While on a backpacking trip, David Kester witnesses the murder of his best friend as well as his guide, and is seriously injured himself by the newcomers that have begun to populate the desert region of Northern Mexico. Doctor Byron Cook sees his career and life crumble at the hands of a new federal law which strips him of his medical license and threatens to put him in prison for several years. Katherine Hunter, senior Senator from Texas loses her son and husband in a tragic plane crash.
Meanwhile, a large percentage of the population has become intolerant of the new gun control laws, social spending, and lack of crime control. When told, in accordance with the new law, to turn in guns, many refuse. This leads to the first shots of the civil war. As the war begins to escalate from small insurrection to major conflict, the main characters are brought together and discover that an extrinsic force is operating from outside the country, intentionally undermining the stability of the nation. Cook follows a lead, suggesting that terrorist-style nuclear weapons have been planted in various cities across the US, but the truth is not uncovered in time.
The Chessmaster, an eidolon whose nature is not known to the reader, has orchestrated a full scale attack on the United States on three fronts, contemporaneous with the detonation of the nuclear weapons. Katherine Hunter has been trapped behind enemy lines, and a task force must be organized to go in and extract her.
Controversy? Terrorist style nuclear weapons are delivered to many of the major cities of the nation. Socialized medicine improves the lifestyle of many, and destroys the lives of others. Gun control laws ignite the first sparks of civil war. Military reductions invite aggressor governments and terrorists to consider attacking this nation. The United States sees her first female President.
This timely novel is an epic tale filled with adventure, suspense, science, history and passion. From the first chapter to the last, you will be captured by nonstop action, philosophy, and entertainment. The story was written from an understanding of the history of the American Civil War, and the fall of the Roman Empire. These two historic events are twisted slightly, modernized, and blended into a contemporary thriller that many readers have said could easily happen in our time.