In the StoryThe Button
Claire Danner remembers a nuclear war. Above all, she remembers starting it. In the U.S. presidency, information passes through procedures, checks, and discussion. Claire’s memory fits none of those channels. She carries a sequence of events she cannot disclose without changing how everyone else will act.
Open the novel ↗A moment in the opening pages
Leila Morgan, the director of national intelligence, had already placed her notebook in front of her. Graham Vale, the national security adviser, did not sit down. Patrick Sloane, at Defense, had taken off his glasses and held them by one temple. Anika Bose, the White House legal adviser, was scrolling through a memo on her tablet about which she had not yet said a word.Read the excerpt ↗