Book excerpt: Manhattan is held for ransom in this “competent and exciting book” from the acclaimed thriller writer of The Predator (The New York Times). It’s New Year’s Eve and Manhattan is rendered motionless by a blizzard of ice and snow. On top of that, there’s a terrorist ultimatum: $130 billion dollars in forty-eight hours, or else . . . The world’s largest supertanker, five-hundred thousand tons of black nitro and steel, is moored near the city. Soon it will ignite in a blast of atomic fury, engulfing Manhattan in a mushroom cloud of searing death and destruction. That is, if no one can stop it. Newly-elected mayor Ben Boyle, ex-plumber, a commonsense man of uncommon courage, takes on the toughest job of all: negotiating with the world’s richest banks for money, and in a city of millions, searching for just one man. Holed up in a sleazy Times Square hotel, the calculating Cherokee terrorist George Mahle waits. With his plan going perfectly, he watches as New York begins to collapse. Follow Boyle’s race against time in this thrilling tale of deadly machinations, detailed drama and political scheming. “A fast-paced thriller.” —The Cincinnati Post “Tense, exciting . . . Expertly and vividly written.” —The Columbus Dispatch “A major work that every city and inhabitant of the city can take a lesson from . . . A well-written, well-developed novel.” —South Bend Tribune