The Middle East from earliest times to the present has exerted a powerful influence on the rest of the world.

Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrance's ranch - soaking in the sun, counting a small herd of cattle, and thinking about meeting an old friend back in town for lunch. But suddenly a light breeze stirs the dust, a horse spooks, and Bill finds himself ferrying a broken cowpuncher in the back of his SUV, headed out to meet an ambulance. Moments later, Bill's day goes from...

Introduces some of the countries of the Middle East, including Syria, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and their role in the on-going tensions that exist in this region.

Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. He left Iraq with a shattered leg and a mission - to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as 'Suleiman'. But when his scheme begins to unravel, Ferris finds himself flying blind into a hurricane. His only hope is the urbane head of Jordan's intelligence service. But can Ferris trust him?

When a lethal illness with a suspicious source begins working its way through the United States and Europe, Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath teams up with a mysterious British counterpart to find out who is responsible.

In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his father's deathbed. The city is a shell of the Beirut Osama remembers, but he and his friends and family take solace in the things that have always sustained them: gossip, laughter, and, above all, stories. Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching stories--of his arrival in Lebanon, an orphan of the Turkish wars, and of how he...

In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients, dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the State's electronic...

Suspenseful, compelling, and utterly believable, The Bank of Fear is unparalleled spy fiction in the best tradition of Graham Greene and John le Carre-a twisting tale of the ruthless greed and money laundering behind today's headlines. Behind the doors of a London investment firm lies a grisly five billion dollar secret that directly involves the Ruler of Iraq. When British financial investigator Sam Hoffman and Iraqi computer analyst Lina Alway decide...