The Quaker State Affair by Dan Romain

What would happen if the Chinese decided to write off their American debt and create a fiscal world pegged not to the American dollar but to a gold standard?  How long would it take American to implode without dollars, or the oil it buys?  Could we live without oil as an energy source?

These are the questions that Dan Romain explores in his explosive action thriller, The Quaker State Affair.  As the book opens, it becomes obvious to the American security forces that China is racketing up worldwide tension as a prelude to attempting to take over as the world's most powerful nation.  Reaction by the American President escalates the tension as he implies that America has an alternate energy source which would make oil obsolete. 

Patrick McDaniels, a Nobel winner for his work in physics, has in fact, been thinking about this issue.  In fact, he has done more than think about it, but he realises the risks that come along with such groundbreaking ideas.  The man who can harness cheap, renewable energy that will never run out will be rich beyond dreams, but also in enormous danger.  Nations would war over who controlled such energy or the mind that could conceive of it.  How can McDaniels give his thoughts to his chosen country without becoming a target?

Dan Romain has written an interesting book that is both a page-turning thriller and a book that gives the reader pause for thought.  Readers can see echoes of Romain's predictions in the news media and scientific articles.  Oil is the mainspring of the economy, leaving America in ransom to other countries that can produce it.  Scientists are pursuing alternate energy sources that would make the discovering country the new world leader for centuries.  Readers will finish this book and find their thoughts returning to it time and again, as they read the news and ponder what the average person can do to safeguard in the event some of these issues occur.  This book is recommended both for readers of thrillers and for readers interested in what may occur in the next few decades to our country and to the world.