Greenhouse Effects: A Novel - William R. Black

It is the year 1989. A group of KGB officials and others in the Soviet Union are attempting to change the climate of that country, and in so doing the climate of the world, by enhancing what is referred to at the time as simply the greenhouse effect. A research paper written by two environmental scientists at a US university in the Midwest suggests that the Soviet Union might attempt to utilize the greenhouse effect to do exactly what these rogue KGB elements are doing. When the paper is presented at a regional meeting in Minnesota, its inferences are disregarded by KGB interests. In fact, they ignore the presenter's comments assuming very little credence would be given to these by the attendees at the small regional conference. However, when the professors are invited to present the same paper at an international environmental conference in Paris, the KGB and others involved in the scheme decide that something must be done to prevent this.
When the coauthor who was to present the paper is killed in an apparent act of terrorism, it is initially thought to be a random event. Autopsy results of the victim attract the attention of the CIA, and they begin looking into the matter. The Paris conference planners ask the younger coauthor, Jonathan Carter, to present the paper at their meeting. He accepts their invitation. The CIA informs him that they believe his colleague's death was a targeted assassination. Carter regards this suggestion as ludicrous.
Soon after he reaches Paris, Carter is approached by an elderly German who also suggests his colleague was intentionally murdered, but for reasons that have their origin during the Second World War. The two men plan to meet later that evening in a more private setting.
Returning to his hotel, the young professor is assaulted by an apparent burglar, but finds later that nothing is missing. The elderly German never appears. The following day he is informed that the German died or was murdered. Due to circumstances believed unrelated to the events in Paris, Carter presents a modified paper and returns to the States.
Carter discovers that what he thought was a clerical error with regard to his paper may have been an attempt to keep him from presenting the original paper. Carter and the CIA conclude that perhaps Soviets may be attempting to enhance the greenhouse effect, but they don't know how they might be doing this. Carter is asked to assist the CIA in identifying how the KGB and others could alter the global climate.
At the same time a professor in Moscow tries to determine the nature of a secret KGB project on the islands of Novaya Zemlya in the Soviet Arctic. At first the Russian professor finds only pieces of the puzzle and these make little sense. He approaches an old friend who is now a general in the KGB. The general puts him in touch with the project leaders and after hearing what they are trying to do, he condemns their project for its stupidity.
Attempts by the KGB to prevent the Americans from identifying what they are attempting to do, fail to do anything but draw more attention to their activities. Meanwhile back in America a task force of experts and CIA personnel slowly begin to identify how the KGB intends to modify global climate. An attempt to use political pressure to stop the Soviet activities results in the realization that the US has very few allies in any action taken against the Soviet Union on environmental grounds. What follows is a confrontation which slowly escalates and brings the two super powers very close to a military conflict.

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