Zero Point

The Unraveling Trilogy #1

by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

Near future Great Britain is on the brink of collapse. Mass riots. Economic meltdown. Blackouts. And a new oil war in Iraq to keep the world economy afloat.

Iraq War veteran and war crimes whistleblower David Ariel is sick of violence, and trying to make ends meet working for Specialist Protection. But after Prime Minister Carson is brutally assassinated by extremists on Ariel’s watch, he is covertly targeted by a compromised police investigation.

When forensics discover that Carson’s assassination inexplicably defied the very laws of physics, bodies drop like flies as key witnesses are murdered in impossible circumstances.

Fleeing for his life while London is locked-down under martial law, Ariel gets a phone call from Iraq he will never forget. His estranged girlfriend, journalist Julia Stephenson, warns that the Carson killing is just the beginning of a wider plot to bring the West to its knees. Then she disappears.

Ariel’s blood-soaked race against time to track the terror cells behind Carson’s death tumbles into the cross-fire of a hidden battle between mysterious rogue intelligence agencies. The goal: to monopolise black budget technologies which could unlock the universe’s darkest, arcane secrets.

As the world he thought he knew unravels, Ariel faces off against bent coppers, double-crossing agents, psychic killers and super soldiers to complete a black ops mission like no other: stop Quantum Apocalypse.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller

468 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 14, 2014

About the author

Nafeez Ahmed is an investigative journalist, bestselling author and international security scholar. He is the author of the forthcoming science fiction thriller, ZERO POINT.

Nafeez is an environment writer for The Guardian, the world's third most popular newspaper website, reporting on the geopolitics of interconnected environmental, energy and economic crises via his Earth Insight blog.

Nafeez has also written for the Independent on sunday, The Independent, The Scotsman, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, Le Monde diplomatique, The New Statesman, and Prospect Magazine, among others.

His journalistic work combines insider information from senior government, intelligence, industry and other sources with interdisciplinary analysis of specialist literature.

Nafeez is co-producer, writer and presenter of the critically-acclaimed documentary feature film, the crisis of civilization (2011), adapted from his non-fiction book, a user’s guide to the crisis of civilization: and how to save it (pluto, macmillan, 2010). The film was endorsed by BAFTA lifetime award-winning filmmaker Nick Broomfield

He is the bestselling author of The War on Freedom: How & Why America was Attacked: September 11, 2001, which won him the Naples Prize, Italy’s most prestigious literary award, in 2003. The War on Freedom (2002), the first book to critique the official narrative of 9/11, was described by Gore Vidal in the London Observer as “the best, most balanced, analysis of 9/11”.
The book is archived in the ‘9/11 commission materials’ special collection at the US National Archives in Washington DC – it was among 99 books made available to each 9/11 commissioner of the national commission on terrorist attacks upon the united states to use during their investigations.

Nafeez’s other books include The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry (2006), which has been profiled in the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Times; The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism (2005); (2003).

His latest non-fiction book, A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (2010) is a peer-reviewed academic study of the interconnections between climate change, energy depletion, food scarcity, economic meltdown, terrorism, the police-state, and war.

Nafeez and his writings are cited and reviewed in the New York times (Thomas Friedman), Sunday Times (Bryan Appleyard), Times Higher Educational Supplement, The Guardian (Steven Poole), The Independent (Yasmin Alibhai Brown), The observer (Gore Vidal), Big Issue Magazine, Vanity Fair (Christopher Hitchens), among other publications

Nafeez lives in London with his wife and children, plays guitar, and writes music in his spare time.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast-paced story crossing the high tech military/political thriller genre with strong conspiracy elements and a highly-trained ex-military hero working through PTSD. It's very strong on the messy business of soldiering, both emotional and physical, and connecting the dots for people unfamiliar with quantum mechanics or European political history, and has an excellent explanation of some aspects - it might have been better at the end of the book, rather than as an introduction, but was very informative.

It's written using a combination of first- and third-person narrative, and I'm not sure it works for me in this case. The lack of consistency means the switch is sometimes a little awkward, and just feels contrived. The dream sequences felt much the same, almost like a "quick, give him something he couldn't possibly know" filler.

The editor also slipped a couple of times because I spotted some Americanisms (Brits don't press the gas, they use the accelerator, and they tend to refer to "cars" rather than "vehicles") and overuse of some British slang. (I'm also fairly certain that "Hoo-rah" is Marines, not Army.) I may have had an ARC, though, so those might be fixed in the final copy.

Although the writing itself is good (easily worth 4 stars), the story just didn't seem to flow well and the inclusion of some elements which seemed to push it into the SF realm was just too weird. I also found the swearing to be largely unnecessary and, at times, misplaced, and I don't recall one problem ever being resolved. It does read very much like a book with a planned sequel, and I'd consider reading any sequel.

Ideal for people who like conspiracy theories and military/political thrillers

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Cobwebs-Iced-Across-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW: ZERO POINT by NAFEEZ AHMED


An extraordinarily plotted, high-tech, high-classified-intelligence, "deep background," very near-futuristic adventure, throat-catching, breath-taking, and heart-pounding. The author has decades of research and scholarly study into the fields in which his well-developed characters interact, and reading this pulse-pounding thriller became an education for me as well as an adventure.

If I had to choose which among all the.varied aspects of.this novel remain with me, those would be the author's thoughtful treatment of the protagonist' s PTSD, and his presentation of certain strands of quantum physics, which he made understandable, simultaneously interweaving these with historical elements.

[A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Army veteran David Ariel left killing behind and is working on the police specialist protection squad when Prime Minister Carson is assassinated on his shift. Ariel thought things were bad when the Prime Minister’s car blew up, but as time goes by things get stranger and stranger still. Each step he takes to uncover whatever is going on only sucks him deeper into a web of covert operations the likes of which have never seen the light of day. Battling unknown enemies and his own PTSD, Ariel races against time to stop a catastrophic event that could set off World War III.

Wow! Be sure to strap in before starting this book because it surges out of the starting gate in the first chapter and doesn’t let up until the end. Set in the near future of 2015, this story is one exhilarating ride. It’s definitely a thriller with fast action and a race against time theme. Then it’s sci-fi with technology not yet seen today. It also covers the military with specialists, military bases, weaponry and Ariel’s own connections. Finally it’s political with different offices trying to do the best they can in an emergency situation and not getting much done because of bureaucracy and red tape. One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing. Plus, it doesn’t help that it appears every level of government has been compromised by the enemy and they have no clue.

On the whole I absolutely loved this book. I was on the edge of my seat and I nearly couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as my eyes raced to see what was next. Told from several POVs I really got a decent overall view of what was going on, but the majority of the story is told from Ariel’s POV and he is a fantastic hero. Far from perfect and doing the best he can in an impossible situation, I love following him around as he figures shit out. The writing is out of this world. In addition, I have absolutely no head for the sciences and even the technical bullshit was fairly easy to follow though I wouldn’t trust myself if I had to take a quiz on the subjects put forth.

My three biggest complaints for this book are these: 1. the twists and turns were nearly too twisty and turny. I got a headache trying to keep up. 2. The situations Ariel kept walking into were getting to be a bit much. I just wanted to give the guy a break even if it was just a little one. 3. The ending. One word: cliffhanger. Yeah, I am not a fan of cliffhangers and I felt this particular spot should have been in the next book and the ending dialed back a bit to just after the event in Trafalgar Square. I think the ending wouldn’t have been quite so jarring that way, but then again, that’s just my opinion.

All-in-all I loved this book and will most definitely be watching for book 2.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find more reviews Mademoisellesnow Blog

I wasn’t completely sure that this was a type of book that I would enjoy reading so it was a little outside my comfort zone and thus I opened this book carefully. But wow! I really enjoyed reading this from the first chapter onwards. There was so much action that kept me going. The author creates a very real future world that I immersed myself into fully. I felt that I just didn’t have enough time to read the next page or that I couldn’t turn the page fast enough. I loved the cliffhanger ending where it just kept me waiting for answers for the next book. I’ll be definitely watching out for that.

[Steven]

Can't wait to read this! Sounds so dope!

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zero Point by Nafeez Ahmed is an action adventure “spy” novel in a modern format. Ahmed is an investigative journalist and an international security scholar. He writes for The Guardian on geopolitics in his “Earth Insight” column. He also taught international politics, contemporary history, empire, and globalization at the University of Sussex. He holds a PhD in International Relations and an MA in Contemporary War and Peace Studies.

Zero Point was a book I knew I would like from the start. I share the same educational background with the author and the book appears to be a modern twist on the books I used to read back in the Marines. Back then it was the US or Great Britain against the Soviets. Usually, there was a spy, diplomat, or military service man thrown into an international disaster in the making. The situation was not only bigger than anything he trained for but bigger than anything he could imagine. The demise of the Soviet Union and a lacking a credible enemy this type of novel disappeared. It tried making a few comebacks, but never caught on, at least until now.

Ahmed creates a credible enemy in the near future Great Britain. What makes this unique is that the players remain basically the same as they are at the present. There is no unified Jihad movement or unstable Middle East Leader, although there have been four Gulf wars. The Mid East is still a hot spot because of the United State's thirst for oil and the realization that once you remove the old power structure of a closed society and open it to democracy, in one fell swoop, it is going to fail.

Zero Point creates a convincing near future world scenario. The reader can be pulled into a believable setting. David Ariel, a veteran of the fourth Gulf War, left the military for reasons of conscience and finds himself working a protection detail for the Prime Minister as a civilian cop in Specialist Protection, SO1. In route to a meeting with the Iranian ambassador, Prime Minister Carson’s Motorcade is attacked and destroyed. Ariel survives, only to find out that it looks like he will be blamed for the disaster--Not for dereliction of duty, but as a plotter. He escapes custody and tries not only to clear his name but find those responsible.

This is where the novel requires the suspension of disbelief. Alliances are made. technology is discovered. Covert groups rise. This after all is an action/spy novel and the key to making the unbelievable believable is in the way the story is told. Ahmed introduces new information in a way that exposes it in a methodical process. The reader finds himself in the frog pot where the water is being warmed a degree at a time and by the time the reader realizes that something is amiss, the water is boiling.

Zero Point is an action packed novel filled with twists and turns and technology that will hold any Cold War spy novel fan’s interest. Ahmed pulls together every spy novel “cliche” and molds it into the post Cold War world; he even creates some new ones. The escalation of events in the novel prevents me from disclosing much more information than I already have. Events and items build upon each in Zero Point. Zero Point is a fast and furious novel that will bring back many readers who missed the good old days of the Cold War.

[Free_dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Zero Point" has everything I love in a dystopian book: double agents, mysterious "extremists", a conspiracy and a protagonist you can whose experiences you can never quite trust to be real and not just a symptom of his PTSD. So I had high expactations of this novel.

The first few pages were admittedly rather confusing. There was an onslaught of various British government organisation that to me were just letters and numbers without any meaning behind them. I had a very hard time trying to remember who was responsible for what and eventually I just gave up. The names turned out to be of little consequence for the overall understanding of the plot, so I just went ahead and ignored them. That's when the book started to be real fun.

The first half of this book was extremely exciting and somehow pretty damn scary because it all felt so very realistic. I was neatly sucked into Ariel's world and was right there with him, wondering who he could still trust, if he could still trust anybody at all. It's all very mysterious and exciting and full of action.

You definitely won't find yourself bored here anytime soon. There's always something going on. Even if there's a short break from the action part, you still find yourself wondering about Ariel's mysterious dreams and visions. They could just be a symptom of his PTSD. Or they could be real. Or something inbetween. The action does turn pretty violent at times, so this is not for the faint of heart.

In comparison, the second part was a let-down. The realistic feeling was gone and suddenly there was a confusing mess of complicated quantum physics and weird quantum weapons. I didn't understand most of the scientific explanations the author provided. To be fair, I've always been a lousy physics student, so it might just be me.

In order to fully understand and enjoy this book, you definitely need a working knowledge of the world politics of the last ten to twenty years. Without that, this book will probably be rather confusing.

To sum it up, "Zero Point" starts out very, very strong. The setting was scarily realistic which made for an extremely interesting read. Unfortunately the author gave up on that in the second half with his confusing quantum physical weapons and even the Nazis got their part. If Nafeez Ahmed had kept up the realistic tone to the end, this would have easily been a five star read. As it is, I still had fun and I can only recommend this book to all those paranoid fans of dystopias out there.
Whether I will read the next part in the series, depends entirely on how much quantum physics there will be.

[Les Chroniques Aléatoires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Then, well… wow!! What a reading! Action, impossible things, feelings, unexpected things and reflection, the whole in a finely carried out intrigue.
The characters are numerous, which gives us several simultaneous points of view, which make the things much more interesting. David, former serviceman, tired to kill out of people and disgusted by his superiors, decided to make a fresh start and to make the things better. Lack of luck for him, he is found in the center of a plot and becomes again the killer thirsty of blood (and justice). Heather is in charge of David's department and will quickly lose confidence in him. They is there new allies for David in the people of Lisa (a mercenary), the young Riz, former terrorist which tries to find redemption and his former war comrade, Andy. We do not forget Julia, we almost does not see her but who is the reason of the current David's problems. Is she in life or dead?
But the most interesting is the story! Unknown terrorism with unsuspected and completely unimaginable means. There are a lot of governmental agencies (or not) which remind me of James Bond and other series of spies. Moreover, there is a share of reality with the war for oil, current terrorism and the tensions in the Middle East.
There is also the science fiction part which has difficulty in being set up, we only have some elements at the beginning. Then the things become more and more crazy, we find ourself clearly in a dystopic universe which flirts with Watchmen and Captain America on several occasions. I really appreciated my reading, I really adored it and I am in a hurry to read the continuation, especially that the whole thing finishes in Paris! An atypical and catchy story which I can only recommend.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of ZERO POINT as a part of the Book Tour by Curiosity Quills Press, and in exchange for my honest review.

ZERO POINT is the first book of The Unraveling Trilogy and starts off with a bang. A literal bang! David Ariel's escort mission goes up in fire when the Prime Minister's vehicle is incinerated. Mass casualties abound. Including all but one other member of Ariel's team. A cryptic message from his Journalist girlfriend in Iraq leads him back to the military he'd rather have left in his past while he fights to uncover the perpetrators of this heinous deed... before the next terrorist attack.

Loaded with thrills, action and intrigue, ZERO POINT should leave you thoroughly satisfied.

[Jola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review also on www.jolasbookshelf.wordpress.com

'Zero Point' is an action story that keeps you hooked right from the start. There's no dull moment in the story, which I greatly enjoyed. The main character, David, is great and I liked how the author described his PTSD. I'll be looking forward to his next novel.

Thanks to Curiosity Quills Press in exchange for an honest review.

[Harri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping and fast paced with intense action. Due to its many short chapters and captivating content, this book maintains a rapid pace throughout and is very difficult to put down. With extensive experience from journalism on real life scenarios, the author provides an interesting look in to the spy networks of the UK with an exciting fictional twist. I can't wait for the next two in the trilogy!

[Jola · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Zero Point’ is an action story that keeps you hooked right from the start. There’s no dull moment in the story, which I greatly enjoyed. The main character, David, is great and I liked how the author described his PTSD. I’ll be looking forward to his next novel.