The Peacemaker’s Code by Deepak Malhotra was my latest read. Malhotra is a Harvard Business School professor whose teaching, research and advisory work is focused on negotiation, deal making, and conflict resolution. He has written several highly regarded nonfiction titles including Negotiating the Impossible and I Moved Your Cheese. The Peacemaker’s Code is his first novel.
The story is used to demonstrate some of Malhotra’s key theories about negotiation and conflict resolution. On the thematic side, there are some thoughtful approaches to how to deal with seemingly intractable conflicts, but there is also an underlying moral relativism that’s tough to buy into. It was an enjoyable read, but it feel more like a self-indulgent “personal fantasy” for the author than solid, entertaining fiction for the reader.
The Peacemaker’s Code
By Deepak Malhotra
Professor Kilmer, a renowned historian of war and diplomacy, is collected from his home and whisked off to Washington. Thrust into the highest levels of government as an adviser to the President, the young historian must come to terms with the seemingly impossible, figure out how to navigate a world where not everything is as it appears, and use all the skills and knowledge he has acquired in his life to help save humanity from a conflict of truly epic proportions.
A genre-breaking novel that re-examines the human condition and masterfully blends some of the most compelling themes in literature: war & peace, strategy & serendipity, love & friendship, courage & fear, the bounds of possibility, and the limits of imagination. Replete with mysteries that will compel you to keep turning the pages, powerful moments that will stop you dead in your tracks, and insights that will change the way you understand and navigate the world. Most of all… a journey you will not forget.
Published February 16, 2021
498 pages (print)