In the course of Haley's consular (visa) interview duties, he meets a man whom he suspects might be connected to the 1979 Grand Mosque siege in Messa, Saudi Arabia. His persistent queries unravel 40-year old connivings, and millenna of mystery, with implications for present day affairs between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and as a consequence, the United States. The intrigue that he pursues takes him from France to Iraq and then Saudi Arabia, delving into history and religion to understand a potentially very violent future. Clayton's persistence and bad luck place him and his friends in mortal danger against the backdrop of a medical technology plot to force the arrival of the long-awaited Islamic Messiah.
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