cover image State of Emergency

State of Emergency

Steve R. Pieczenik. Putnam Publishing Group, $24.95 (300pp) ISBN 978-0-399-14323-6

""Josiah Brigham, the governor of Utah, and three yahoo governors from Colorado, Wyoming, and Arizona have presented the White House with an ultimatum--allow our states to secede from the Union peacefully or we'll create such continuous havoc for the federal government that Washington will wind up begging to accept our demands.'"" That's both a plot summary and the main problem with D.C. insider Pieczenik's new thriller about the threat of a civil war in 2010--stiff, unbelievable dialogue that cripples a wonderful premise. Pieczenik (The Mind Palace; with Tom Clancy, Tom Clancy's Op-Center) clearly knows the terrain of high-level governmental infighting. What he apparently doesn't know is how to re-create human speech. Barbara Reynolds, the African American secretary of state forced to take charge of the secession crisis, and Dr. Alison Carter, her personal physician and emissary to the rebels, might well have within them some seeds of real interest. But since they talk--and even think--in ponderous sentences guaranteed to induce boredom, few readers will give them the benefit of the doubt. (Oct.) FYI: Pieczenik served as deputy assistant secretary of state under Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, George Schultz and James Baker.