Saturday, February 15, 2003 – Henry Perowne wakes before dawn to find himself already in motion, drawn to the window of his bedroom. He is a contented man – a successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind, and proud father of two grown-up children. What troubles Perowne as he stands at his window is the state of the world – the impending war against Iraq, and a general darkening and gathering pessimism since the attacks on New York and Washington eighteen months before.

Later during this particular Saturday morning, Perowne makes his way to his weekly squash game with his anaesthetist, trying to avoid the hundreds of thousands of marchers filling the streets of London, protesting against the war. A minor accident in his car brings him into a confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, aggressive, young man, on the edge of violence. To Perowne's professional eye, there appears to be something profoundly wrong with him.

Towards the end of a day rich in incident Baxter appears at the Perowne home during a family reunion – with extraordinary consequences.

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The first page of Joel C. Rosenberg's first thriller, The Last Jihad, put listeners inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city...but it was written nine months before September 11, 2001. As Jihad unfolds, an American president finds himself in a war with Saddam Hussein over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction...but it was published five months before the actual war with Iraq began.

Rosenberg's second novel, The Last Days, opens with the death of Yasser Arafat and an American president pressing for peace in the Middle East...but it was published thirteen months before the actual death of Yasser Arafat.

Now comes The Ezekiel Option, an explosive new political thriller that literally feels ripped from tomorrow's headlines.

With Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat out of the way, a dazzling era of security and prosperity seems to have come to the Middle East. With the help of an American president trying to spread freedom and democracy, the Israelis and the Palestinians have signed a historic peace agreement. Violence is down. Their economies are booming.

But a new evil looms on the horizon. A dictator is rising in Russia. Iran is feverishly building nuclear weapons. A new Axis of Evil is emerging, led by Moscow and Tehran. And Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy - two senior White House advisors - find themselves facing the most chilling question of their lives: Is the world rushing to the brink of an apocalypse prophesied more than 2,500 years ago?

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Naked Empire. It begins . . .

"You knew they were there, didn't you?" Kahlan asked in a hushed tone as she leaned closer.
Against the darkening sky, she could just make out the shapes of three black-tipped races taking to wing, beginning their nightly hunt. That was why he'd stopped. That was what he'd been watching as the rest of them waited in uneasy silence.

"Yes," Richard said. He gestured over his shoulder without turning to look. "There are two more, back there."

Kahlan briefly scanned the dark jumble of rock, but she didn't see any others.

Lightly grasping the silver pommel with two fingers, Richard lifted his sword a few inches, checking that it was clear in its scabbard. A last fleeting glimmer of amber light played across his golden cape as he let the sword drop back, in place. In the gathering gloom of dusk, his familiar tall, powerful contour seemed as if it were no more than an apparition made of shadows.

Just then, two more of the huge birds shot by right overhead. One, wings stretched wide, let out a piercing scream as it banked into a tight gliding turn, circling, once in assessment of the five people below before stroking its powerful wings to catch its departing comrades in their swift journey west.

This night they would find ample food.

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