What are the chances that an espionage/thriller could have been written several years ago and published in February 2016 that would have predicted the crazy politics we’ve been experiencing?
NWU member James Ellenberger did that with his two writing partners in their novel High Hand by Curtis J. James. The pseudonym is an amalgam of their first names: Curtis Harris, a world-renown cancer scientist; James Rosen, an award-winning journalist with McClatchy; and Jim Ellenberger, a long-time member of the DC local of the NWU.
Their first novel predicted the rise of a Donald Trump type, building the action around an eccentric billionaire businessman with an exotic past.
It predicted:
–that the billionaire businessman runs for president and shocks the nation by getting elected
–meddling in an American election by Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin spooks
–the administration’s secret ties to Russian oil
–hacking and encryption of emails
–a rogue unit of a US intelligence agency working covertly to change the course of a White House race
–threats to journalists trying to find out the truth
The action is built around a poker game that put together 12 years ago by Frank Adams, the Moscow correspondent for the LA Register. Someone is trying to kill all the former members of the card group. One of the members, Stuart Roberts the former Ambassador, is now running for President. The trail leads back to Moscow.
The three authors met more than 25 years ago on the squash courts of Washington DC. Harris, the mensa of the group, wrote an outline of a story and the three met at a cabin in Front Royal to map out the action. Starting with a screenplay, the authors eventually decided that a novel was the way to flesh-out the characters.
High Hand has been described as “a masterful political thriller” by Nancy Barnes, the executive editor of the Houston Chronicle, as a “suspenseful mix of politics, journalism, business, and spy craft with enough twists and turns to keep the pages flying” by Gary Pruitt, president and CEO of The Associated Press, and as “a riveting read that vividly captures the unique culture and ethos of the US spy community” by John Rizzo, a former CIA general counsel.
Two Pulitzer prize winners (Joby Warrick and David Maraniss) and a Noble prize winner (Phillip A. Sharp) are among numerous notables who add their acclaim for High Hand.
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