High Hand

”High Hand is a well-paced, good read. The reporter dialogue rings especially true.”

—Hammad Jawdat, World Desk Editor, The Wall Street Journal

“Enthralling work of fiction that is high voltage from the opening scene.”

—Serge F. Kovaleski, Culture and Arts Investigative Reporter, The New York Times

“A paranoid, high-tech mashup of The Manchurian Candidate and All the President’s Men, High Hand reads like a legacy journalist’s fever dream, garnished with enough Bondian twists to make 007’s heirs grin into their pomegranate martinis.”

—Larry Hackett, former Editor, People Magazine

“A gripping, suspenseful mix of politics, journalism, business, and spy craft with enough twists and turns to keep the pages flying.”

—Gary Pruitt, President and CEO, The Associated Press

“High Hand has it all: political intrigue, sex, betrayal, terrorism, and espionage—all wrapped around a love story that spans the modern world’s hot spots. A thriller not to be missed.”

—Anders Gyllenhaal, Vice President for News, The McClatchy Company

“High Hand is a masterful political thriller, full of great characters performing noble and ignoble deeds in the wake of an attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. Reporter Frank Adams wants the truth, but the truth is costly, and ugly, for all. You won’t be able to put it down.”

—Nancy Barnes, Executive Editor, Houston Chronicle

“High Hand is a thriller in which all the players are bluffing, but someone holds the killer card. It mixes the high stakes of a US presidential race with the calculation of Russian intrigue. It’s a whodunit enriched by who did it—a creative conspiracy of three very talented authors.”

—Ned Barnett, Editorial Page Editor, The (Raleigh) News & Observer

“Great story, good plot—fast paced and gripping. High Hand keeps you navigating inside the changing and shadowy world of espionage. It brings back memories of real international intrigue.”

—John Lewis Jr., former FBI Assistant Director for National Security

“From beginning to end, High Hand is a skillfully crafted thriller demonstrating the plausibility of many of its insights about the world of intelligence. It is bound to occupy a prominent place among notable works in its genre.”

—Tony Porcaro, former CIA analyst

“Lisa Hawkes is a compelling new hero!”

—Juleen Zierath, Chairwoman, Nobel Prize Committee for Physiology or Medicine

“A dazzling cast of characters interacting across an array of wonderfully sinister motivations and situations. It will appeal especially to techies and conspiracy lovers.”

—Robert B. Pirie, Jr., former US Assistant Secretary of Defense

About the Authors:

JAMES ELLENBERGER worked for nearly 30 years in numerous capacities with the national AFL-CIO. Among his posts, he was responsible for Asian affairs in the organization’s international affairs section and was assistant director of occupational safety and health. He was a senior analyst for unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and disability issues. He later served four years as deputy commissioner of the Virginia Employment Commission under Gov. Mark Warner. A Vietnam War veteran, he has traveled extensively in Asia and the Middle East. Ellenberger has written numerous articles on international labor affairs, social insurance and medical care for injured workers. He is a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

CURTIS HARRIS is a physician-scientist who is world renowned in the field of cancer research. His scientific contributions to the fields of molecular carcinogenesis, molecular epidemiology of human cancer, and clinical cancer research have placed him at the forefront of international cancer study. He collaborates with leading researchers in this field in the United States, Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Asia and has traveled extensively to these regions during the past three decades. Dr. Harris has published more than 500 journal articles and 100 book chapters, has edited 10 books, and holds more than 25 advanced biotechnology patents owned by the US government. He also serves as editor-in-chief for the scientific journal Carcinogenesis and has held or holds elected offices in numerous scholarly societies and nonprofit foundations. Dr. Harris is chief of the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at the NIH National Cancer Institute. He is adjunct Professor of Oncology at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

JAMES ROSEN is an award-winning political and national security journalist who reported from Moscow during the historic collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, he has covered the Pentagon, the White House and Congress, producing a number of complex investigative articles on insecure nuclear weapons (“loose nukes”) in Russia; alleged Saudi complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks; sleeper Islamic jihadist cells in Europe; and a range of other cutting-edge topics.