Happy Christmas (War Is Begun)

I am a horrible human being. Hahaha. But maybe that goes without saying …

There's no Jack Ryan. No Jason Bourne. No Jack Reacher, Mitch Rapp, or Alex Fletcher. No heroic wrecking-ball super-agent or humble dad with a mysterious special forces background.

Just flawed, mortal people and low-level soldiers caught up in the sweep of history.

And Daddy Longlegs.

The global order is changing.

Across the Kirkus-starred Friendship Games and its critically acclaimed sequel The Compass Room, the world lurches toward World War III—one miscalculation, one half-truth, one political instinct at a time.

In Friendship Games, a seemingly symbolic set of international "games" becomes the fuse on a catastrophic Middle Eastern war. The novel is a modern take on the USS Maine incident that kicked off the Spanish–American War in 1898; this time it's a U.S. aircraft carrier that sinks in the Persian Gulf amid soaring tensions with Iran. Politicians posture, militaries maneuver, and ordinary people—sailors, soldiers, and civilians—are the ones who pay for grand strategy with their lives.

In The Compass Room, the crisis deepens. A U.S. aircraft carrier lies on the seafloor. Missiles arc across the sky from Iran toward American forces and energy infrastructure. Ground troops push toward Dammam, Manama, and Doha. Russia, China, and Turkey hover at the edges of the board, waiting for their opening.

At the center of it all is George "Daddy Longlegs" Wartmann, the American vice president who can see the shape of the coming century—and is desperate not to let this war destroy it.

There's Hashemi Ghavam, the brilliant Iranian admiral riven by insomnia and paranoia who just wants to sleep.

There's a U.S. president overwhelmed by the magnitude and speed of events.

And there's Seaman Apprentice Thew Bryson, an 18-year-old, fresh-out-of-boot-camp sailor dragged along by Navy SEALs for his own protection as they fight their way out of Bahrain and try to stay ahead of an advancing army.

Friendship Games earned a prestigious Kirkus Star and consideration for the Kirkus Prize, was selected by the editors of Kirkus Reviews as one of their Best Books of the Year, and was awarded a Bronze Medal from the Military Writers Society of America.

The Compass Room continues the Wartmann story and has already drawn strong praise from both Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly.

If you—or someone you're shopping for—love geopolitical and political thrillers that take the big picture seriously while never forgetting the humans trapped inside it, these are the books for you.

They make for sharp, unsettling, very timely Christmas gifts.

Happy Christmas. War is begun.