What impressed me the most was Ball's very accurate depiction of the power of indoctrination. In many ways it was a rather chilling view of what 'could have been'. If you like political thrillers then I highly recommend it. Tracey

“A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain.”

As decades of meticulous scheming and planning finally come together, the KGB, an under-appreciated threat, takes the final steps towards the ultimate coup. The terrorist faction exploits idealistic volunteers to do some of the dirty work and utilizes educated individuals, in positions of power, who are more than willing to die for their belief in ultimate control by the government. When a mixed group of terrorists and extremists spend years training for the eventual downfall of the western world, collateral damage and the loss of life isn’t given consideration.

The Usurper starts off slowly, but quickly picks up momentum as the plot thickens and the story unfolds. There are multiple themes in this fictional novel, not the least of which is terrorism, persecution and indoctrinated loyalties; this story painstakingly illustrates a plan for world domination that requires countless willing and blackmailed participants. The main characters are written with the most depth, while supporting characters have very little in the way of a back story. More internal dialog would enhance the reader’s ability to connect with the characters and pull them deeper into the story itself. Some structure and grammatical errors, while few and far between, need to be addressed to ensure a smoothly-flowing story that every reader will be able to enjoy.

Despite the minor issues mentioned, The Usurper is a very fast-paced, political thriller that will keep readers on their toes and offer some thought-provoking twists on historic and future possibilities in the political arena.

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Check out the new novel by Cliff Ball. There are advanced humans, called Terrans, who leave Earth and then begin interfering in Earth history. King Arthur and Merlin interfere with ancient Britain. Galileo discovers that nobody wants to hear his theories that the Earth revolves around the sun. Genghis Khan finds it entertaining to watch his warriors slaughter everything in sight, since Earth humans seem to have a lust for war. Amelia Earhart finds fame and fortune while flying primitive aircraft, only for her people to arrest her and take her back to their planet, while they plant evidence that she crashed on Howland Island. Aliens experiment on the colonists at Roanoke, Salem, and even Isaac Newton, then they get shot down over Roswell by Chuck Yeager. President Truman gives the Majestic-12 Order, creates Area 51, and Projects Blue Book and Sign are activated. The Terrans have a base on Mars, where they interfere with the probes such as Opportunity and Spirit. Problems with software, like the Green Screen of Horrors(Blue Screen of Death in our world) is actually from defective alien software, which is used to take down the Terrans and the aliens networked systems. Humanity has their revenge. Or do they?