HIGHER CAUSE

by John Hunt, Susanne Clark (Illustrator), B.K. Marcus (Editor)

In 1789, the HMS Bounty mutiny was plotted by Fletcher Christian against Captain Bligh in order to follow the British Admiralty’s secret orders to return to England with a Tahitian artifact of incredible power. Two hundred and twenty years later, the economies of the world are on the brink of hyperinflation and collapse caused by government incompetence and counterfeiting of money by central banks. To avert another Dark Ages, Petur Bjarnasson and Isaac Bonhoff partner with the world’s wealthiest investors and best entrepreneurial scientists to create massive new wealth—in the form of new energy sources. On the Paradise Islands in the eastern Pacific, the team succeeds on every scientific front, but must contend with assaults by enemies focused on protecting the value of oil by destroying competitive technology, a takeover effort by the Mexican government desiring to nationalize the work being done on the Paradise Islands, and the interference of a mysterious group of furtive old men. Petur’s team must use all its strengths to run through the gauntlet of adversaries in order to stop the world from deteriorating into poverty and totalitarianism.

538 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2013

Reviews

[Luc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, smart, and excellent. I will look for more by the same author.

[Josiah R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book combining historical fiction with modern espionage, geopolitics, philosophy, economics, and science, along with some echoes of Asimov’s Foundation, and Galt’s Gulch from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Some people criticized the dry narration in the audiobook version, but I didn’t see too big of an issue there and definitely preferred it to an ebook screen reader.

[Hyrum · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was fine, I suppose, but I skipped about 60% of this book. Just couldn't get into it for some reason. I remember becoming annoyed by the parts with the stereotypical secret agent character.