Without Warning
In Kuwait, American forces are stacked up, locked and loaded for the
invasion of Iraq. In Paris, a covert agent, a woman who inhabits a
twilight of lies and death, is close to cracking a terrorist cell. And
just north of the equator, a forty-foot wood-hulled sailboat, manned by a drug runner, a pirate, and two gun-slinging beauties, is witness to the unspeakable. In one instant, all around the world, for politicians and
peasants, from Gaza to Geneva, things will never be the same. A wave of
inexplicable energy has slammed into the continental United States.
America, as we know it, is gone...
WITHOUT WARNING
Now U.S. soldiers are fighting a war without command or control. A
correspondent records horrors for no one. Washington is gone and the
line of succession is in tatters; the functioning remnants of government are in Pearl Harbor, Guantánamo Bay, and one desperate, isolated corner of the Northwest. For the jihadists, it’s Allah’s miracle. For Saddam,
it’s a chance to attack. Iran declares war on an America that doesn’t
exist – except in the hearts and souls of the men and women who want it
to.
In this astounding work of alternate fiction, John Birmingham hurtles us into a scenario that is unimaginable but shatteringly real: a world of financial ruin where a cloud of noxious waste – from America’s
burning cities – darkens Europe, while men and women in offices around the globe struggle to make decisions that cannot hold and opportunists
unleash their secret demons.
From a slick Texas lawyer who
happens to be in the right place at the right time to a hard-working
city engineer in Seattle who becomes his terrified city’s only hope,
from the cancer-stricken secret agent to a drug runner off the Mexican
coast and a U.S. general in Cuba, Without Warning tells a fast, furious
story of survival, violence, and a new, soul-shattering reality. The
first in an epic trilogy that will leave readers breathless and
astounded, Without Warning offers a world without its policeman, its
Great Satan, or its savior – as an unknowable future struggles to be born.
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John Birmingham
John Birmingham is an Australian author whose work blends history, speculative fiction, and an unflinching look at human resilience. With a knack for writing high-octane thrillers and thought-provoking dystopian narratives, Birmingham has made a name for himself as a writer unafraid to push boundaries—whether exploring the devastating consequences of alternate history or tackling the existential chaos of the modern world.
Birmingham's storytelling career began with a unique mix of commentary on the absurdity of life and an exploration of what happens when the world as we know it suddenly shifts. His Axis of Time series, which imagines a world where a modern naval fleet is transported back in time to World War II, was one of his early forays into mixing historical events with speculative twists. The series not only captivated readers with its thrilling action sequences but also sparked conversations about the nature of war, power, and humanity's ability to adapt.
The Disappearance
The Disappearance consists of three books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
