"WASHINGTON — It’s electrifying. Iran and Venezuela want to destroy the United States, so they conspire with a rogue Russian spy to launch a cyberattack on the North American power grid, beginning by electrocuting a lineman in North Dakota. Their main obstacle is a small-town sheriff in the state’s badlands, Nate Osborne, a former Marine Corps lieutenant in Afghanistan whose titanium leg ultimately saves the day."

"That is more or less the plot of 'Gridlock,' co-written by former Senator Byron L. Dorgan, the latest offering in a peculiar Washington genre.

'That’s my little niche, North Dakota energy thriller,' said Mr. Dorgan, a Democrat who represented North Dakota in the Senate and House for more than three decades."

Matthew L. Wald reports for the New York Times September 10, 2013. [2]