Black

Starred review from April 12, 2004
Whitcomb (Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team
) parlays the experiences and expertise of a 15-year career with the FBI into a cutting-edge counterterrorism thriller. Imaginative plotting, rock-solid prose, fascinating technology and blasts of furious action will hold readers hostage until the last surprising pages. Whitcomb deftly shuffles a quartet of intriguing characters—Jeremy Waller, a member of the elite, top-secret FBI hostage rescue team; Sen. Elizabeth Beechum, chair of the Senate intelligence committee; Jordan Mitchell, the cold, brilliant CEO of Borders Atlantic, the world's largest telecommunications company; and beautiful Sirad Malneaux, an executive in the Borders Atlantic Atlanta office—who, except for Mitchell, soon face extraordinary danger. Jeremy must kill or be killed in Yemen; Senator Beechum is attacked in her home and later charged with murdering her attacker; and Sirad has a secret agenda that pits her against her employers. Only Mitchell, the puppet master, remains in control. His new Borders Atlantic super cell phone boasts "a totally secure, low-cost encryption system that would allow virtually any subscriber to communicate without fear of interception," which, of course, makes it a perfect tool for terrorists. Eventually, the four related stories meld into one, and on the final pages jaws will drop as readers find that everything they thought they knew about the story was wrong. This is a stellar thriller from an exciting new voice. Agent, Suzanne Gluck. (June 2)

Forecast:
A strong publisher push should alert thriller readers that Whitcomb, a recipient of the FBI's Medal of Bravery, is the real deal—a writer who's lived his story and tells it exceptionally well. Look for big numbers if word gets out
. Author tour.

February 1, 2004
FBI agent Jeremy Waller's latest assignment takes him into the world of black ops-cases that demolish the rules. Trust former agent Whitcomb to know his stuff. With a six-city author tour.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2004
FBI special agent Jeremy Waller finds himself plunged into the Black, the agency term for an off-the-books mission with no backup. His job is to get to the bottom of the most explosive scandal in American political history. Elizabeth Beechum, the presumptive Democratic nominee in the upcoming presidential elections and the chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is accused of murdering a National Security Council attorney. The key issue surrounding her case is her opposition to a new, encrypted cell-phone technology that is virtually impossible to tap. Since 80 percent of U.S. intelligence is gathered via intercepted communication, the new technology could be devastating to national security. Is Beechum being framed, and if so, by whom and why? Whitcomb, a former FBI agent and author of the nonfiction best-seller " Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team " (2001), uses his insider knowledge of the bureau and the Beltway to create a compelling context--character assassination taken to the next level--for a political thriller. Entertaining election-year reading.

(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)