In the summer of 1999, I selected Intentional Consequences as the title of my first novel, a fast-paced thriller about a geopolitical cyber conspiracy designed to restructure American democracy. The title was a wordplay on “unintended consequences.” It referred to the murky area of politics between results that come from innocent actions that get out of hand and foreseeable results that come from irresponsible and even intentional conduct.
Five years later, I am amazed at how well Intentional Consequences captures and foreshadows many of the important issues we are facing now. The book is as vivid and troubling today as it was when it was first released, perhaps more so.
The words of one of my characters (Bob Franks, a political operative) seem like they were written yesterday, “In today’s world, it’s becoming far easier to fire up extremists on both sides, and both sides are doing it. Much of it is conscious and pre-meditated. Most of the rest is simply irresponsible. Very little on either side is innocent.”
Franks adds, “Enticement is a delicate thing. You open Pandora’s Box and sometimes bad things can come out. You hope things play out without violence or physical harm, but sometimes you must take the risk to achieve the goals.”
Although the book’s characters and plot are fictional, the setting swirls with the realities of our time: bitterly divided politics, political deception and disinformation, artificial intelligence, deepfake photos, the influence and power of social and traditional media, Chinese spies, cybertheft and drones--even a billionaire who tries to create a business coalition to reduce America's partisan divide and pull the country back together.
The book is set during the Democratic presidential primary for the 2020 election, which began with 23 candidates and ended with Joe Biden as the nominee. Eva Johnson, a smart, beautiful artist and tech company founder, teams with a young newspaper reporter to break up a geopolitical cyber conspiracy driven by wealthy American political elites, Chinese agents and social media interests. Their goal is to sweep the election and restructure American democracy to single-party rule that will last for decades or more.
This is a “purple” book written to offend both sides whenever it can. It’s an entertaining novel, not a political diatribe for one side or the other.
If you haven’t read it, I hope you will. If you have, please pass it on. It’s available on Amazon.com in Kindle and paperback editions at: https://www.amazon.com/Intentional-Consequences-Charles-Harris/dp/1087423805 .
I promise you two things: You will wonder where the reality stops and the fiction begins. You will also be thinking about the book long after you have finished reading.
The book is the first of my three-book Eva Johnson series. The other two books (also on Amazon) are Revenge Matters and Virtual Control. You can read them in any order.
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