I got introduced to Pohl by reading Gateway (1977) (winner of the Hugo Award and Nebula Award). I went on to read Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1980), Heechee Rendezvous (1984), and Annals of the Heechee (1987). It is a great series, right up there with Foundation, Dune, and Dickson's Childe Cycle.

The Cool War, is written as well as these other books, but the premise is a little shaky. The premise being that there are factions that are trying to advance their country not by making progress within the country, but by pulling down the other guys. From the aspect of an adolescent, or someone with an eighty IQ it might seem plausible.

Our protagonist, Rev. Horny Hake, gets sucked into one of these groups--he's called up from the military reserves, threatened with jail time if he doesn't join up and is giving some positive benefits as well. On his first mission he unwittingly helps with one of these plans. The group seems to be part of the government, so he doesn't really have any recourse. There is a "rebel" group that is trying to stop them, and confront Horny with the facts. Obviously he doesn't want to be a part of starting some crop failure in Europe, or disabling a solar powered electrical power plant.

Like I said the story is well written and is fairly entertaining. It's just the premise is hard to take.