In 2008, American journalist Jere Van Dyk was kidnapped and held for 45 days. At the time, he had no idea who his kidnappers were. They demanded a ransom and the release of three of their comrades from Guantanamo, yet they hinted at their ties to Pakistan and to the Haqqani network, a uniquely powerful group that now holds the balance of power in large parts of Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan. After his release, Van Dyk wrote a book about...

"...Padnos recounts his time in captivity in Syria, where he was frequently tortured at the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate, Jebhat al Nusra. We learn not only about Padnos's harrowing experience, but we also get a firsthand account of life in a Syrian village, the nature of Islamic prisons, how captors interrogate someone suspected of being CIA, the ways that Islamic fighters shift identities and drift back and forth through the veil of Western civilization,...

In the year 2032, America is supposedly safe from terror, Iranian nuclear weaponry is no longer a threat, and the United Nations' treaties and technologies are keeping the peace. Then a suicide bomber targets Houston, Texas and a famous physicist is kidnapped. The ensuing search by a decorated U.S. Marine war hero and veteran of special ops, not only places the physicist's family in grave danger, but exposes an even more ominous threat to the country,...