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NATIONAL BESTSELLER"A novel that makes your heart race . . . a thriller that weaves diplomacy and national security together with espionage, terrorism and Washington infighting." - Washington PostAn extraordinary thriller debut of twenty-first-century espionage, by a former deputy assistant secretary of state who "knows where all the bodies are buried - literally" (W. E. B. Griffin) . The Golden Hour: In international politics, the hundred hours following a coup, when there is still a chance that diplomacy, a secret back channel, military action - something - might reverse the chain of events.As the top American diplomat for West Africa, Todd Moss saw a great deal about how diplomacy and politics actually work. But as he shows us, the results aren't always pretty.When Judd Ryker is appointed director of the new State Department Crisis Reaction Unit, he figures he has a mandate to help the United States respond more quickly to foreign crises, but he hasn't reckoned with the intense State, Defense, Pentagon, White House, and CIA infighting and turf battles he would face. Then comes the coup in Mali. It is his chance to prove that his theory of the Golden Hour actually works - but in the real world, those hours move very, very quickly indeed, and include things he'd never even imagined.As Ryker races from Washington across Europe to the Sahara Desert, he finds that personalities, loyalties, everything he thought he knew, begin to shift and change beneath his feet - and that friends and enemies come in many forms.
About the Author
Todd Moss, formerly a top U.S. State Department official, is a writer and policy analyst in Washington DC. His day job is running the Energy for Growth Hub, a global research network. Todd is also affiliated with the Center for Global Development, Rice University's Baker Institute, and the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. Todd has previously worked at the World Bank, Georgetown University, and the London School of Economics. Todd writes thrillers in the early hours. His debut novel THE GOLDEN HOUR (Penguin's Putnam, 2014) follows diplomat Judd Ryker, who has 100 hours to reverse a coup in Mali, rescue a kidnapped Peace Corps volunteer, and prevent a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy. In MINUTE ZERO (2015) , Ryker fights to stop a dictator from stealing a violent election in Zimbabwe. In GHOSTS OF HAVANA (2016) , Ryker is dispatched on a secret mission to negotiate the release of four American soccer dads who were captured by the Cuban navy while fishing off the Florida Keys. THE SHADOW LIST (2017) takes Ryker deep into a murky web of Russian mobsters, Nigerian scammers, and corrupt American politicians. Watch this space for Todd's next thriller.(photo credit: Shawn Miller)
