The Doomsday clock is set at 90 seconds to Midnight. There's no time to lose. Mike Bond delivers the summer's must read thriller - our very survival depends on it. Nuclear war is coming. Can we stop it? Or is it already too late? On an October night, far out in the South China Sea, a diver sets explosive charges under a huge oil platform. On the platform above, geologist Liz Chaplin stands watching the Southern Cross sink beneath the waves. In New York, Ross Bullock, the CEO of Rawhide Energy and the platform's owner, states during a televised press conference that our country has made a fatal mistake in Ukraine and is headed for nuclear war. Immediately the White House, intelligence agencies, the media and financial world attack Rawhide for raising the specter of nuclear war and thus threatening the president's reelection. The action expands to Mongolia, Indonesia, Washington D.C., and Ukraine. The true perpetrator of these crimes becomes known - it is impossible, unbelievable, but true. Is the White House behind it? The president threatens nuclear war with Russia to distract voters from his fraudulent Ukraine and China deals and worsening polls. The Russians respond by increasing their nuclear readiness. But the president alone can decide to launch a nuclear war as he clings to the nuclear button. So begins CRUDE, Mike Bond's new super-thriller that takes us to the door of world annihilation and shows us what's inside. "Mike Bond is the master of the existential thriller" - BBC"One of America's best thriller writers" - CULTURE BUZZ"A master of the storytelling craft" - MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW"One of the 21st Century's most exciting authors" - WASHINGTON TIMES"Mike Bond is a masterful storyteller." - SACRAMENTO BEE"Mike Bond's books are a national treasure." -WVOX