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Decency
The NSA does not want you to read this book - it rips the cover from their use of abusive psychological evaluations.
In this legal/espionage thriller, set in the heart of the United States intelligence community, a mole at the National Security Agency provides high-end American military technology to China. He covers his treason with a legal loophole which allows the intelligence community to label persons under their control as psychologically unfit, with no legal recourse.
Samantha Pierce, a brilliant young computer scientist is killed when she discovers his treachery. Apparently, all evidence of murder is destroyed. With no clues left, authorities declare her death to be from nothing more than natural causes. However, her grieving parents, Nebraska farmers Harlan and Kathy Pierce, know their daughter was healthy and suspect something amiss. After a frustrating series of rejections, they hire bulldog Washington lawyer Kelly Hawkins with almost no time left to get into court.
Kelly, who is herself a victim of random violence, discovers through hard work and determination that Samantha left enough information to file a case. But when she does, NSA explains it all away. The case appears hopeless, and even Kelly’s own firm abandons it. Yet the lawyer is dogged and executes a brilliant maneuver, filing and arguing an exotic motion to expose the whole sordid scheme, up to and including the identity of the mole.
As the case explodes, the government realizes the extent of its own complicity, and must deal with all of the guilty parties who attempt to tie up their loose ends in the most violent and chaotic ways. The Chinese get word of the legal proceeding from the mole and dispatch their own agents to thwart the American effort. All at once, the government must engage in a risky venture to recover the technology, capture the mole, and protect the Pierces � with no time on the clock.
A thriller in the tradition of Tom Clancy and John Grisham, Decency blends intimate knowledge of the law of American military and intelligence operations with a plot that keeps the reader’s eyes riveted to the page. It features an exposition on a little known feature of the NSA, and the intelligence community as a whole, that uses psychology guidelines as legal cover for a brutally enforced hierarchy.
Through the machinations of mole and lawyer, computer scientists and intelligence specialists, Decency reveals the worldview that even in the midst of covert security operations, civility to others is key to the proper functioning of the world. Without trust, no real peace can ever be achieved. Decency draws on real world news headlines of secret Chinese spying on United States military technology to make it relevant and robust.
Chilling and spine-tingling, Decency reveals how law and psychology conspire at the highest levels of national security intelligence to keep its members in lock-step order.
In this legal/espionage thriller, set in the heart of the United States intelligence community, a mole at the National Security Agency provides high-end American military technology to China. He covers his treason with a legal loophole which allows the intelligence community to label persons under their control as psychologically unfit, with no legal recourse.
Samantha Pierce, a brilliant young computer scientist is killed when she discovers his treachery. Apparently, all evidence of murder is destroyed. With no clues left, authorities declare her death to be from nothing more than natural causes. However, her grieving parents, Nebraska farmers Harlan and Kathy Pierce, know their daughter was healthy and suspect something amiss. After a frustrating series of rejections, they hire bulldog Washington lawyer Kelly Hawkins with almost no time left to get into court.
Kelly, who is herself a victim of random violence, discovers through hard work and determination that Samantha left enough information to file a case. But when she does, NSA explains it all away. The case appears hopeless, and even Kelly’s own firm abandons it. Yet the lawyer is dogged and executes a brilliant maneuver, filing and arguing an exotic motion to expose the whole sordid scheme, up to and including the identity of the mole.
As the case explodes, the government realizes the extent of its own complicity, and must deal with all of the guilty parties who attempt to tie up their loose ends in the most violent and chaotic ways. The Chinese get word of the legal proceeding from the mole and dispatch their own agents to thwart the American effort. All at once, the government must engage in a risky venture to recover the technology, capture the mole, and protect the Pierces � with no time on the clock.
A thriller in the tradition of Tom Clancy and John Grisham, Decency blends intimate knowledge of the law of American military and intelligence operations with a plot that keeps the reader’s eyes riveted to the page. It features an exposition on a little known feature of the NSA, and the intelligence community as a whole, that uses psychology guidelines as legal cover for a brutally enforced hierarchy.
Through the machinations of mole and lawyer, computer scientists and intelligence specialists, Decency reveals the worldview that even in the midst of covert security operations, civility to others is key to the proper functioning of the world. Without trust, no real peace can ever be achieved. Decency draws on real world news headlines of secret Chinese spying on United States military technology to make it relevant and robust.
Chilling and spine-tingling, Decency reveals how law and psychology conspire at the highest levels of national security intelligence to keep its members in lock-step order.
332 pages, Paperback
First published August 6, 2012
About the author
Rex Fuller
6Ìýbooks181ÌýfollowersRex Fuller was born in Kansas City to a farmer's daughter and a seaman's son, in the Baby Boom's first wave. Raised in small towns of the heartland, within a day's drive west of the Mississippi, he attended Catholic schools and is still married to his high school sweetheart. He holds degrees from the University of Nebraska (BA & JD) and George Washington University (LLM). He was stationed as a military lawyer throughout the United States, often in "the Building," and in Europe. He is now a self-employed lawyer in Southern Maryland and is blessed with his wife, and grown son and daughter, all unimaginably beautiful.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 4, 2012
From a slow beginning and a little too much technical legal jargon in parts, this speeds up into a super-fast joyride. Kelly Hawkins is pulled from the deep grief of the death of her soul-mate husband to help a Nebraska couple find out what happened to their daughter. We watch as Samantha is murdered at the beginning of the book, but the death is ruled natural, possibly due to an allergic reaction to medications. Samantha was a computer scientist in the National Security Agency and her parents are sure she was onto something suspicious that got her killed but no one will help them. They finally run into Kelly who tenaciously persists and manages to find way to bring legal action. This case starts a chain reaction that is brilliantly written. Despite the rough edges of this novel, it's a winner!!
November 11, 2012
!!WON IN FIRST READS GIVEAWAY!!
This is a wonderful and well written book. A real page turner. I enjoyed it from beginning to end!
This is a wonderful and well written book. A real page turner. I enjoyed it from beginning to end!
February 19, 2018
Ryes book - but its not loaded yet.
June 8, 2013
Decency kept my interest because it was really a thriller that involved the government and secrecy. Take that and add a down to earth country family who run a farm and the mixture can be explosive. Samantha Pierce worked for the NSA and knew too much. So they did an evaluation on her and said she was psychologically unfit and fired her. But Samantha knew that wasn't so..so she coded a letter to her parents about it and the was mysteriously found dead. They said it was natural, probably an allergic reaction to medicine. But her parents didn't believe that. They in turn went to lawyers to help them find the real reason for their daughter's death....no one would go up against the government except for Kelly Hawkins .... follow her as she investigates and finds out the truth....a great read.
January 9, 2014
Simply stated, I loved the story. Even though, you don't find many situations of exposing corruption within governmental organizational turning out good, it's was nice to know that some will do whatever it takes to make things right. From what I read the author has some personal knowledge or has experience some type of betrayal within an organization. Although, I'm not a parent I can only imagine the pain of losing a child. I definitely enjoyed the twists and turns. The story moved quickly. I took an immediate likely to Ms. Hawkins, Samantha and her parents.
Great story. It would be good to read a sequel. The next chapter.
Great story. It would be good to read a sequel. The next chapter.
April 9, 2013
Overall, a good story, but the character's conversations are a bit stiff, a bit much legal tech talk at times, and too much praise/ agreement among all characters, good and bad. What started as complex story threads, turned into a single thread which resolved too easily, with too many 'way-to-goes.'
September 27, 2012
Too much "legal-ize" for my taste and slow action until the end.
April 25, 2013
Very fluid reading. The plot was great. I enjoyed the spent reading this book. Very entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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