When I first received an email offering me a preview copy of Robert Ferrigno's novel, Prayers for the Assassin, the first thing I did was my blogger due-diligence and google him. After all, I wanted to be sure I wasn't about to waste my time with the rantings of some fringe right-winger who just produced the 21st century version of the Turner Diaries. Can you blame me? Here's a description of the basic premise:

Well, my search showed that Ferrigno was an established author, not apparently involved with any groups living highly-armed lives of desperation in the West Virginia hills, so I accepted the offer. I'm glad I did.

It took me a few pages to get into, but that's probably just me, as I needed to readjust my reading eye not having looked at much fiction lately. Once it got rolling though, the book was a lot of fun.

Ferrigno has done his homework. The world of the book is well thought out, and some of the descriptions will give you a smile (San Francisco has become a den of radical Islamic fundamentalism, for instance). Pedants may complain that the author draws too sharp a line between "Moderates" and "Fundamentalists" -- almost as though they are separate Christian denominations -- but so what? This is a work of speculative fiction, and who knows how things could develop when Islam comes into dominance in our religiously pluralistic society?

This isn't quite the starkly described world of cyberpunk-style sci-fi I've read before, though it's close -- it's a bit more of a spy-mystery than that. The characters are well crafted and the dialogue and action are well drawn. The writing is sharp and you'll be wanting to turn the page to see what's up next.

It's my understanding that a Turkish publisher has purchased the rights for that country (so much for being insulting of Islam), and if I had the cash I'd think this would make a pretty good film.

I think I can say that readers of a blog like mine will enjoy this book.

There's a very positive newspaper review in The Philadelphia Inquirer, here: Intrigue in Islamic States of America. I'd say the guy liked it.

There's a slick spoof news site based on the world of the book, here: Republic World News

The book has a web site here (with a "Campaign 2036" strategy game I haven't tried yet), and the author has a blog, here.

Update: Another good review at The Seattle Times (Seattle, BTW, is the capital of the new Islamic States of America): "Prayers for the Assassin": A radically different world