A single unattributed nuclear missile has been launched from somewhere in the Pacific; a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond. Initially dismissed by White House experts as of limited threat, it becomes clear after the failure of two US interceptor missiles that the bomb is on a direct trajectory for the city of Chicago and will hit its target in a mere 19 minutes. This frenetic period is replayed, Rashomon-style, as the countdown hits zero, from multiple perspectives, including a US missile base in Alaska, the White House Situation Room, and assorted other Washington DC strategic locations. With nerve-shredding tension, Bigelow masterfully weaves a complex web of interlocking characters and incidents, mounting a terrifying and all-too-plausible scenario of how a third world war might begin. 

Notes by David O’Mahony