Matthew Glass

“Endgame” is a highly intelligent political thriller which – despite its somewhat dry-sounding subject matter – had me completely hooked. It’s about how a run on a bank could morph from a major financial problem into something akin to the Cuban missile crisis (but with the Chinese taking the place of the Russians). It’s worth reading purely for how convincingly this very frightening scenario is laid out.

But a word of warning - if you are expecting lots of action along the lines show more of a more conventional, Tom Clancy-style thriller, this isn’t for you. It’s more like “The West Wing”, where the closest you get to the action is generally the White House situation room. Some people may also find the amount of space devoted to the financial aspects of the plot too much to stomach.

Certain other reviewers (e.g. on Amazon) have said that they did not find the characters sympathetic enough to engage them fully – and if you need a particular individual to “root for”, you won’t find it here. That said, I don’t think it’s fair to say that the characters are one-dimensional or fail to develop in the course of the story. For example, the US President doesn’t initially come across as very likeable, being predisposed to a rather hawkishly simplistic view of the world (although he is certainly no George W Bush caricature). But as time goes on you come to see him more sympathetically, because although he makes mistakes, you can see that he is genuinely trying to do the right thing – it’s just that it’s not at all easy to work out what the right thing is.

So this book certainly won’t won’t be everyone’s cup of tea – but if you enjoyed “The West Wing”, it is definitely worth a look (as is Matthew Glass’s previous novel, “Ultimatum”). For a longer review and some thoughts on parallels between “Endgame” and other books (including, rather bizarrely perhaps, “Fiasco” by Stanislaw Lem) see: http://www.paulsamael.com/blog/endgame show less

Matthew Glass has given us a thriller that is all too possible, drawing the reader in from page one. The book begins innocuously enough in the year 2032 in a mood of energy and optimism for rebuilding the nation’s basic foundation. The bright and popular newly-elected U.S. president has won his seat with an unprecedented majority on a platform of honesty, decisiveness, and trust. The excitement is contagious as the population celebrates their president-elect, but hidden clouds are on the show more horizon when he learns that the agreements he has inherited will challenge his government’s integrity..

Engrossing, tense, and tightly knit, Ultimatum is written with a strong sense of political process, heart-stopping decision-making, and intrigue. Although a work of fiction, it bestows a feeling of stark realism and drama as crises build. How these crises are approached by the president and the many people who form his government are quite fascinating to this Canadian reader. The characterizations are full-on, the plot development plausible, even perhaps ultimately probable. This book is a strong and shocking wake-up call involving the whole world.

Previous policies on global emissions have done nothing to prevent the looming disaster that had escalated to extreme proportions but the severity had been downplayed. This is where the president finds himself as he takes office. President Benton is a strong presence throughout the book and the author has smoothly if urgently demonstrated the transitions in rapid succession. His torment is felt as he wrestles to keep the honesty and trust promised in his platform. The world turns upside down and inside out within the first several days of his presidency as he becomes more aware of deals made by the previous government.

The story begins within the U.S. but the pace of global warming is overwhelming in its path of destruction. The horror is the speed and loss of land worldwide. Coastlines have disappeared and relocation of populations is in the millions.

Matthew Glass has set a momentum that does not let up but constantly accelerates. He definitely keeps the tension building. This novel is indeed a roller-coaster of a thriller. The action keeps the reader involved from start to finish, second-guessing outcomes, trying to predict responses, and what the final horror will be. This book will definitely bring some new thoughts on how much the world is really one; how things must be tackled worldwide, parts played by arrogance and greed. Very spellbinding and thought-provoking. Great writing, Matthew, I really enjoyed my adventure into the world of politics. show less

Matthew Glass’s debut novel, Ultimatum, has suffered unfulfilled expectations. If you read it expecting to find the thriller it was marketed as, you will be sadly disappointed. If you’re open-minded, what you’ll find instead is a provocative novel of ideas and politics.

The near-future story is set in 2032. Joe Benton, a good man with good intentions, has just been elected President of the United States. He thought he knew what he was getting into, but almost immediately upon entering show more office, he learns from the outgoing President that the global warming/climate change situation is SIGNIFICANTLY worse than anyone has ever publicly or even privately acknowledged. The United States and the entire world is facing a catastrophe. Rising tides, flooded cities, millions of people needing to be relocated, and much, much more.

When I read the description of the novel, I was expecting an action thriller. Desperate people airlifted from the rooftops of drowning cities. That sort of thing. On the contrary, this is a serious, intelligent (and realistic, all things considered) look at the tense politics involved in negotiating a crisis. It’s suspenseful, but a page-turner it’s not.

I can’t regret time spent reading books with these dire ecological warnings. What’s eerie is that as I was reading the novel, I was hearing news reports that echoed the content of the book almost exactly. Very disturbing. show less

This book is touted as a thriller, but that characterization is just inaccurate. A better description might be "a good text for a political science class on how the presidency operates."

Joe Benton is President-Elect in 2032. The date only comes into play in two senses: one, in 2032 the world is that much closer to environmental disaster, and two, that puts us far enough in the future to imagine the truly science fiction scenario of Benton having been a three-term Democratic senator from the show more rather red state of Arizona!

President Benton finds out that environmental devastation is getting to “the tipping point” at which time the acceleration from the feedback loop will make recovery untenable. He has to act immediately to cut emissions, and he needs China to go along, since they have become the biggest carbon emitters. Without the U.S. and China agreeing to painful cutbacks, the rest of the world will not cooperate. Too much time has already been wasted because of political pressures from competing interest groups. President Benton wants to make meaningful change, for a change.

For the next 400 pages or so, strategy is discussed. In great detail. There is no real information given on the environmental problems. Rather, there is political squabbling among cabinet members vying to influence the president, and there are political discussions among a diverse group of actors trying to discern the motives and future behaviors of other countries. Many characters are introduced: Cabinet members, Senate and House members, staff aids, press aids, speech writers, assistant writers, communication aids, legislative aids, and aids to aids. A spreadsheet would have been helpful.

It gets a little bit more interesting when President Benton begins to question the advice he has gotten and his responsibility for having acted on it. Otherwise, it is mostly all angst and no action. For a more entertaining way to learn about how the presidency operates, I would probably recommend the television drama “West Wing.” show less