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    Minute Zero
    Minute Zero
    Minute Zero
    Audiobook9 hours

    Minute Zero

    Written by Todd Moss

    Narrated by Piter Marek

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An extraordinary international thriller by the former deputy assistant secretary of state and author of the national bestseller The Golden Hour. In the life of every country, at a moment of extreme national disruption, there is a brief period of breakdown, when everything is uncertain, events can turn on a dime. That is the moment to act, to shape events how you want them to go. That is Minute Zero. Fresh off the harrowing events of The Golden Hour, State Department crisis manager Judd Ryker is suddenly thrown into a quickly developing emergency in Zimbabwe, where a longtime strongman is being challenged for the presidency. Rumors are flying furiously: armed gangs, military crackdowns, shady outside money pouring in, and, most disturbing for the United States, reports of highly enriched uranium leaking into the market. And that's all before Ryker even lands in the country. It gets much worse after that. If he can't get control, shape his Minute Zero, a lot of people are going to die-not least of all himself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 15, 2015
    ISBN9781490673998
    Minute Zero

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    Reviews for Minute Zero

    3.5/5

    14 ratings6 reviews

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    • 1/5
      A thriller set in Zimbabwe, with a CIA and State Department special operation. It sounded great. But no. The characters are two-dimensional. For a thriller, that's sometimes okay, action can make the difference. But no. The main character does almost nothing until the last ten pages. Until then he is mostly sitting in the embassy watching the television news. Since he rarely leaves, the setting in Zimbabwe is almost incidental. On the bright side, it is a quick read. The writing is bad—utterly bland throughout—but not horrible. The villains are dumb, but not ridiculous—no Illuminati conspiracy here.
    • 4/5
      What appealed to me about "Minute Zero" was the idea that the story combines political diplomacy with national security.With current events and the presidential election debate, a book about election would be of interest even if the nation is Zimbabwe.State Department crisis manager Judd Ryker is sent to Zimbabwe to attempt to quell a developing emergency. Ryker is to stop an emergency and provide a solution before the situation gets out of hand.In the 1980s thousands of civilians in Zimbabwe died during an operation and no one was held accountable.Now President Winston Tinotenda known as Tino is set to have another term as president in an election that he has rigged. He as a corrupt security adviser and gets money from illegal diamond mines and elsewhere.Ryker brings in the CIA and some old friends to stop the bleeding and allow to elected president to assume her rightful office. How he does this and what he must overcome is the basis of the story.I enjoyed the story and compared the situation to what is going on in certain countries today and it also gives the reader the idea that it might have been useful if Ryker had done his magic to prevent other countries from going to rebels or illegal dictators.
    • 4/5
      If you missed Todd Moss’s dramatic 2013 debut with The Golden Hour, catch up with his protagonist Judd Ryker in his second thriller set in an unstable Africa, the recently released Minute Zero for more political chicanery, assassination, theft and corruption at the most brazen level.Ryker is an academic working in the uneasy surroundings of the U.S. State Department. The careerists don’t trust him, his brief—as head of the department’s new Crisis Reaction Unit—puts him outside the bureaucracy’s normal chain of command, and in many ways he’s in over his head. What landed him there was his theory that in every international crisis there is a short period—the golden hour—in which events can be successfully directed toward a positive conclusion. Once a situation settles, that opportunity is lost. This novel elaborates that idea, with the proposition that at times of extreme national disruption, there is an even briefer period of breakdown, when outcomes are uncertain and dramatic change is possible. For U.S. diplomats, Ryker counsels, that “zero minute” offers a unique opportunity.Moss places this thriller in Zimbabwe, under the long-time leadership of fictional President Winston Tinotenda, a man in his 90s (clearly modeled on IRL president Robert Mugabe), aided by his considerably younger national security advisor, General Simba Chimurenga. This pair did not retain power for decades without a hefty dose of corruption, violence, and heavy-handed political tactics. Now the country faces an election pitting Tinotenda against a formidable challenger, a woman lawyer, Gugu Mutonga. In this situation, U.S. goals are clear and limited, says the State Department’s Africa lead, Bill Rogerson: a safe, peaceful vote and stability into the post-election period, translated as “no bodies in the streets.” Tinotenda’s hold on the office look like a certainty, but Mutonga has strong support among the country’s youth and in its southern region, and Ryker isn’t so sure the president can hold on. Disruption is in the air.The Secretary of State asks Ryker to fly to Zimbabwe and demonstrate definitively that his crisis reaction analytics can work. But Rogerson considers Ryker a thorn in his side and is anxious to expel him from the body diplomatique. To thwart Ryker’s efforts, Rogerson colludes with the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe—a rather dim political appointee counting the minutes until he can take up a new posting in London. Ryker’s wife Jessica is an agronomist working on African water purification projects. She provides helpful counsel to him as he negotiates these treacherous bureaucratic waters. Only over time does the reader begin to suspect Jessica has her own dangerous agenda.The political and diplomatic chess game Ryker undertakes to protect American interests and the integrity of the vote is just as cutthroat as an assassination and its outcome can be just as fatal (at least to careers). Moss is uniquely qualified to write his thrillers, having been the deputy assistant secretary of state covering 16 countries in West Africa. Currently, he’s chief operating officer and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. He’s also the author of four nonfiction books on international economic affairs and has taught at Georgetown University and the London School of Economics. Luckily for his readers, in addition to his solid background and experience, he knows how to tell a compelling story!
    • 4/5
      This is a good thriller. I enjoyed the characters. There were many twists and turns in this story. This is best from the middle of the story to the end. The beginning dragged a little but the author made up for it from the middle to the end. I received this ebook through the firsttoread program for a fair and honest opinion.
    • 4/5
      I attempted to read Mr. Moss's first book, the Golden Hour. I say attempt because I only got about a third of the way into the book and I put it down for good. The only thing that I did like about the book and Mr. Moss's writing is how authentic the story and events were. Yet, I was not feeling the character development and the story itself did not intrigue me. I decided to give Mr. Moss another chance. Thank goodness that I did. His latest book made me did a complete one eighty turn. I could not stop reading this book. I instantly was pulled into the story and the characters. Dr. Judd Ryker is a complex character that brings lots of layers to the story. Which the first half of the book was good and did help build up to the action and fast pace of the second half of the story. Warning: The "f" word is used in the book. I was not offended by the language but that is because it was used tastefully in context to the story.
    • 5/5
      Todd Moss' novel Minute Zero is a great new entry into the political suspense genre and a wonderful follow-up to his bestseller last year, Golden Hour. This time Judd Ryker, head of an experimental office at the State Department, and his wife Jessica are working on a crisis in Zimbabwe. The stakes are high with the future of the Crisis Reaction Unit (S/CRU) in the balance and the potential of weapons grade Uranium being dumped on the international market. To make matters more complicated, Judd has to watch over the Zimbabwean national election while juggling ineffective career diplomats, expatriate fixers, and the vicious maneuvers of the election itself.The experience that Moss brings to the table really makes this book stand out from the crowd. There's more political action here than actual violence which reflects the real world. In one scene, when a house blows up and a US operative is watching--instead of rushing in like in the movies, she quickly drives away knowing that to be caught there would create an international incident. The book bristles with clashes between career bureaucrats and young activists that desperately want to see change take place. It's very real and I definitely recommend this book. It hits bookstores on September 15.