Heart of the Assassin
Robert Ferrigno
Scribner, Aug 11 2009, $25.95
ISBN 9781416537670
The century and a half Muslim fundamentalist called reverently the Old One continues his campaign to become the Messiah of the worldwide Caliphate. He has nuked the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, New York City and Washing ton DC; and stunningly also took out Mecca for breaking the faith.
His drive to power and a new Muslim world order seems unstoppable as with the help of his daughter Baby, he plans to merge his Islamic Atzlan Empire with their southern neighbor the Bible Belt. Perhaps the only person in his way of a sure final triumph is Fedayeen soldier Rakkim Epps assisted by his wife Sarah, who is trying to unite America in opposition. To succeed she must find the fragment of the true cross buried in the radioactive rubble of DC.
This is a superb but frightening apocalyptic thriller that brings 1984 into the twenty-first century using theocracies as the bases for religious ideologies that easily lead to the flow of blood. The story line is fast-paced throughout in spite of its epic overarching story line (started in PRAYERS FOR THE ASSASSIN and continued in SINS OF THE ASSASSIN). The heroic American couple and their prime adversary the Old Man seem real even though the latter is a century and a half old. Fans will enjoy High Noon between them as nothing short of the future of mankind is at stake.
Harriet Klausner
