The Terrorist Next Door

Sheldon Siegel has jumped onto best seller lists and into readers' and reviewers' affections with seven extraordinary novels featuring San Francisco defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez. He now returns to write about his hometown of Chicago in his electrifying new thriller, THE TERRORIST NEXT DOOR. He's Homeland Security's biggest nightmare. Someone is setting off fire bombs in Chicago in stolen cars using untraceable cell phones. The international terror channels are silent. A group calling itself the Islamic Freedom Federation demands the release of Hassan Al-Shahid, a graduate student whose plan to set off a bomb at the Art Institute was thwarted by Detective David Gold and his long-time partner, Detective Paul Liszewski. Their heroic efforts had cost Liszewski his life and put Gold in the hospital. The FBI and Homeland Security believe the bomber is a freelancer operating off the grid. Meet Detective David Gold. He's a third generation native of South Chicago, the hardscrabble neighborhood of steel mills, smokestacks, and steeples near the Indiana border. He's one of Chicago's most decorated detectives. Meet Gold's new partner, Detective A.C. Battle. He's a native of Mississippi whose family moved to Chicago to escape the Jim Crow South. He grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes across the Dan Ryan Expressway from Mayor Daley's house and Comiskey Park. Gold is suffering from the aftereffects of Liszewski's death when he receives a Medal of Valor on the steps of the Art Institute. During the ceremony, a car bomb is detonated across the street, killing a passerby. Gold soon receives a cryptic text: "It isn't over." It's just the beginning. Untraceable car bombs detonate at the Wrigley Field El station, Millennium Park, the Museum of Science and Industry, O'Hare Airport, the Hyde Park train station, and the upscale Rush Street area. Chicago PD, the FBI and Homeland Security can't trace the bomber, but evidence points toward members of Chicago's Islamic community. As bombs continue to go off, Gold and Battle are drawn into a desperate cat-and-mouse game against a brilliant mind. From its opening scene to its stunning denouement, Siegel writes a lightning paced thriller capturing the complexity and fears of the post-9/11 world. Along the way, he provides an insider's look at Chicago's neighborhoods-from the Magnificent Mile to century-old churches where mass is still celebrated in Polish to crumbling old synagogues and gritty seafood shacks next to the ghostly expanses where the steel mills once stood. "David Gold and A.C. Battle are strong entries in the police-thriller sweepstakes. Sheldon Siegel's THE TERRORIST NEXT DOOR is a smart, surprising and bloody take on the world of Islamic terror. As a crazed bomber threatens to shut down American's third-largest city, the Chicago cops, the FBI, Homeland Security and even the military desperately sift through every clue, reaching for a climax that is both shocking and credible. Siegel tells a story that is fast and furious and authentic." John Sandford. NY Times Best Selling Author of STOLEN PREY. "Sheldon Siegel blows the doors off with his excellent new thriller, THE TERRORIST NEXT DOOR. Bombs, car chases, the shutdown of Chicago, plus Siegel's winning touch with character makes this one not to be missed " John Lescroart. NY Times Best Selling Author of THE HUNTER. "Sheldon Siegel knows how to make us root for the good guys in this heartstopping terrorist thriller, and David Gold and A.C. Battle are a pair of very good guys. We'd like to see them again." Thomas Perry. NY Times Best Selling Author of POISON FLOWER. "THE TERRORIST NEXT DOOR is a terrific, old-fashioned thriller. Siegel demonstrates why he is a master story teller with the likes of John Sanford and Scott Turow. A taught, tense, action-packed thrill ride that puts a stranglehold on the reader to the explosive end." Robert Dugoni. NY Times Best Selling Author of THE CONVICT