Books like Trinity's Child

I used to think Nevil Shute's novel "On The Beach" was the best Cold War novel I ever read. After reading "Trinity's Child", I have changed my mind. Prochnau basically takes the best elements of "Fail-Safe," "The Day After," and, yes, "On The Beach" and mix them together into an incredibly unique and original plot centered on a preemptive Soviet nuclear strike brought on by Soviet militants. As the President struggles to contain escalation, a B-52 departs Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington minutes ahead of the Soviet strike, which it barely survives, leaving its crew the sole survivors of Fairchild's nuclear response squadron. The President soon goes missing as he attempts to leave Washington, D.C. in the wake of the Soviet attack. His successor is the Secretary of the Interior, eighth in the line of succession. A U.S. Navy admiral code named "Harpoon" greets him as he boards his E-4 command plan in Batan Rogue, Louisiana, and subsequently tries to get him to deescalate--but will he, especially when he is stung by American losses and turns a receptive ear to a hawkish colonel? Or will both "Harpoon" and a SAC general code named "Alice" (whose post is SAC's "Looking Glass" command plane) succeed in making the new POTUS see the awful truth as to how "winning" is not an option in a nuclear war?The B-52, code named "Polar Bear One," sets off on what looks like a suicide run into the USSR--or will they after they wipe out four Soviet MIGs with one of their own bombs and see the horror they carry in the plane's bomb bay? Questions like this will keep you turning the pages until "Trinity's Child" reaches its climax.I noted several "shout outs" to "Dr. Strangelove" (see one of the book quotes posted here), "On The Beach" (again, see the quotes), and even Nevil Shute, "On The Beach"'s author (in the novel a radio broadcast from New Zealand gets picked up where Shute is being discussed, presumably because of "Beach"). I even detected a subtle nod to "Fail-Safe" (which I won't give away because it would be a spoiler).The only plot point that puzzled me concerned a nuclear aircraft carrier apparently sailing alone on her shakedown cruise. I do not think flattops sail without escort, even when on a shakedown cruise. "Harpoon," however, notes to the new president that warships scatter during nuclear exchanges. Even so, I am puzzled that not even so much as one destroyer remained with the carrier for anti-sub duty.Trivia bits: the president is watching an episode of "Mission: Impossible" when he is alerted to the Soviet attack. "Impossible" star Martian Landau played the president in "Trinity's" fine TV movie adaptation "By Dawn's Early Light." Jonestown is also mentioned during an exchange between the B-52's pilot and co-pilot. Believe it or not, Powers Boothe, who played Jim Jones in "Guyana Tragedy," portrays the pilot in "By Dawn's Early Light" (incidentally, the pilot's name is Kazaklis in the novel, but is renamed Cassidy in the movie). Finally, Kazaklis joking refers to "Polar Bear One" as "Strangelove Airlines." Quite a bit of gallant gallows humor on his part!