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End Game
End Game is a powerful geo-political thriller set in 2018 that describes the build up to a confrontation between the navies of the world's superpowers, US and China off the Horn of Africa. Two seemingly unrelated incidents - the massacre of US medical volunteers by an obscure guerrilla faction in an African war zone, and a corporate raid to undermine the share price of a New York based bank - set the wheels in motion. The novel describes, with documentary precision and convincing authenticity, the responses of the US president and his counterpart in Beijing; the options tendered by the political advisers, financial watchdogs and military establishments on both sides; the actions of Special Forces on the ground and of the carrier groups despatched to the Indian Ocean, and the rising clamour of the world's media as the crisis escalates towards catastrophe. The climax of the novel rivals and replicates the real life finale of the Cuban missile crisis 50 years earlier: the leaders on both sides recognize that the first shot fired will have lethal consequences. But how can they resolve the crisis without a loss of face that will sweep them from office and replace them with the hawks and hardliners who promote confrontation? Matthew Glass's denouement is as compelling and ingenious as the build up that precedes it.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published December 25, 2010
21 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
November 5, 2012
I had never heard of Matthew Glass before picking his thick thriller ‘End Game’ randomly off the library shelf. I was pleasantly surprised by the book’s interesting insights on how 21st century globalization is changing geopolitics and international relations. Like the best of Michael Crichton’s works, ‘End Game’ featured some long lectures packed with interesting ideas covered with a thin facade of fiction. What I enjoyed most about this thriller was its intentional lack of a preachy attitude exposing a one-sided view of globalization. Instead of portraying globalization as purely good or entirely evil (which many writers seem to do), ‘End Game’ took a more nuanced and thoughtful position. Matthew Glass’s characters were forced to wrestle with the opportunities and challenges of globalization and their efforts to make the best out of their circumstances (and the tensions between competing interests) really enhanced the story’s plot.
November 17, 2013
I don’t normally give a 5-star rating to works of fiction; I reserve that rating for books that I think everyone must read. Trigger Point is just such a book, because its plot is so plausible that it reads like reality--a frightening reality in which chance decisions can lead to utter chaos. This is the butterfly effect in action, and it shows the utter imperative need for everyone to be thoughtful of how other people might react.
The book opens with an American President in 2018, 18 months in office, finally getting the country back in order after closing down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the economic situation finally showing a real upturn. Just before the mid-term elections, the president makes a decision to make a positive impact on public opinion by going after the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group in Uganda who have just massacred thirty-two American aid workers. He thinks it can be done in a couple weeks, but the reality of initiating a military operation stretches the time out for weeks. At the same time, the principal partner of a hedge fund investment group in New York City becomes aware that a particular bank is having financial problems, and he starts shorting stocks held by that bank. These two decisions create a situation that grows beyond measure, on the one hand resulting in the collapse of the world’s marketing system and on the other hand resulting in an inevitable clash between the United States and China, with four separate battleship groups heading toward an intersection point in the Indian Ocean. The truly frightening thing is that Glass makes this sequence seem so plausible that the reader keeps wondering if it is going on right now.
I actually found the novel a bit slow to get into, but once things started moving I could not put it down. I’ve been reading too many action books, lately, I guess, and this is not that kind of book; it’s mostly people talking in high government, management, and academic circles, and beer-guzzling TV watchers are not going to be turned on. I could not help but notice that the author managed to skip out of a couple scenes that most leading writers would turn into torrid sex scenes; you won’t find that here, as no one even gets kissed in the book. Despite that, it is an incredibly moving story, and I will be very surprised if someone does not make a movie out of this.
While there is a gentleman named Matthew Glass, who happens to be a financial adviser for the RHG group at Morgan Stanley, Wikipedia reports that “Matthew Glass” is the pseudonym of an Australian-born doctor living and working in Britain and that he previously wrote Ultimatum “an eco-thriller set in the years 2032/2033) and that Trigger Point previously was published in Britain in 2010 with the title End Game (one suspects that the name may have been changed because of the hoopla about Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game as the movie approached release) The Wikipedia author states that both novels are ”noted for their complex and hyper-realistic depiction of international relations, especially with regard to diplomacy and economics”; I certainly found that true for this one. I think I'll go look for the earlier book.
The book opens with an American President in 2018, 18 months in office, finally getting the country back in order after closing down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the economic situation finally showing a real upturn. Just before the mid-term elections, the president makes a decision to make a positive impact on public opinion by going after the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group in Uganda who have just massacred thirty-two American aid workers. He thinks it can be done in a couple weeks, but the reality of initiating a military operation stretches the time out for weeks. At the same time, the principal partner of a hedge fund investment group in New York City becomes aware that a particular bank is having financial problems, and he starts shorting stocks held by that bank. These two decisions create a situation that grows beyond measure, on the one hand resulting in the collapse of the world’s marketing system and on the other hand resulting in an inevitable clash between the United States and China, with four separate battleship groups heading toward an intersection point in the Indian Ocean. The truly frightening thing is that Glass makes this sequence seem so plausible that the reader keeps wondering if it is going on right now.
I actually found the novel a bit slow to get into, but once things started moving I could not put it down. I’ve been reading too many action books, lately, I guess, and this is not that kind of book; it’s mostly people talking in high government, management, and academic circles, and beer-guzzling TV watchers are not going to be turned on. I could not help but notice that the author managed to skip out of a couple scenes that most leading writers would turn into torrid sex scenes; you won’t find that here, as no one even gets kissed in the book. Despite that, it is an incredibly moving story, and I will be very surprised if someone does not make a movie out of this.
While there is a gentleman named Matthew Glass, who happens to be a financial adviser for the RHG group at Morgan Stanley, Wikipedia reports that “Matthew Glass” is the pseudonym of an Australian-born doctor living and working in Britain and that he previously wrote Ultimatum “an eco-thriller set in the years 2032/2033) and that Trigger Point previously was published in Britain in 2010 with the title End Game (one suspects that the name may have been changed because of the hoopla about Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game as the movie approached release) The Wikipedia author states that both novels are ”noted for their complex and hyper-realistic depiction of international relations, especially with regard to diplomacy and economics”; I certainly found that true for this one. I think I'll go look for the earlier book.
January 24, 2018
'End Game' is easily the most cerebrally challenging piece of fiction I have read in the recent past. Glass tells a story of international misunderstandings leading to a potential world war-like situation and he does that without making any compromises for the ones who can't keep up with the complexity of his plot. This book is strictly not recommended for readers who do not have at least a lay understanding of the global financial markets. There's lots of details about stocks and debt markets and what makes them do the strange things that they do at times. In the bargain, characterization suffers and the reader struggles to differentiate between the plethora of characters. That's forgivable considering the real characters here are nations and not individuals.
March 19, 2019
I haven’t come across a book like this for awhile. Where I only understood half of what’s going on especially with the financia market yet I couldn’t put it down. The whole book felt like it was written with the current toxic masculinity in US government in mind. And it took a woman to get a different perception across. One of the best books I’ve read this year. A nice mash of John Grisham, Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton.
“The tragedy of our species is that we can react to a catastrophe that we’ve actually experienced and yet we seem consistently unable to reach ahead of time when it’s obvious we’re heading towards a new one. Somehow we can never really believe it’s going to happen” (End Game, Matthew Glass)
“The tragedy of our species is that we can react to a catastrophe that we’ve actually experienced and yet we seem consistently unable to reach ahead of time when it’s obvious we’re heading towards a new one. Somehow we can never really believe it’s going to happen” (End Game, Matthew Glass)
April 16, 2012
“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 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
But a word of warning - if you are expecting lots of action along the lines 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
February 6, 2012
The year is 2018. The US government had never wanted to have foreign governments invested so heavily in private enterprise within the United States, but the last decade had seen profits from the world’s leading oil producers and manufacturer-exporters flow into US financial markets at an unprecedented rate. If the United States does not change its approach, it is doomed to conflict. Once the tensions and stresses build up, anything can act as a trigger. Anything can take you to the Trigger Point.
When a financial crisis escalates into an international incident, the author, Matthew Glass, will lead you on a high intensity plot with planning meetings on Wall Street to planning sessions at the White House: from the boardroom to the situation room. Will the US find a way out of this crisis? Will the US government, as we know it today, still exist in 2019?
At the risk of sounding cliché, I must say this book was easy to pick up and hard to put down. While reading, I often thought of this novel as a candidate for a great movie script. I found myself pulling for the good guys, occasionally rooting out loud, and hoping that rectitude would finally prevail.
The circumstances and events of this book are extremely plausible, true to life, and it seems as if something like this could actually play out someday. With the book being set in the future, its content was a bit unsettling for me at times, to the point of creating a genuine fear in me that the eventualities portrayed in this novel could one day become reality.
This story taught me that the US needs to learn cooperation. It is a valuable lesson. The problems we face in this world must be faced together, not alone.
View all my reviews
When a financial crisis escalates into an international incident, the author, Matthew Glass, will lead you on a high intensity plot with planning meetings on Wall Street to planning sessions at the White House: from the boardroom to the situation room. Will the US find a way out of this crisis? Will the US government, as we know it today, still exist in 2019?
At the risk of sounding cliché, I must say this book was easy to pick up and hard to put down. While reading, I often thought of this novel as a candidate for a great movie script. I found myself pulling for the good guys, occasionally rooting out loud, and hoping that rectitude would finally prevail.
The circumstances and events of this book are extremely plausible, true to life, and it seems as if something like this could actually play out someday. With the book being set in the future, its content was a bit unsettling for me at times, to the point of creating a genuine fear in me that the eventualities portrayed in this novel could one day become reality.
This story taught me that the US needs to learn cooperation. It is a valuable lesson. The problems we face in this world must be faced together, not alone.
View all my reviews
March 5, 2012
When I requested an advance readers’ copy of Trigger Point by Matthew Glass, I was in the mood for a globe-hopping thriller and the publisher’s blurb sounded like this one could fit the bill. Matthew Glass is a pseudonym and I was amazed that I couldn’t find any clues to his identity. Wikipedia says that Matthew Glass is “the pseudonym of an Australian-born doctor who is living and working in Britain.” Whoever he is, he’s got an insider’s knowledge about politics and the stock market. He’s been described as the heir to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy. He certainly writes very smart, heart-pounding thrillers. This one spans the globe from Uganda and the Sudan to Wall Street and Washington, DC to China. It combines a geo-political thriller with a financial thriller. Sound interesting? Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=3296
October 7, 2013
As I was reading this novel, I nervously looked at the stock ticker on my phone thinking we were in the midst of the economic panic that is featured in the book. This book has detailed suspense, irony, and provides good morals in plenty. Its message, which I have interpreted to promote the importance of cooperation and taking others' perspectives, should be an example for our politicians in Congress, to look past differences and see each others' wants and expectations and more importantly to being willing to sacrifice to gain in the future.
August 1, 2016
Urgk. The front cover had a sticker with a money back guarantee offer. Well worth taking advantage of!
August 13, 2017
4-4.5. Matthew Glass makes many astute and relevant observations in his book about the current geo-political state of the world in End Game. However, my biggest gripe in this book is that the blurb paints it as a military thriller, with the economics and politics a side show, rather it was the military portion that was the real side show. However, once I got over that, End Game turned out to be a great story, presenting to us a theme that hardly makes its way into modern geo-political thrillers - that China and the U.S. are able to co-operate in global governance rather than be at odds all the time.
I particularly appreciate how Glass shows us the backroom reality of political decision making - with the powers to be making assumptions on how the other party is thinking, leading to seemingly rational conclusions that actually escalate the situation. Additionally, he brings out the issue of factionalism in the Chinese Communist Party, presenting an fictional but all too plausible power triangle that further exacerbates the international crisis.
Would definitely have given it a 5 star if not for the misleading blurb.
I particularly appreciate how Glass shows us the backroom reality of political decision making - with the powers to be making assumptions on how the other party is thinking, leading to seemingly rational conclusions that actually escalate the situation. Additionally, he brings out the issue of factionalism in the Chinese Communist Party, presenting an fictional but all too plausible power triangle that further exacerbates the international crisis.
Would definitely have given it a 5 star if not for the misleading blurb.
June 15, 2017
It's a political thriller heavy on names and job titles.
GOOD
End Game is first and foremost a story of communication and perception. The novel examines how lack of communication and misperception can cause international crises when they occur in the context of international relations. Towards the end Glass starts to examine how official roles modify people's behaviour and make them behave in ways that they otherwise would not.
The plot is well grounded in current events, and certainly not implausible,
There are a lot of characters, but they mostly feel like they have distinct personalities and Glass does a pretty good job fleshing them out. Knowles' close circle of advisors are well developed (unsurprising given the focus is on those in power).
BAD
However, the characters on the Chinese side were weak. I also thought that most of the characters on the financial side were merely names and job descriptions who were introduced for a few lines of exposition before fading. There are glimpses into their personalities, but these are few and far between.
On the other hand, this is unlikely to be a big issue for most people because chances are you're reading it as a thriller, not as a deep and insightful work of literature.
It's an great thriller, ambitious in its scope, covering the interactions between domestic and international politics, economics and the military.
Overall, would recommend.
GOOD
End Game is first and foremost a story of communication and perception. The novel examines how lack of communication and misperception can cause international crises when they occur in the context of international relations. Towards the end Glass starts to examine how official roles modify people's behaviour and make them behave in ways that they otherwise would not.
The plot is well grounded in current events, and certainly not implausible,
There are a lot of characters, but they mostly feel like they have distinct personalities and Glass does a pretty good job fleshing them out. Knowles' close circle of advisors are well developed (unsurprising given the focus is on those in power).
BAD
However, the characters on the Chinese side were weak. I also thought that most of the characters on the financial side were merely names and job descriptions who were introduced for a few lines of exposition before fading. There are glimpses into their personalities, but these are few and far between.
On the other hand, this is unlikely to be a big issue for most people because chances are you're reading it as a thriller, not as a deep and insightful work of literature.
It's an great thriller, ambitious in its scope, covering the interactions between domestic and international politics, economics and the military.
Overall, would recommend.
December 7, 2022
I started reading this book and immediately feelt that it was very similar to his past books. I started thinking of Matthew Glass as a one-trick pony - now he had reshuffled all his ideas and used them again. Although I had the thought several times, I never checked why the book was so familiar - I certainly didn’t notice from when I noticed this book on Goodreads (a warning would be nice!). I was about to read again (now at page 94) and google a bit - this book is a re-release of End Game, his second book! That makes total sense. That means I’m not crazy, he’s not a one-trick pony and my memory is not as strong as I had hoped it was. I didn’t finish the book.
September 30, 2017
Do you find financial thrillers as interesting as I do?
Do you think want to see the absurdity of high finance fictionalised, making it overwhelmingly absurd?
Can you stomach all of at that for a story about the interconnectedness of high finance (which is absurd) with geopolitics, replete with a snowball of military responses heightened by Chinese infighting at the highest levels of politics?
There's a lot of finance in this book and some of the rest. Extremely on-point and relevant. Absurd.
Do you think want to see the absurdity of high finance fictionalised, making it overwhelmingly absurd?
Can you stomach all of at that for a story about the interconnectedness of high finance (which is absurd) with geopolitics, replete with a snowball of military responses heightened by Chinese infighting at the highest levels of politics?
There's a lot of finance in this book and some of the rest. Extremely on-point and relevant. Absurd.
October 2, 2017
The book, at least for me, brought in to light a very important concept of co-operation for global governance. The solution proposed was very elegant and thought provoking. Apart from that it is just one another book about global politics.
February 12, 2021
Good book, China vs USA dynamic sea standoff.
February 18, 2024
Shades of Michael Crichton with relentless pace and some complexity. A good read which is both plausible and frightening. Well executed. I will read other books by this author.
March 19, 2015
Warning: This is review with no proper content!
It's been more than 2 years since I finished this book. Preparing for a move, I am putting all my books into boxes and found a pile of books that I never reviewed. So this is me attempting to write a review of a book of which I can only remember the broad plot outline, or rather, I remember the first book by Glass 'Ultimatum' being thrilling and this one being just pretty good.
Luckily I put two small slips of paper into the book - hopefully these are significant passages, so I'll read these now and hopefully the book will come back to me.
I just read the first passage and nothing happened. I can't remember this part at all. Some bankers are haggling over a price?! Seems a bit generic and not too engaging. Let me read the next passage.
The next passage is great and reminds me of why I liked the book. It's a conversation between the president and the expert on China about the difference in the US and Chinese perspective. Wonderful.
Update on 19.3.15: Now I found some additional notes. I'll keep it brief:
- "The hedge fund managers are two-dimensional/stereotypical." Having been away from finance a while, I am now thinking that this might have been intentional.
- "A bit too elaborate explanations of the machinations of shorting."
- "The democratic American president during Ultimatum was in a similar bind, but he always kept the high moral ground. The republican American president (who isn't even a good husbond) in this book seems quite incompetent compared to the democrat. As long as markets go up, he's convinced of his capabilities as a president, but once the crises starts, the flaws of his administration are showing. Their shared flaws are relying on advisors that do not ground their advice on the actual needs of each other (as there is no intimate relationship that would allow for such a dialogue to take place)."
It's been more than 2 years since I finished this book. Preparing for a move, I am putting all my books into boxes and found a pile of books that I never reviewed. So this is me attempting to write a review of a book of which I can only remember the broad plot outline, or rather, I remember the first book by Glass 'Ultimatum' being thrilling and this one being just pretty good.
Luckily I put two small slips of paper into the book - hopefully these are significant passages, so I'll read these now and hopefully the book will come back to me.
I just read the first passage and nothing happened. I can't remember this part at all. Some bankers are haggling over a price?! Seems a bit generic and not too engaging. Let me read the next passage.
The next passage is great and reminds me of why I liked the book. It's a conversation between the president and the expert on China about the difference in the US and Chinese perspective. Wonderful.
Update on 19.3.15: Now I found some additional notes. I'll keep it brief:
- "The hedge fund managers are two-dimensional/stereotypical." Having been away from finance a while, I am now thinking that this might have been intentional.
- "A bit too elaborate explanations of the machinations of shorting."
- "The democratic American president during Ultimatum was in a similar bind, but he always kept the high moral ground. The republican American president (who isn't even a good husbond) in this book seems quite incompetent compared to the democrat. As long as markets go up, he's convinced of his capabilities as a president, but once the crises starts, the flaws of his administration are showing. Their shared flaws are relying on advisors that do not ground their advice on the actual needs of each other (as there is no intimate relationship that would allow for such a dialogue to take place)."
November 21, 2015
It is said that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can lead to a hurricane in another. The fragile interconnectedness of our world is quite evident in Matthew Glass' Endgame.
The title incidentally, refers to the final stages in chess, where there is a significant loss in pieces, with all major players removed from the board. In 2018, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacks a rural Ugandan village, where many people (including U.S. citizens) are killed. The American president authorizes an offensive to assist Uganda in eliminating the rebel army. Around the same time, a corporate investment company in New York identifies a bank at risk of collapse - and experiment to make money by investing in its tenuous future. These seemingly unrelated incidents have unexpected consequences in the U.S., China, South Africa, Sudan and Uganda - that bring the world to the brink of World War III.
I really enjoyed the expansive geopolitical nature of this thriller - where local machinations by politicians, economists, bankers can have global implications. There are shades of Michael Crichton (in the form of economic exposition) and Tom Clancy (military set pieces), with good pacing and action. At over 500 pages, it did feel little preachy at times and with many side characters and sub-plots that have little pay-off. On the whole, however, this does not take away from an intense thriller, that can be very plausible in today's world.
The title incidentally, refers to the final stages in chess, where there is a significant loss in pieces, with all major players removed from the board. In 2018, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacks a rural Ugandan village, where many people (including U.S. citizens) are killed. The American president authorizes an offensive to assist Uganda in eliminating the rebel army. Around the same time, a corporate investment company in New York identifies a bank at risk of collapse - and experiment to make money by investing in its tenuous future. These seemingly unrelated incidents have unexpected consequences in the U.S., China, South Africa, Sudan and Uganda - that bring the world to the brink of World War III.
I really enjoyed the expansive geopolitical nature of this thriller - where local machinations by politicians, economists, bankers can have global implications. There are shades of Michael Crichton (in the form of economic exposition) and Tom Clancy (military set pieces), with good pacing and action. At over 500 pages, it did feel little preachy at times and with many side characters and sub-plots that have little pay-off. On the whole, however, this does not take away from an intense thriller, that can be very plausible in today's world.
February 2, 2013
I'm giving this book a temporary 5 star rating, because I think it's a great book that deserves more attention, but it's probably really a 4.5 for me and I usually round down if I'm not sure.
Having just read Wingrove's books on how China disrupts and then unifies the world, I was intrigued by the complete feasibility of this book. Indeed, I'm surprised that it hasn't already happened, or isn't already happening subtly. Glass has written a compelling "financial thriller", a story of how the global markets can be manipulated, for economic or political ends. But more than merely financial, it's also geopolitical - Glass argues that the world has stepped beyond nation states, and that a duopoly now exists, where if China and the US agree, no-one can stop them, and if they disagree, no-one can make it happen. Glass explores the impact of this power shift (from US-led to dually led) on the US and Chinese psyche, and the potential for prideful leadership rather than statesmanship to cause epic global problems.
It's not fully a 5 star book for me because Glass' explorations are a little teachy, but this may be necessary for an audience less well-versed in the global economy. Nonetheless, it is well worth a read from anyone interested in global politics and economics - and who enjoys a good thriller.
Having just read Wingrove's books on how China disrupts and then unifies the world, I was intrigued by the complete feasibility of this book. Indeed, I'm surprised that it hasn't already happened, or isn't already happening subtly. Glass has written a compelling "financial thriller", a story of how the global markets can be manipulated, for economic or political ends. But more than merely financial, it's also geopolitical - Glass argues that the world has stepped beyond nation states, and that a duopoly now exists, where if China and the US agree, no-one can stop them, and if they disagree, no-one can make it happen. Glass explores the impact of this power shift (from US-led to dually led) on the US and Chinese psyche, and the potential for prideful leadership rather than statesmanship to cause epic global problems.
It's not fully a 5 star book for me because Glass' explorations are a little teachy, but this may be necessary for an audience less well-versed in the global economy. Nonetheless, it is well worth a read from anyone interested in global politics and economics - and who enjoys a good thriller.
September 24, 2014
I read Glass' first book, Ultimatum, after seeing a hugely enthusiastic review in the Economist. His realistic, yet still very exciting account of a American president's battle with the largely villainous Chinese to end global warming, it was a credible, entertaining and at times worrying, book.
Endgame is essentially the same thing. This time, in 2018, another future American president is forced to deal with launching an anti-terrorist operation in Uganda, just as a crisis hits the US stock market. But again, it's his dealings with the Chinese that's really driving the narrative.
The situation escalates in a very believable, very tense way. Pressure builds and events race towards a potentially catastrophic end. It's a great story. But there's something very fundamental missing that really drags it down.
At no point do Glass' characters feel like real people. There's plenty of them in the book but none, or almost none, have such things as a physical description, a back story, a history, genuinely clear motivations or development. One or two are OK, in a very one dimensional way but largely, they are just names that happen to be speaking words that happen to push forwards a story.
Endgame is essentially the same thing. This time, in 2018, another future American president is forced to deal with launching an anti-terrorist operation in Uganda, just as a crisis hits the US stock market. But again, it's his dealings with the Chinese that's really driving the narrative.
The situation escalates in a very believable, very tense way. Pressure builds and events race towards a potentially catastrophic end. It's a great story. But there's something very fundamental missing that really drags it down.
At no point do Glass' characters feel like real people. There's plenty of them in the book but none, or almost none, have such things as a physical description, a back story, a history, genuinely clear motivations or development. One or two are OK, in a very one dimensional way but largely, they are just names that happen to be speaking words that happen to push forwards a story.
December 12, 2014
I chose this book as I read another one of his political thrillers and was truly thrilled. This time I wasn't.
It seemed that he was revisiting his main theme that we are moving into a very confrontational situation with China and that the President of the United States will be a bit of naive idiot in the style George Bush jr. with a few close advisers who will cut him off from any other points of view even though Glass does allow there to be a few clear thinking people in the political class of the USA. It all seemed to be largely repetitive with only the minor variation of the stock-market being in the central position. It also had a very simplistic view of the American military where his generals are assuming of their immense superiority which I would have thought the last few years had been clearly demonstrated to not quite be that straight forward.
So there you are, don't really bother unless you have never read his books before in which case it is worth reading one, but no more.
It seemed that he was revisiting his main theme that we are moving into a very confrontational situation with China and that the President of the United States will be a bit of naive idiot in the style George Bush jr. with a few close advisers who will cut him off from any other points of view even though Glass does allow there to be a few clear thinking people in the political class of the USA. It all seemed to be largely repetitive with only the minor variation of the stock-market being in the central position. It also had a very simplistic view of the American military where his generals are assuming of their immense superiority which I would have thought the last few years had been clearly demonstrated to not quite be that straight forward.
So there you are, don't really bother unless you have never read his books before in which case it is worth reading one, but no more.
December 24, 2014
I really enjoyed this political thriller, my second book by Matthew Glass. While it covers a US-China confrontation like Ultimatum which I loved 2 years ago it was different enough to keep me guessing. This book is smart, fast and believable - the premise just works. Wow! Recommend it to folks who love thriller and politics and definitely both. No one in the story is stupid, they are great characterizations representing different ways of looking at the world - and struggling in the swirl of brinksmanship. It is wonderful to read this book on the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War - the most stupendous failure of diplomacy in recent history.
December 3, 2012
A top-notch geo-political thriller that's thought provoking and hard to put down.
The moral of the tale seems to be that in today's global economic and political reality, The US and China's actions are inextricably linked, and nothing negative can be done to one without a negative impact on the other. The fact that so much of the American stock market is now owned by foreign nations was quite an eye opener! Now, I will always be wondering if volatility in the markets is 'real', the result of American's 'short-selling', or hostile countries trying to influence US policy.
I can't remember when I have learned so much about the global situation, and been so entertained.
The moral of the tale seems to be that in today's global economic and political reality, The US and China's actions are inextricably linked, and nothing negative can be done to one without a negative impact on the other. The fact that so much of the American stock market is now owned by foreign nations was quite an eye opener! Now, I will always be wondering if volatility in the markets is 'real', the result of American's 'short-selling', or hostile countries trying to influence US policy.
I can't remember when I have learned so much about the global situation, and been so entertained.
June 11, 2013
This was a fun read on vacation dealing with the sudden plunge of the stock market and the various individuals/nations who may have been responsible. It was particularly interesting because, after I read it and Vic was finishing it up, the stock market in real life did start to go down by a fairly significant margin over a few days. Fortunately, it did not plunge the world into the chaos of this novel and we can afford another holiday next year ;)
January 16, 2013
Amazingly realistic storyline. A minor blip in the NYSE, ties into a peacekeeping mission in Uganda, suspension of the constitution in South Africa and suddenly snowballs into an international showdown between US and China. Very believable story line, captivating writing style. I've already put a hold on Glass's previous book, Ultimatum.
July 19, 2015
Never judge a book by its cover. A warship thundering through high seas, a massacre, confrontation in Africa. My kind of book. Its actually 99% based in Washington and Beijing. A real talk fest with all sorts of micro-economics and egos chucked in. So-so book which I could live without having to read
December 14, 2012
This was one of the better books that I've read recently. The story was well thought out and flowed well - you definitely get hooked. In some ways the book is a bit scary - does it show a weakeness in our financial systems?
Looking forward to reading some of the other works from the author.
Looking forward to reading some of the other works from the author.
December 17, 2015
Tried and abandoned 100 pages in. It did seem to have potential but got too bogged down in manipulative international banking and had no character who really came to life despite detailed physical descriptions that were meant to do this. There was no character I really liked.
July 16, 2012
A well plotted global political thriller, set in the near future and clearly influenced by the 2008 banking crisis. Strong on action and plot but not so good on character development.
March 25, 2012
More like a journalistic regurgitation of facts with no characterization or literary attempt made. Very boring to me.
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