The China Connection

By Anthony J. Sacco

Book Overview

Warren Jenkins Carswell, an unlit cigar clenched between his teeth, was pacing the Oval Office. Seated around his desk were Bruxton Linley, Donald Fallon, Chairman of the National Committee,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595261760
• ISBN13: 9780595261765
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 420 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The China Connection

This action-packed, edge-of-your-seat political thriller is such a great book! The chain of events that has led to China acquiring much of our satellite technology through the launching of commercial satellites for American companies is appalling. There is, however, an even greater message in this book and that is the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Matt Dawson, a man after every woman's heart, has learned through the heart-wrenching ordeal of divorce just how important it is to allow God to be first in his life. By putting God first, and re-establishing his relationship with Jesus (dormant since young adulthood, but still there in his heart) Matt has discovered that 'peace which passes all understanding'. He has also experienced the release that comes with forgiveness. Forgiveness for his ex-wife and the hurtful things she has done to him. But, just as important, asking for and accepting God's forgiveness for himself and the part he played in his marriage's decline and the damaged relationships with his children. Throughout this healing process, Matt is also learing the importance of daily prayer and the wisdom and comfort that is gained from reading scripture. God's word speaks to him directly and guides him through the many circumstances in which he finds himself involved, many of them dangerous, yet thrilling. He also attends morning mass whenever there's a church nearby. This is something which I wish the other Christian denominations would take a cue from the Catholics--how nice it would be to start your day that way. It is also heartening to see how God works in Chu-hua's life. An atheist because of her Buddhist upbringing, she has led a totally immoral life, looking to the pleasures of sex and money for fulfillment. The tremendous crash she experiences when it finally becomes apparent that the gratification from these things is short-lived and has no depth leaves her empty and searching. The intervention of her neighbor with the good news of God's forgiveness sames her life and starts her on her way to a whole new life. All in all, this book was a great read. The political facts upon which it is based have been thoroughly researched and even the epilogue is fascinating--we would all do well as US citizens to pay closer attention to what is going on in our government.

Matt Dawson, a great new hero!

Tony Sacco has skillfully combined the political situations of the ninties, dealings with China, national security and the like, with an awsome sub-plot of a true American hero who is true to life, and moral too! This author has proven that a man in these times can be heroic, and real, and make moral choices given tough situations. The book is worth reading just for this!! Matt, recently divorced, feels compelled to express himself sexually with his new girlfriend, like any man would, but he chooses to respect her and himself, and abstain. Matt uses his gun to protect himself and others, but he feels a sense of loss when he kills someone, as he is very pro-life. He does not just travel the world shooting everyone just because he can. Matt Dawson is no "chior boy", he's not perfect, just a man who takes the high road when he can, and looks to God for guidence when he feels he can't. Matt Dawson is a great new American hero that would be great for our kids to look up to. I think it should be a movie or even a new drama series! Ladies, you are gonna' love Matt Dawson!!! This is a MUST READ!! Anyone who liked "Magnum, PI", will love Matt Dawson! ENJOY!

A Novel of Suspense and Intrigue

Writer Anthony Sacco has effectively combined fictionalized events which chillingly parallel developments in US-Chinese relations during the 1990s with a cast of fascinating but believable characters to produce a first-rate novel of technological espionage and suspense. Bent on acquiring US satellite technology, the Chinese military utilizes every means at its disposal, including planted agents and political intrigue aimed directly at the highest office in the United States. When Chinese-American Johnny Chou disappears after idictment on campaign finance violations following a series of high-stakes political deals, private investigator Matt Dawson is hired by the FBI as a low-profile operative whose task is to locate Chou before Chinese agents can kill him to prevent disclosure of everything he knows. Author Sacco takes the reader on a fasinating journey from the highest levels of the growing Chinese satellite program to the Oval Office, and in between to locations ranging from rural China to suburban Maryland. Set against the backdrop Chinese-American espionage are an array of compelling individuals from main character Dawson,to US President Warren Jenkins Carswell,and Chan Chu-hua, a Chinese agent operating US who ultimately discovers Christianity as she seeks to unravel the tangled web of her life. Readers will enjoy the unmistakeable paralells with events in the Clinton White House concerning Chinese technological espionage.

Exposition of the technology transfer to China- 1990s

Tony Sacco has brought to real life through his fictional characters the grestes giveaway the U.S. has ever made by the technology transfers of the Clinton Administration. His characters tell the story in a most dramatic way of how missile technology was given to the Chinese for indirect funding to the Administration's war chest. The story is dramatic and told so very well by the book's hero, Matt Dawson, and so called heroine. There are plots and inner plots that show how the Clinton Administration provided the incentive for some of the U.S. defense contractors to secretly provide the technology over a period of eight years to the Chinese. The action is fast moving, much in the style of Tom Clancy which catches the reader into the large web of Chinese intrigue. Tony Sacco has a thriller and should be a MUST for all readers of novels.

Engaging political thriller with unusual depth

For a novel with such depth, this is one quick read. The writing is tight, riveting and graphic.Sacco's first novel gives just enough plot line interspersed with exposition that you'll find you're always saying "just one more page." This first time I read it, I got through about 30 "just one more pages." The pace is fast, but there's tons of depth along the way. One clever aspect of the novel is its careful interspersing and overlapping of the internal struggles of the main character, Dawson, with his external struggles. The unusual thing is that Dawson isn't a flat, cookie-cutter protagonist, but a complex man struggling with some past issues as he's more or less thrust into a position that doesn't seem terribly unusual at first, but evolves into a major political and military scandal.I like the fact that Dawson has a past, that he's trying to be a good ex-husband, father, and boyfriend despite some past failures. Sacco isn't afraid to create a protagonist with religious conviction (all-too easy to dismiss in modern literature). This protagonist actually goes to church and contemplates the moral justification for his actions, both personally and professionally as an investigator. Sacco cleverly connects Dawson's personal experiences with the larger political problem of relativism. He accuses the moral climate of a thinly veiled version of the Clinton administration for allowing and even instigating political scandals that-if the truth ever came out-would shock us all.Sacco's fictitious president is a thin disguise for Clinton, providing a convenient hedonistic antagonist who personifies all that Dawson is trying not to be: self-serving, focused on immediate-gratification, and morally bankrupt. The novel revolves around the administration's failure to restrict powerful weapons technology from getting into the hands of Chinese leaders in exchange for money and political influence. The fictional account closely parallels the true events of Clinton's administration and policies with regard to China, weaving it within a fictional main plot that takes the reader through the contrastingly principled Dawson's personal struggles with past mistakes and a budding romantic interest.Sacco is able to fictionalize and clarify an extremely complex series of backdoor political shenanigans. I was impressed with his ability to string together so many and disparate events and show how they were all effects of a misguided political agenda. Although he takes some artistic liberties with dates, events and people, his account is remarkably accurate and comprehensible. Many characters are composites, and other extenuating circumstances are conveniently omitted (that's the privilege of fiction, it allows us to focus on only what is of consequence and ignore all the tangential daily clutter that may or may not be relevant). He comes down hard on the administration and exposes it for what it was: a lot of self-indulgent, shortsighted opportunists who raid