9/11 TWO

This gripping story offers a glimpse into the real world of counter terrorism, hints at why 9/11 was allowed to happen and warns us that it could easily happen again.

It's politics as usual in New York City when Larry MacIver, world renowned criminologist, is tapped by NYC Mayor Ruth Newberg to save NYC from a second 9/11 attack. Will it be nuclear? Will it be bio? MacIver and his geeky assistant Manish Das must overcome FBI ineptitude, CIA intrigue and, most of all, the evil and ruthless Iranian terrorist Shalah Muhammud, to save the city. In the underground of this story, so gripping, so frustratingly funny at times, are the crucial questions of counter terrorism that worry anyone within a couple of hours drive from New York City: Will it be a drone next time? Will New York politics doom the city’s defenses? Written before drones were widely in use, the novel seems prescient of much that has happened (should and should not have happened) in the world of counter terrorism.

Colin Heston is the pen name of a criminologist of international repute, so he knows something about the real world of crime and terrorism. As a criminologist Heston has written nonfiction books on the history of punishment and torture, edited a four volume encyclopedia on Crime and Punishment around the World and many other nonfiction books, including the controversial Just and Painful: A Case for the Corporal Punishment of Criminals (Macmillan/Harrow). Having dabbled in fiction off and on for several decades, this is his first novel. It will be followed in coming months by a collection of his short stories that range far beyond crime and punishment, exploring the vicissitudes of human nature..