For my newest spy novel, I spent several days in a world where Khalid al-Mansour has now become the president of Syria and is on the verge of firing nuclear missiles into Israel. Then I spent several days in Israel with a small, new organization called WINEP.
Khalid al-Mansour isn’t what you would call a rock star. At best, he’d be considered one of the top businessmen in Damascus, and at worst, he’d be considered an eccentric who just happens to be running a successful business empire. However, when that business empire turns into a war zone in a matter of hours, the real Khalid has to emerge from hiding to find out what’s going on.
The only problem? He doesn’t know that it’s him, and he certainly doesn’t want to find out that it’s anyone who isn’t him.
The little group of people that find out that he’s been hired to get the president of Syria to fire nuclear weapons are Israeli, and they’re fighting to have him assassinated. They’re really fighting to protect a country that they don’t even know exists, since we rarely ever see it on the news. It’s only later that we learn that this country, or rather, these people, is Syria.
The people of WINEP aren’t exactly crazy, but their fears seem to be running away with them. They’re brought into this new environment, which is dominated by an element called DAMIS. This is an ominous name that can mean many things, but the more popular interpretation is that this element is evil.
The other thing that is driving the people of WINEP insane is the fact that their order seems to be running completely out of control. Everyone in Damascus wants to send them to war, but the president is ordering them to do so. This gets them all worked up into a frenzy as everyone tries to figure out who, or what, is really running the show in Syria.
When all of this is said and done, the author, Joshua, follows a trail that leads his characters into one of the most interesting world wars in all of history. That’s right. There’s actually a war going on that you’re not only reading about in the book, but that actually involves you. You can either side with Khalid, or you can side with the people who stand against him.
The book is full of action, intrigue, and plenty of plot twists, as Joshua doesn’t lose sight of the fact that he’s trying to do something a little different. In this case, it’s a spy thriller, while in others, it’s a spy story. Either way, it’s going to take a reader well beyond the normal boundaries of their comfort zone, and for those people, it’s hard to beat this book.
