The  StarTribune carried an Associated Press article about the upcoming hearings at:http://www.startribune.com/nation/117590368.html

The proposed hearings are quite controversial.  Of course, most Americans are worried about domestic terrorists but many say that by singling out Muslims, the Congressman is reverting to McCarthyism.  The inquiry should be broader to include any domestic terrorists.

My new suspense novel Reprisal is about an imbedded terrorist who has worked as a scientist in a Minnesota company for years who plots to release a plague in the state.

If you are interested in these issues, I think you’d like my book.  The plot involves several missing young Somali men who left the Twin City area in the past few years.  The FBI thinks most of them went back to Somalia to fight with militias there.  But several of the young men are still missing and unaccounted for…where did they go?  And why?

In my book, the terrorists have stolen samples of small pox virus from a repository in Russia.  They intend to infect the missing Somali men and return them to American schools in order to start a plague.  And since none of us in the U.S. is immune to small pox any longer, the results could be disastrous.

The story has been described as a “page turner,”  or “one I couldn’t put down.”

What makes the book different from other thrillers is that the main character is an American citizen, a young female defense lawyer who must stop the plot before the plague is allowed to break-out.  She’s a moderate, progressive feminist–and a Muslim.  The story shows the struggles she has to be a loyal American and a faithful Muslim.

If you’d like to read it, send me your email address and I’ll send you the first 50 pages for free with no strings attached.

Maybe I should send a copy to Congressman King!

The post Domestic Islamic Terrorists Here? appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

It’s a thriller/mystery about an undiscovered crime–terrorists plan to use American children as weapons of mass destruction.  Do you remember all the Somali young men who disappeared from the Twin Cities in the past two years?  They were kidnapped by terrorists in order to carry out their plot.

Small pox was eradicated from the planet in 1979.  As a result, no one has been immunized since then and earlier  inoculations have decayed in effectiveness.  Everyone in the world is vulnerable to the disease.  In 1979 two repositories were set up to store active, lethal viruses for future reasearch needs.  One is at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the other is in Russia.

When a radical Islamic terrorist group steals samples of the virus from Russia, they need human hosts to carry the disease into the schools and infect the entire community.   Led by a brilliant scientist embedded in Minnesota, the release is about to explode until one of the conspirators murders a Somali boy.

The lawyer for the accused murderer is a progressive, feminist American who’s a mainstream Muslim woman.  She hates everything her radical client stands for.  As she investigates the case in preparation for trial, she’s entangled in a race against time to save hundreds of children and the whole community.

One of the themes of the book is religious tolerance; the other is a call to action to mainstream Muslims to speak out against the hijacking of their faith.   The story will educate you about what it’s like to be an American citizen and a faithful, moderate Muslim fighting against the popular impression that all Muslims are extremists. In addition to the story, the defense lawyer goes through her days in court, representing a hilarious group of clients.  You’ll see the back room things that go on regularly and the crazy criminal things people really do.  The characters are based on real-life events, although it would be difficult to put these on reality TV since they’re too real for anyone to believe!

Check out my website to see my upcoming events and book signings.  You can also contact me and let me know how you liked the book.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

Enjoy the book!!

The post An Undiscovered Crime appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.