Age of Intolerance

Originally published in 2011, the updated edition of Age of Intolerance is an espionage thriller set in 2025 that shows how the complicated and thorny politics of the Middle East can threaten the safety and security of the United States and its strongest ally in the Middle East -Israel. Sitting on top of snow-capped mountains of the independent Republic of Kurdistan, once part of Iraq, Charles Shahin wonders how much the Middle East has changed, and how much worse things could have been. Shahin, an American journalist of Iranian descent, agrees to become an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency after the government saves him from a kidnapping attempt in Lebanon. "I want you to know who was messing with your life, and why!" his recruiter had said. Based in Cyprus and zigzagging cities like Cairo, Dubai, and Baghdad, Shahin learns that the region's Shiite powerhouse -Iran - is trying to make good on its promise to destroy its paramount enemies. Running from city to city, he pieces together the shocking magnitude of the plot, often employing his old skills as a journalist. His wife, daughter of a ranking member of the Saudi royal family, becomes a co-conspirator in the effort to neutralize the plan but they both pay the ultimate price for loyalty to the place they called "home."