A nail-biter…
A highly intricate and strikingly original plot elevates award-winning Pelkey’s suspenseful latest Middle East conspiracy thriller. When Doctor Callahan, an American surgeon, travelled to Izmir, a Turkish town, to be a part of the World Health Organization’s Disaster Relief Team, he didn’t have a clue his life was going to change forever. A little girl’s mysterious death sets Callahan and his teammates on the trail of a dangerous conspiracy that extends throughout the Middle East and back in time: inspired by the Ottoman Empire’s Janissaries—turning kidnapped young slave boys into ruthless fighters—the leader of a terrorist organization is training soldiers, and in his quest of seeking power he is willing to go to any length. Soon Callahan and his team find themselves entangled into the dangerous world of the bio-terrorism, and it’s not only their lives that are at stake: the whole country is at the risk of bearing brunt of the conspiracy. The thorough, topnotch characterizations make the mysterious warfare technique (adopted from the Ottoman Empire’s Janissaries) all the more sinister. Pelkey brilliantly link the various dots between the past and present, making the connections among both the past and present and his strikingly realized characters seem so ordinary that the whole situation feels like something that might actually happen. Pelkey’s crisp pacing and expert handling of the medical jargon add sizzle to the tale, and his meticulously researched historical detail makes the setting comes alive. His writing is elegant, the plotting immaculate, and the final revelations will surprise even the seasoned conspiracy thriller fans. This is an absolute stunner.
