title: The Shell Game
author:  Steve Alten 
description: Even die-hard conspiracy theorists will be dubious about the sinister government-led plots that form the shaky foundation of this political thriller. Alten, best-known for his gory novels featuring giant prehistoric sharks (<i>Meg</i>; <i>The Trench</i>), goes well beyond the already far-fetched idea that the Bush administration let the devastating 9/11 attacks happen to further the neoconservative agenda of reshaping the Middle East. In 2012, with centrist conservative David McKuin in the White House, the federal government plots to detonate a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city and blame Iran as a cover to take out that country's radical leadership. Standing in the plotters' way is Ace Futrell, an energy expert whose murdered wife was possibly targeted by U.S. intelligence. An awkward mix of actual and fictional political figures (Hillary Clinton is still in the Senate in 2012, having lost the 2008 election to McKuin) doesn't make this paranoid and superficial book more plausible. <i>(Jan.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Steve Alten
  
  The Shell Game
  
  ****
  
  "The lie was dead,
  
  And damned, and
  
  Truth stood up instead
  
  \- Robert Browning
  
  **THIS NOVEL IS DEDICATED TO:**
  
  Michael C. Ruppert,
  
  friend, fellow author, and former
  
  LAPD investigator who risked his life to report the truth.
  
  **and to:**
  
  Sibel Edmonds, Cynthia McKinney, Bill Douglas, Richard Gage, Dr. Steven E.
  Jones, David Ray Griffin,
  
  Richard Heinberg, Matt Simmons, Matt Savinar,
  
  Carolyn Becker, Jonathan Mark, Sander Hicks, Jack Blood,
  
  Kyle Hence, Dr. Kevin Barrett, Kevin Ryan,
  
  John Heartson, Don Harkins, Don DeBar,
  
  Scott Halfmann, Cheri Roberts, William Rodriguez, Jason King, Tom Tvedten,
  
  Sander Hicks, Justin Martel, Les Jamieson,
  
  Michael Jackman, Peggy Brewster, Barrie Zwicker,
  
  Erik Lawyer, Gabriel Day, Carol Brouillet, Mia Hamel,
  
  Donald C. Meserlian, Paul Craig Roberts