The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States

By: Jeffrey Lewis

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States is an exciting piece of "speculative fiction." The novel posits that there was a nuclear attack against the US on March 21, 2020 by North Korea, and that a national bipartisan commission was created to investigate what and how it happened. It's pretty scary stuff.

©2018 Jeffrey Lewis (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Could not stop listening

Well written, well researched, and most importantly so believable that I found myself forgetting this was a work of fiction. I wish it went on for at least one more hour.

Speculation, but, well done.

A look at a likely event to happen in the future. Well researched for a fictional war.

Fascinating, Distrubring, and Flawed

Some positives and negatives with this one:

As others have stated, this story is strongest at the beginning, setting the table for the chaos to unfold. With slight exception from some emotional actions on the part of S Korea’s leadership, it comes off as quite believable and disturbing, but again, loses steam as we progress to 2nd and 3rd acts. Nonetheless, the authors’ apparent goal to convey just how much of a powder keg the Korean Peninsula is, and how horrible the outcome would be in a worst-case scenario, is largely achieved. There are some things that miss the mark for me however, and detracted from the book (spoilers below):

• The idea that there would be no nuclear response from S Korea, Japan, or the US are an NK first strike seems a bit of a stretch to say the least.
• The US military apparently has no “response plan” to an NK nuclear strike, and has to modify a “first strike” plan instead? Doubt it.
• The author needlessly chooses to engage in some #Resistance “fan faction” that is completely unnecessary to the narrative, and really detracts from the story. Trump’s tweeting helping to spiral a situation out of control? Certainly reasonable. Donald Trump getting physically roughed up by a military aide in a literal tug-of-war over the nuclear football? C’mon. Nikki Haley refusing to call Trump in the middle of the night because of rumors of an affair fueled by Michael Wolff’s book? Nikki Haley refusing to give water to a famished child fleeing destruction? Completely pointless. These aspects almost certainly will be gleefully inhaled by passionate Trump opponents, will outrage Team MAGA, but for the rest of us just interested in this topic, really just doesn't add anything.

In sum, in many ways, this story “delivers the goods”, but it’s very avoidable flaws can be quite frustrating.

Strong Start Very Implausible Finish

The first half builds a reasonably realistic pre war scenario. However, out of nowhere the final chapters of the book focus on Trump hating. This much overdone assault on the President comes at the expense of a completely failed ending.
The focus on demeaning the President is not mentioned at anytime in the previews. I believe this to be unfair to the potential buyer/reader..

Interesting story

Thought-provoking, great delivery by the narrator. While some may be put off by the politics, it asks a pointed question about nuclear weapons that is as relevant today as when they were invented. Recommended.

terrifying good fiction

The only unbelievable part of it: real reports aren't as engaging or interesting. Although fiction, it's the best depiction of president Trump to date.

Skip

Thought this would be a pager turner. Author spends too much time obsessed with backstory and details. Every time it picks up speed, it detours in to some bloated side story. Author is also very Trump obsessed; not sure if this helps or hurts the story.

Strong start and weak ending

The book started off good and held my interest but as it neared the end my interest started to vanish.

My biggest issues with the book include:
1) Repetition - the author repeats information when it's not needed.
2) Contradicts preceding text - for example the author writes that the attack on Guam failed. Further int he text he states that there was heavy loss of life at the Guam military base. Even later the author reverses himself.
3) The ending was sucked dry of all emotion. I wasn't invested in the consequences of the attack.
4) The secret service - completely absent except for a brief mention near the end.

I wish the author had crafted the later part of the book as he had crafted the beginning section.

The anti-technothriller

Most of the critiques I have of the book are already covered by other reviews (The book starts off strong, then loses its way after the missiles start flying; shallow Trump bashing that distracts from the narrative (which is a much stronger attack on the man than recounting him yelling at an aide).
I grew up reading Technothrillers (Clancy published The Hunt from Red October when I was in high school and I bought the follow on books for the next several years in hardcover) and so this book appealed to me as a way to scratch that itch. Here's a worst case scenario acted out. Coming from that angle it was striking how much this book was the polar opposite of a Clancy treatment. The perspective of the soldiers involved in this conflict get very few speaking parts. Military personnel are chess pieces. No one cares what the Rook thinks about what's going on and likewise the author doesn't bother with their stories. Another Clancy fascination, the Secret Service, basically does not exist in this world (a military aide gets in a physical confrontation with the president in a pretty tense moment and no secret service agent is even recorded raising an eyebrow). There's a brief discussion of the Chief of Staff contemplating ordering the Secret Service to bodily load the President on Air Force One but the agents apparently have no agency of their own. The State Department is populated by geniuses and people who carry guns are nonentities, like I said basically the polar opposite of the lense Clancy would view this series of events through, I think that may be some of the disappointment people feel about the book is it seems from the Premise like it would scratch that technothriller itch but it very much does not.
The place where the Trump Bashing got a little tedious for me was the author's incredible fascination with the President's difficulty accepting that his wife was dead. Of all the times when you would cut a person some slack for a bit of denial that's on top of the list. Not to mention there's a lot going on at the moment but instead we're hanging out in a bunker while junior staffers debate who's going to tell the President there's no chance Melania survived.
It's a five star buildup and two star denouement. The discussion of intelligence failures and understandable errors leading up to the crisis really is top notch, but the rest of the book is a disappointment.

Our worst fears

I was a 74D in Korea: an NBC defense specialist. This book was our worst fear, and it’s the only book I’ve ever had that made me actually shiver.

There was one early morning (around 0200), when I got a call: “get your gear, get ready to roll”. We were trained constantly on procedure in the event of a WMD attack from the North, and it would start with that phrase. So I grabbed my gear and shit myself: I was fully expecting to see Camp Humphreys disappear in light, or to arrive outside Seoul and find nothing but a hot crater.

That day had followed shortly after the former president had said something that even I, a lowly soldier, could recognize as antagonistic. I did not appreciate his comments, because they put myself and my men in danger. I pray he never achieves that office again.

This book was, and still is, my greatest fear.