The Better Angels

Blurb

The Better Angels is a 1979 thriller novel by Charles McCarry. It was poorly received at the time of its release, citing the premise of terrorists using passenger planes as instruments of destruction too implausible to suspend one's disbelief. It was the basis of the comedic 1982 Richard Brooks film Wrong Is Right starring Sean Connery, which was similarly poorly received. In 2008, the book, along with other McCarry thrillers, was released by Overlook Duckworth Press, labeled "the prophetic thriller." It is now believed to have predicted the attacks of September 11, 2001, and its aftermath. The title is a reference to Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, a quote from which is the novel's epigraph, and the term is said to refer to Patrick Graham's conception of President Lockwood and Julian Hubbard.