Fact: The attacks of September 11, 2001, brought terror to our doorstep. Fact: Suicide bombers, attacks on mass transit, the leveling of hotels and nightclubs followed elsewhere. Fact: Terrorists’ endgame is maximum civilian casualties through minimum effort. Question: What’s next?

Haggai Carmon’s timely new intelligence thriller, The Red Syndrome, describes a plausible and frighteningly simple terrorist conspiracy: Introduce a lethal biological weapon into the nation’s food supply in a way never before imagined. Which Americans belong to the Iranian-backed Islamic fundamentalist splinter group that threatens the U.S. population? Can they be stopped?

This exciting sequel to Haggai Carmon’s Triple Identity again features ex-Mossad agent Dan Gordon, who now works for the U.S. Department of Justice. Like Triple Identity, The Red Syndrome begins with Gordon on the trail of what appears to be straightforward case of money-laundering.

But in the Byzantine world of dirty money and offshore accounts, multiple layers are the rule, not the exception. Crime breeds strange mutations. Here, you sleep with one eye open. Always. Gordon’s investigation of dubious Russian mob money transfers is now assigned to the CIA. The plot quickly turns to a hunt for a devastating bio-terror weapon, a hunt that features murder, coded messages, kidnapping, breathtaking desert chases, and betrayals along the way.

With fast-paced action on three continents, good guys may not always have the upper hand. Problem is: who is good and who is bad? This insider intelligence thriller rivets the reader through to its surprising end.