This novel follows a provincial oil minister, Skurt Ancre, from the Russian Far East as he gets drawn into a scheme by China to prevent economic stagnation by grabbing a newly discovered oil field in Tajikistakstan. The story grows to involve a disaster at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Iran's constant search for enriched uranium to build its own bomb, and North Korea's dillusional new leader, in a world where international politics creates strange bedfellows. World leaders become involved in unforseen situations that lead to war and leaves them grasping for answers. Even as Ancre's...