Brad Thor.  ACT OF WAR.  New York: Emily Bestler Books, 2014 [and dedicated to Emily Bestler].  Stated First Edition with full number line.  Signed by Brad Thor on front fly-leaf.  9½″ x 6⅜″, 358 pages including Acknowledgments.  Perfectly Brand New copy, in Brand New, unclipped dj.

     After a CIA agent mysteriously dies overseas, America’s new president must turn to covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath to help carry out two of the most dangerous operations in the country’s history.  Code-named “Gold Dust” and “Blackbird,” they are shrouded in absolute secrecy as either of them, if discovered, will constitute an act of war.

Plus,

ACT OF WAR – Advanced Uncorrected Proof (aka Advance Reading Copy or ARC).  9⅛″x 6⅛″, 353-page softcover, also in Brand New, unused condition.

     Especially for works by popular authors, ARCs are collectible and in high demand.  Book collectors love First Editions.  But an ARC is much more scarce.  Here is a book only a step or two from the author's original transcript, the earliest form of the book to reach anyone (a select few) outside of the publishing house.  For the keen collector, an ARC clearly enjoys a certain priority over other editions.  It predates the First Edition by many months.  And with the advance of digital review copies, ARCs will become scarcer and more eagerly desired than ever.