Evil's Root

Book excerpt: FINALIST IN THE 2014 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDWhen American expat journalist Steve Collins sets off for the middle of the Amazon Jungle to cover a plane crash with a U.S senator aboard, he has no idea how his life is about to change. The Peruvian military is claiming the Shining Path rebel insurgency launched a missile attack on the aircraft, and the U.S. embassy is backing the military's claim. Steve's editor informs him that Jennifer Strand, a gorgeous, spunky young journalist embedded with the U.S. embassy, will be accompanying him to the crash site. Though wide apart in their political views, they manage to set aside their differences as they attempt to unravel the dark mystery behind the senator's death. Their investigation places them at the heart of the conflict between the rebels and the Peruvian government while taking them on a terrifying adventure in which they uncover shocking truths that transform their perceptions of the world and of themselves. Evil's Root is not just a political thriller. It is a powerful tale of romance and courage, of dark intrigues and harrowing revelations, of absolute power and secular evil. But more than anything, it is an encomium to brave souls, past and present, who have shown the will and moral commitment to confront the dark forces that threaten civilized life.