I thought I would share a new genre of books which I recently begun reading Historical Fiction and a book called Mushroom Cloud published by the Author Thomas J. Yeggy I received a copy of in exchange for this review. Inside this post are my affiliate links if you click on the links and make a purchase I will make a small percentage from the items you purchase.
My goal this year was to get both David and Charlie to read more books and when I read the preview for ”Mushroom Cloud I thought of my Uncle Chuck and David discussing these things in the past. I went out on a limb and asked for a copy to read so I could discuss things David would be interested in and I am so glad I did as I learned things I didn’t know.
I found new things for me to teach Charlie in his Homeschool Reading Classes and from sharing the book with David we would sit down in the evening and read a chapter or two to together bringing us closer together and even giving David something new to discuss with his dad and the people he works with.
David and I can’t wait to read more books from the Author Thomas J. Yeggy and I hope you check out his books as soon as possible. Mushroom cloud is a book my family didn’t want to stop reading. The story is based during the time of World War II all the way up to the 1960s allowing me to get to know the Century I was born in.
The fictional character Caleb young is a Scientist who is involved in developing nuclear weapons for the USA. The authors research is spot on the book is a no-brainer for any one who enjoys History. The nice part is Charlie can use this book in his Homeschool History studies when we study WW2.
About the book:
Mushroom Cloud, a fact-based historical novel, is the first book of The First Strike Trilogy: USA and the Soviet Union are building nuclear arms for a face off in a potential nuclear war in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.
“This novel is so important for everyone who cares about nuclear disarmament because as philosopher George Santayana wrote: ‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'”~ Melissa Burch, Bestselling & Award Winning Author My Journey Through War and Peace
For a decade, Dr. Caleb young, a gifted physicist and chief science officer for the CIA, had shaded National Intelligence Estimates and Rand reports on war gaming. He wanted to thwart the US military’s push for a nuclear first strike. Soviet GRU Colonel Oleg Penkovsky had passed information to Young at more than one Pugwash Peace Conference, revealing how inept Soviet capabilities were. A US preemptive strike would destroy the Earth’s ozone layer.
Dr. Young, secretly an Einstein schooled pacifist, felt a personal obligation to prevent a globally destructive nuclear war. However, the realities of US nuclear superiority were progressively becoming harder to manage. By mid-1953, the United States had 1,169 deliverable atomic bombs. It could drop them with 160 B-36 heavy bombers and 350 B-47 medium bombers. The Soviet Union had 120 atomic bombs that could only be delivered to the US by a handful of one-way TU-4A experimental bombers through thousands of F-86 Sabres. By 1962, the US had more than 3,000 thermonuclear warheads and 5,000 tactical nuclear weapons. U-2 flights and Corona satellite images were exposing Khrushchev’s lies about “grinding out missiles like sausages.” The US had a 17-1 advantage in deliverable warheads.
The Soviets intercontinental ballistic missiles (only four were verified) took four hours to prepare for launch. US B-52s could easily destroy them from fail- safe points with a pair of 20 megaton bombs. Even more ominously, the Thor and Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missiles could deliver warheads in less than 8 minutes after launch from England, Turkey, or Italy. The US could locate and destroy the Soviets’ 150 round- trip bombers before they left Soviet runways. Soviet SSBN subs were noisy and had to surface to fire missiles. They were easy prey for the US Navy. In late October 1962, President John F Kennedy stopped the US military from initiating a first strike. It came to be known as the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” “We lost” Air Force general Curtis Lemay shouted at Kennedy. Military leaders wanted a nuclear war that day while they had a clear first strike advantage.
Now the Department of Justice (DOJ) has many questions, and they believe Dr. Caleb Young has the answers. Nicholas Katzenbach, the DOJ’s chief deputy, is ready to prosecute Dr. Young on trumped up espionage charges. And he wants to know about the CIA’s involvement in the November 22, 1963, assassination of President Kennedy.
Meet the Author: Thomas J. Yeggy
Thomas J. Yeggy, a University of Iowa Law graduate, practiced law in Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. As a mental health judge Thomas served for 25+ years, where he developed a deep understanding of life’s challenges. Authoring more than 1,500 opinions with minimal reversals, he served diligently.
Yeggy, a licensed Series 7 broker, explored nuclear weapons’ control after witnessing Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s devastation. Prompted by McNamara’s remark on the Cuban Missile Crisis, he delves into our fortunate survival in the First Strike series. Currently residing in Pensacola Beach, Florida, with his wife Eileen, he enjoys summers with grandkids Jeff and Ashley Brown. Find them at Emeis Park, Davenport, with granddogs Otis and Emme.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
If you enjoy reading fact based espionage thrillers, of which there are only a handful of decent ones, do try reading Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription. It is an enthralling unadulterated fact based autobiographical spy thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
What is interesting is that this book is so different to any other espionage thrillers fact or fiction that I have ever read. It is extraordinarily memorable and unsurprisingly apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why?
Maybe because the book has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”; maybe because Bill Fairclough (the author) deviously dissects unusual topics, for example, by using real situations relating to how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and (surprisingly) vice versa; and/or maybe because he has survived literally dozens of death defying experiences including 20 plus attempted murders.
The action in Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 about a real maverick British accountant who worked in Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London, Nassau, Miami and Port au Prince. Initially in 1974 he unwittingly worked for MI5 and MI6 based in London infiltrating an organised crime gang. Later he worked knowingly for the CIA in the Americas. In subsequent books yet to be published (when employed by Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters and others) he continued to work for several intelligence agencies. Fairclough has been justifiably likened to a posh version of Harry Palmer aka Michael Caine in the films based on Len Deighton’s spy novels.
Beyond Enkription is a must read for espionage cognoscenti. Whatever you do, you must read some of the latest news articles (since August 2021) in TheBurlingtonFiles website before taking the plunge and getting stuck into Beyond Enkription. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit. Intriguingly, the articles were released seven or more years after the book was published. TheBurlingtonFiles website itself is well worth a visit and don’t miss the articles about FaireSansDire. The website is a bit like a virtual espionage museum and refreshingly advert free.
Returning to the intense and electrifying thriller Beyond Enkription, it has had mainly five star reviews so don’t be put off by Chapter 1 if you are squeamish. You can always skip through the squeamish bits and just get the gist of what is going on in the first chapter. Mind you, infiltrating international state sponsored people and body part smuggling mobs isn’t a job for the squeamish! Thereafter don’t skip any of the text or you’ll lose the plots. The book is ever increasingly cerebral albeit pacy and action packed. Indeed, the twists and turns in the interwoven plots kept me guessing beyond the epilogue even on my second reading.
The characters were wholesome, well-developed and beguiling to the extent that you’ll probably end up loving those you hated ab initio, particularly Sara Burlington. The attention to detail added extra layers of authenticity to the narrative and above all else you can’t escape the realism. Unlike reading most spy thrillers, you will soon realise it actually happened but don’t trust a soul.
I will look into the book thank you for the recommendation.