G. B. Grier's debut international thriller novel, ATON, is shocking in its plausibility and its candor-Americans are in for the mother-of-all wake-up calls. Anything but linear, anything but flat, and anything but formulaic, and complete with plenty of grit, and an unceasing eye for detail, the author offers a plot full of action, irony, international intrigue, and something akin to unrequited love as a forty-year-old romance is magically rekindled. The book is one of desperate pursuit and venomous, winner-take-all aggression, irreversibly spiraling through the vortex of a super-charged rescue attempt at the highest levels of the U.S. government. At the heart of it all, two former Vietnam Army pilots past their prime find their lives changed as they are suddenly tasked with somehow solving a "Mission Impossible" scenario to intercede in an already underway international terrorists' plan to kidnap the First Lady. As the action of the kidnapping plot, though commandeered by the past, thickens during the frenzied twenty-four hour tale, a treasonous opportunity by members of both Congress and the White House staff to hijack the presidency is ignited. Naval Intelligence under direct orders from the Oval Office finds itself desperately time-limited to not only locate and secure a lone high school teacher suspected of terrorism, but also to somehow uncompromisingly-and quickly-convert her loyalty to the American effort. Fyodor Norlav, whose life has been an experience in complete frustration, certainly hates America, not unlike one Hawa Hussein, who is also out for American blood, except that Fyodor finds himself during this crisis playing second fiddle, where he'll be given an opportunity to accomplish Hawa's explosive mission. Terrorism in the United States dominates us because unlike all previous national conflicts, America cannot control it. Terrorism has no location, no geographical borders. It exists as a philosophy, and recruitment is highly magnetic in that it promises everything to individuals who have nothing. Cleverly examining terrorism from opposing angles through motives, dogmas, and alluding to history itself, Grier gives the reader a transparent glimpse into what the future of terrorism possibly holds for America and the western world as we know it. Readers come away with more than just a great story with unforgettable characters; they come away with a realization that terrorism can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time. Not without wit and humor, Grier blends international, non-secular tensions with a vast array of timely innuendo to offer a book of intrigue that aptly paints the very thin line between love and hate, and war and peace.