The Devil's Halo [Hardcover]

"A tour de force thriller of 21st-century espionage, warp-drive action, and technological warfare. (Jerry Bruckheimer, take note.)"

"An astounding work that’s not to be read but to be savored... Highly enjoyable and very much recommended."

"Not your run-of-the-mill spy thriller. It's more immediate, more realistic, more sophisticated, and more compelling."

"A superb story teller…The pacing and engaging plot are extremely good, and the novel is difficult to put down."

"A MUST READ…The Devil’s Halo is a well-written web of suspense, technological intrigue and entertaining story. Highly recommended."

As a contract agent of the CIA Caf, the agency's black-budget, Contract Agents for Economics, Terry Weston played a clandestine game of espionage against the spy services of Europe in which nobody got badly hurt. But the game becomes deadly for Terry, his wife Maria and their six-year-old daughter when old allies turn into bitter enemies. The Europe where Americans once vacationed is fading from memory. Germany is bankrupt, NATO dissolved. A supersized Greater European Union, led by France and Russia, engages in political brinksmanship to American power. The new leaders of Europe are obsessed with 'the American problem,' that Europe still plays a global No. 2 to the U.S. Even in space, the new frontier, the Pentagon plans to deploy a Space Shield that will give the U.S. military this high ground. But the DGSE spy service has developed a technology solution. Elegant. Mathematical. Devastating. It will make Europe No. 1 in space, and reduce the U.S. military into a fighting force that will have to fight with its fists. Only Terry and Maria can penetrate deep into enemy territory to prevent a stunningly cynical act of sabotage from ending America's days as a superpower. But old friends and even family members can no longer be trusted, as the two great rivals of the 21st century head for a conflict as inevitable as tomorrow's headlines.

Once in a great while, an author changes how readers view the international thriller. It happened with Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, and again with Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October.

New Mystery Reader has praised Chris Fox as the "new Frederick Forsythe" -- a master of the traditional spy thriller in all its complexity. But The Devil's Halo is a good deal more than a lightning-paced, stylish, and fiendishly well-plotted entertainment. It's a timely cautionary tale that shows why our first conflict over space satellites may be our last. Read it for a thriller impossible to put down. But ignore its conclusion about the dangers of space weapons in the wrong hands at your peril.

After the dust settles in Iraq, a more serious conflict between the United States and Europe will split the West in two. The bad news is that the fallout could occur in space where it will affect all of us.

Space will be the electrical grid of the 21st Century. Our daily lives already run by satellite. TV signals. Cellphones. Internet connections. Financial transactions. Space tourism will begin by 2010. By mid-century, energy from mining isotopes on the Moon could replace Middle Eastern oil. Europe and the United States both see their future in space. They just disagree about who should own it.

Five years ago, the President of France warned other European leaders, "Failure to respond to American domination of space will lead to our European countries becoming vassals of the United States."

The Pentagon regards space as America’s military high ground to defend for her friends and deny to her adversaries. But her former friends in Europe are none too happy about an American space shield. They’re protesting bitterly, expecting their relations with the United States to worsen, not improve. Last year, Europe began deploying Galileo, an expensive copy of the American GPS system the U.S. let anyone use for free. Why? To own a system the Pentagon would not control in a conflict.

Today, many Europeans would prefer Russia or China as their military partner for the 21st Century. But imagine that France and Russia shaped such an alliance. And that new electronic warfare weapons in their quiver emboldened them to topple the American colossus once and for all.

That’s the premise of The Devil’s Halo. The protagonist Terry Weston, a Professor of International Business Ethics and clandestine CIA operative, represents the old level of rivalry between the United States and Europe--trade disputes and technology theft. Terry and his wife Maria, a DARPA scientist, find themselves over their heads when that white-glove game of espionage turns deadly.

A space Pearl Harbor, contrived by the leaders of a new European Union, threatens to decimate American forces. But it’s not over before a Battle of Paris. And a climax that reminds us, forty years later, how the U.S. and Soviet Union once terrified each other into signing a United Nations Space Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons in space.

Hope you enjoy it.

The Europe where Americans once vacationed is fading from memory. Germany is bankrupt, NATO dissolved. A supersized Greater European Union, led by France and Russia, engages in political brinksmanship with a dominant United States.

Only contract agent, Terry Weston, and his wife Maria have the skill and technical know-how to penetrate deep into enemy territory to prevent a stunningly cynical act of sabotage from ending America’s days as a superpower. But old friends and even family members can no longer be trusted, as the two great rivals of the 21st century head for a conflict as inevitable as tomorrow’s headlines.

'A boiling blend of political intrigue, psychological suspense and classic spy craft' Nelson DeMille

'The Devil's Halo is an astounding and compelling read. A thrill-ride straight from the headlines' Robert Ferrigno --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Chris Fox was partner in a New York strategy consulting company. He worked around the world with clients such as Citicorp, JVC, and Heineken, then decided to become a fiction writer. He is currently working on his second novel. To combat writer's block, he sometimes dogfights in a World War II era USAF Trainer and takes his NSX onto the skidpad at various racetracks.

From the Prologue to the Devil’s Halo…

"Failure to react to the American domination of space
will lead to our European countries becoming vassals
of the United States." Jacques Chirac, Former President of France

If only Jacques Chirac had put a sock in it that day.
Think about it. No satellite Pearl Harbor. No war with Europe. No Devil’s Halo.
Of course, we all feel more equal in space now. And on the ground. But nobody wants to step up and claim credit for it.
Remember those gleeful Europeans who popped champagne corks the day America’s military might came crashing down? Not many buy champagne anymore. They’re trading heirlooms for food. Or wondering how they’ll keep warm this winter. And everyone on both sides of the Atlantic asks the same question:
How could it have happened?
They miss their cell phones and television and Internet sex and banks full of real money, not worthless paper. They want to believe that their world collapsed for some noble purpose. Maybe they’re trying to find a hero in the catastrophic mess. But most of all, they want to punish the guilty. I can’t blame them, because I was one of the first Americans who let my country down.
My name is Terry Weston. In my business, I knew Europe well. My wife Maria and I lived in Tuscany once. Our daughter Ariana was born there. For years, we watched fear and loathing of the United States spread where we once had friends. And still E-Day caught us unprepared. A few alert military people had a clue, but no ability to act. Our President could have acted, but the man had no clue. Let’s just say that, if Profiles in Courage were written today, few of our own politicians would even make the index.
But even their failure of imagination pales next to mine. One year ago, blissfully soaking up the Florida sun with our in-laws, I would have laughed at anyone who predicted that our little girl would be imprisoned in a bloody Moscow purge, my wife and I trapped in a Battle of Paris, and one of us swallowed up in a ball of flame at home. Nobody’s laughing now.
This is a true account of what happened to my family, and yours, last summer. What I didn’t know firsthand, I learned from others, friend and foe. What they couldn’t tell me, I discovered from classified documents that fell into my hands. Of course, they might be declassified one day.
We should all live so long…
"So begins Chris Fox’s prophetic tale that has foreshadowed actual events in Europe from the German election to the Paris riots to the launch of the first Galileo satellites. How much is truth and how much fiction? You decide. But be prepared for a fantastic thrill ride, gripping authenticity, and a shocker of an ending."