucked by the State Department to lead a new "rapid reaction unit" in Mali. A coup is underway in the West African nation, his old stomping grounds, where he started coming up with his potentially powerful Golden Hour theory. Based on the principle that trauma patients have a better chance of recovering if they receive proper treatment within an hour, Ryker's theory promises positive outcomes to political crises if they are subjected to proper diplomatic and back-door measures within 100 hours. He discovers during his return to Mali that getting those measures carried out is no easy task. U.S. officials on whom he counts get caught up in the usual interagency competitions, England and France have their own interests to advance, and every day brings a new abduction, double cross, piece of misinformation or X factor-such as a drug ring. A former diplomat for West Africa, Moss knows of what he writes and, for the most part, writes well. Ranging from Washington to London to the Sahara Desert, the book effortlessly ups the tension while piling on surprises. The jumps into the past lead to some early confusion, and Ryker is a bit too spit and polish. But for those who want to know what it's like to get caught up in a modern coup, this is a good place to turn. A strong debut about a good man in Africa who gets tested at every turn.

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