Critically Acclaimed 'The Den of the Assassin' by Best-selling Author Peter Thomas Senese To Be Released On E-Book

Author Peter Thomas Senese is pleased to announce his international espionage thriller titled The Den Of The Assassin will be released in e-book worldwide on July 14th, 2011 and will be available on all e-book platforms.

Critics have praised The Den Of The Assassin as an international financial espionage thriller steeped in the modern-day realities of our world, providing the story a visceral prescience teeming with realism and frightful possibilities of global terrorism, and Senese as a masterful writer of international intrigue.

Peter Thomas Senese commented, “For reader who enjoy fast-paced, multi-dimensional plots based upon historical events and plausible possibilities relevant to the world we live in today, The Den Of The Assassin takes audiences on a thrilling global geopolitical journey that evolves around New York City’s Wall Street.”

The Den Of The Assassin opens in New York City, where an unassuming investment banker, Tyler Boxter, is preoccupied with his all-consuming career that acts as a personal shield against the trappings of life that hide guilt and pain and memories he doesn't want.

A mysterious theft leads Boxter from the sanctity of his Wall Street office and thrusts him into the dark world of international terrorism -- where zealots stir in the brutal desserts of the Middle East, where dark, sunken eyes look into the abyss of Siberia's desolate terrains, where prisoners -citizens- who live on a remote peninsula in Asia would rather submit to isolationist cleansing than feel the wrath of a deceitful troll intent on destroying the ideals of the West. 



Unknown to Boxter, he is about to play a sophisticated but explosive game against a madman who is more savage and merciless than the winds of an atomic holocaust. From the current resurgence of former-KGB hard-liners in Russia and the corrupt oligarchs who control the black-market of the weapons trade, from the isolationist mountains of North Korea to the sweeping deserts of the Middle East, from the looming specter of biological warfare to the ways in which terrorists hide and wash their money, from the arcane methods by which corporate America funds itself to the inner workings of Wall Street's war rooms, to the secrets hidden behind the walls in Beijing, to the unthinkable intent of the once mighty Persian Empire, 'Den Of The Assassin' is an informative, compelling, spin-tingling international espionage thriller that will keep readers turning through the pages.

The Den Of The Assassin will be released in e-book on July 14th, 2011 and is presently available in hardcover form from traditional retailers and online merchants. The Den Of The Assassin was initially released in hardcover prior to the author’s unexpected race into the cyclones of international child abduction. Chasing The Cyclone, inspired by Peter Thomas Senese’s experiences in this area, will be released in hardcover later this summer.


Peter Thomas Senese in the author of numerous historical fiction novels. For more information on The Den Of The Assassin or Peter Thomas Senese, please visit http://www.petersenese.com/.

Geopolitical Best-selling Author Peter Thomas Senese Announces E-Book Series Launch

Peter Thomas Senese

Best-Selling author Peter Thomas Senese is pleased to announce the upcoming E-book series launch of selected publications from the novelist's previously released and upcoming international geopolitical thriller genre' publications. The initial launch over a six month period will include a total of five E-book format releases that are intended to be translated and made available in multiple languages, allowing the growing number of readers who enjoy Peter Senese's novels immediate and affordable access to his written works.

The writer, filmmaker, and dedicated child advocate will commence his E-book launch by releasing 'The Den of the Assassin', the highly praised, spine-tingling Post 9-11 financial espionage and geopolitical thriller that catapults an unsuspecting young Wall Street banker, Tyler Boxter, into a world of incomprehensible possibilities and insane apocalyptic challenges. Peter Thomas Senese's intense, page-turning 'The Den of the Assassin' will be released in E-book format on July 14th, 2011.

                                                 
                   The Den of the Assassin Book Trailer

The gut-wrenching, inspirational theological thriller 'Cloning Christ' that jettisons readers to the spiritual and physical battlefront of good vs. evil in Peter Senese's electrifying, bone-chilling story of faith evolves around the global manhunt for Dr. Max Train, a once-devout, now faithless genomic scientist who may be in possession of the True Cross of  Jesus of Nazareth. Cloning Christ will cause heart-racing readers to contemplate the challenges between science and faith while contemplating physical and spiritual issues we all face today in our pursuit to enrich the human condition and experience.'Cloning Christ' will be released in E-book on August 15th, 2011.  

Peter Thomas Senese's deeply personal novel, 'Chasing The Cyclone', the critically acclaimed heart-pounding international legal thriller of a father and son's unbowed and unbreakable love and belief in one another in lieu of a wicked international child abduction as told in a way very few writers ever could, and that was inspired by Peter Thomas Senese's unimaginable experiences as a parent chasing the cyclone of international child abduction, will released in hardcover and E-book in mid-August, 2011.

                                             

  Peter Thomas Senese Is A Child Abduction Prevention Advocat
 'Chasing The Cyclone' Is Inspired By The Author's Experiences

                                     

Peter Thomas Senese's e-book series continues with the worldwide E-book release of 'The Production', a hilarious satire about the artful, zany, and often colliding storytelling worlds of filmmaking and publishing that has lovers of good storytelling laughing hysterically. 'The Production' by Peter Thomas Senese will be released on September 29th, 2011.

Soviet Scorpion Nuclear Submarine

'Predator's Games' the riveting sequel of 'The Den of the Assassin', that propels readers into the shocking and deadly world of alternative energy speculation and depicts the world's power-nations conspiring against one another in an extremely dangerous and potentially cataclysmic quest to control what was once the unthinkable unfolds as unique characters initially introduced in 'The Den of the Assassin' race into real and startling possibilities evolving around advances in alternative energy and mankind's greed. 'Predator's Games' by Peter Thomas Senese will be released during the Thanksgiving Holiday Season.

Peter Thomas Senese commented, “I am extremely pleased to announce the E-book publications of selected novels that readers from all over the world have embraced. It is indeed a very humbling experience to have such a large and diverse number of book lovers from Anchorage to Los Angeles to Christ Church to Beijing to St. Petersburg to Athens to Oslo to The Isle of Skye to New York, and from Anchorage to Cape Town and places in between have interest in my novels.

Peter & Tyler at the Algonquin 

“I am, as I will continue to be, extremely grateful for the worldwide reception my stories have received. This interest and appreciation supports my strong belief that society continues to evolve into global citizens, and with each and every passing day, the concerns or interests that one person shares in one part of the world has relevance to another person living on the other side of the planet. I think this is truly remarkable, particularly since one of the primary undercurrents of each of my books is the value of global citizenship. The other undercurrent - and I once thought this was a secret only a few readers realized, but in time I came to know how much I have been mistaken - is that if you hear the voice attached to the words in my novels, you will hear the voice of a parent who deeply loves his child. As I now have come to understand, a substantial number of my readers have heard and indentified with that voice. So perhaps these are two of the reasons why my writing continues to be embraced and evolve onto the global stage."

Peter Thomas Senese's E-book series launch will initially release each title in English. However, 'The Den of the Assassin', 'Predator's Games', and 'The Production' will each be released in Spanish, German, and French within eight weeks of their e-book publication date. 'Cloning Christ' and 'Chasing The Cyclone' will be released in English as well as in Spanish, German, French, Italian, Mandarin (Chinese), Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, and Greek. With the expansive growth of consumers turning to e-book readers, the traditional distribution and delivery of an author's written works has vastly changed.

Geopolitical Novelist
Peter Thomas Senese
Sitting Above The Clouds

"As an author who embraces my publishing independence, and having had considerable success, including having several of my books hit and stay on various publishing-industry best-seller lists, the ever-expanding use of e-book readers will allow for good writers with important issues that they desire to share with worldwide opportunity to reach audiences via e-book publications. Over the course of the past years, I have purposefully delayed the electronic release of my novels until I felt comfortable with the evolution of electronic distribution of my writings, and that my readership audience, who was accustomed to reading my books in hardcover format, would support my E-book publication. After receiving an incredible number of inquiries from book lovers all over the world expressing their desire to have my novels made available in E-book format and in multiple languages, I have become extremely comfortable that now is the time to launch selected books I have written on E-book format. This is very exciting!

According to the Association of American Publishers, E-book sales represent the largest single format for book sales in the United States. Paperback sales is considered second, followed by hardcover book sales, both of which sales figures continue to decline. Mike Shatzkin, the founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, which advertises book publishers on digital change said referring to the expansive growth of consumer demand for E-books, "This was a day that was going to come, a day that had to come." Shatzkin predicts that within a decade, fewer than 25% of all books sold will be print versions. Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon's chief executive previously commented on how the E-book has overtaken both hardcover and paperback sales on the online retailer's website when he said it is "Astonishing when you consider that we've been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months."

The Pelican Inn
Muir Woods
Surrounded by giant redwoods
Sitting next to the Pacific Ocean

Peter Thomas Senese is a storyteller focusing on messages in all formats that bespeak global connectivity. He is a writer of habit: each of his stories are written in part at the New York City Public Library's 'Great Reading Room' and 'Map Room', Butler Library at Columbia University, the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, the Student Union at the University of Wiscnsin in Madison, The Pelican Inn located in Muir Woods, Paradise Cove in Malibu, and the Los Angeles Central Library. 


Commenting on his writing locations, Peter Senese added, "If you're going to do something, do something you relly love at places that you really enjoy. The diversity of my own writing settings allows for me to think carefully and clearly when creating what I consider to be rather complex storylines filled with an enourmous amount of relevant and accurate information. When I write, I literally and figutively go on an amazing journey. And God knows I love it!"

New York City Public Library
The Great Reading Room

He is actively involved in supporting issues that impact the lives of children, including demonstrative support to keep our nation's public libraries open seven days a week; and, actively engaged in numerous and extensive activities surrounding international child abduction prevention; and, actively advocating for new legislation that will protect children and others from malicious online impersonation. 

Paradise Cove
Malibu

To learn more about Peter Thomas Senese, please visit his official website or Peter's Official blogsite.

U.S. Cost Of Bin Laden: 3 TRILLION DOLLARS

This is a great article written by Tim Fernholz and Jim Tankersley of the National Journal.
The most expensive public enemy in American history died Sunday from two bullets.

As we mark Osama bin Laden's death, what's striking is how much he cost our nation—and how little we've gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down.

What do we have to show for that tab? Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden's terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt, which threatens to hobble the economy unless lawmakers compromise on an unprecedented deficit-reduction deal.

All of that has not given us, at least not yet, anything close to the social or economic advancements produced by the battles against America's costliest past enemies. Defeating the Confederate army brought the end of slavery and a wave of standardization—in railroad gauges and shoe sizes, for example—that paved the way for a truly national economy. Vanquishing Adolf Hitler ended the Great Depression and ushered in a period of booming prosperity and hegemony. Even the massive military escalation that marked the Cold War standoff against Joseph Stalin and his Russian successors produced landmark technological breakthroughs that revolutionized the economy.

Perhaps the biggest economic silver lining from our bin Laden spending, if there is one, is the accelerated development of unmanned aircraft. That's our $3 trillion windfall, so far: Predator drones. "We have spent a huge amount of money which has not had much effect on the strengthening of our military, and has had a very weak impact on our economy," says Linda Bilmes, a lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government who coauthored a book on the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Certainly, in the course of the fight against bin Laden, the United States escaped another truly catastrophic attack on our soil. Al-Qaida, though not destroyed, has been badly hobbled. "We proved that we value our security enough to incur some pretty substantial economic costs en route to protecting it," says Michael O'Hanlon, a national-security analyst at the Brookings Institution.

But that willingness may have given bin Laden exactly what he wanted. While the terrorist leader began his war against the United States believing it to be a "paper tiger" that would not fight, by 2004 he had already shifted his strategic aims, explicitly comparing the U.S. fight to the Afghan incursion that helped bankrupt the Soviet Union during the Cold War. "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," bin Laden said in a taped statement. Only the smallest sign of al-Qaida would "make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations." Considering that we've spent one-fifth of a year's gross domestic product—more than the entire 2008 budget of the United States government—responding to his 2001 attacks, he may have been onto something.

Other enemies throughout history have extracted higher gross costs, in blood and in treasure, from the United States. The Civil War and World War II produced higher casualties and consumed larger shares of our economic output. As an economic burden, the Civil War was America's worst cataclysm relative to the size of the economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service estimates that the Union and Confederate armies combined to spend $80 million, in today's dollars, fighting each other. That number might seem low, but economic historians who study the war say the total financial cost was exponentially higher: more like $280 billion in today's dollars when you factor in disruptions to trade and capital flows, along with the killing of 3 to 4 percent of the population. The war "cost about double the gross national product of the United States in 1860," says John Majewski, who chairs the history department at the University of California (Santa Barbara). "From that perspective, the war on terror isn't going to compare."

On the other hand, these earlier conflicts—for all their human cost—also furnished major benefits to the U.S. economy. After entering the Civil War as a loose collection of regional economies, America emerged with the foundation for truly national commerce; the first standardized railroad system sprouted from coast to coast, carrying goods across the union; and textile mills began migrating from the Northeast to the South in search of cheaper labor, including former slaves who had joined the workforce. The fighting itself sped up the mechanization of American agriculture: As farmers flocked to the battlefield, the workers left behind adopted new technologies to keep harvests rolling in with less labor.

World War II defense spending cost $4.4 trillion. At its peak, it sucked up nearly 40 percent of GDP, according to the Congressional Research Service. It was an unprecedented national mobilization, says Chris Hellman, a defense budget analyst at the National Priorities Project. One in 10 Americans—some 12 million people—donned a uniform during the war.

But the payoff was immense. The war machine that revved up to defeat Germany and Japan powered the U.S. out of the Great Depression and into an unparalleled stretch of postwar growth. Jet engines and nuclear power spread into everyday lives. A new global economic order—forged at Bretton Woods, N.H., by the Allies in the waning days of the war—opened a floodgate of benefits through international trade. Returning soldiers dramatically improved the nation's skills and education level, thanks to the GI Bill, and they produced a baby boom that would vastly expand the workforce.

U.S. military spending totaled nearly $19 trillion throughout the four-plus decades of Cold War that ensued, as the nation escalated an arms race with the Soviet Union. Such a huge infusion of cash for weapons research spilled over to revolutionize civilian life, yielding quantum leaps in supercomputing and satellite technology, not to mention the advent of the Internet.

Unlike any of those conflicts, the wars we are fighting today were kick-started by a single man. While it is hard to imagine World War II without Hitler, that conflict pitted nations against each other. (Anyway, much of the cost to the United States came from the war in the Pacific.) And it's absurd to pin the Civil War, World War I, or the Cold War on any single individual. Bin Laden's mystique (and his place on the FBI's most-wanted list) made him—and the wars he drew us into—unique.

By any measure, bin Laden inflicted a steep toll on America. His 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa caused Washington to quadruple spending on diplomatic security worldwide the following year—and to expand it from $172 million to $2.2 billion over the next decade. The 2000 bombing of the USS Cole caused $250 million in damages.

Al-Qaida's assault against the United States on September 11, 2001, was the highest-priced disaster in U.S. history. Economists estimate that the combined attacks cost the economy $50 billion to $100 billion in lost activity and growth, or about 0.5 percent to 1 percent of GDP, and caused about $25 billion in property damage. The stock market plunged and was still down nearly 13 percentage points a year later, although it has more than made up the value since.

The greater expense we can attribute to bin Laden comes from policymakers' response to 9/11. The invasion of Afghanistan was clearly a reaction to al-Qaida's attacks. It is unlikely that the Bush administration would have invaded Iraq if 9/11 had not ushered in a debate about Islamic extremism and weapons of mass destruction. Those two wars grew into a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign that cost $1.4 trillion in the past decade—and will cost hundreds of billions more. The government borrowed the money for those wars, adding hundreds of billions in interest charges to the U.S. debt.

Spending on Iraq and Afghanistan peaked at 4.8 percent of GDP in 2008, nowhere near the level of economic mobilization in some past conflicts but still more than the entire federal deficit that year. "It's a much more verdant, prosperous, peaceful world than it was 60 years ago," and nations spend proportionally far less on their militaries today, says S. Brock Blomberg, a professor at Claremont McKenna College in California who specializes in the economics of terrorism. "So as bad as bin Laden is, he's not nearly as bad as Hitler, Mussolini, [and] the rest of them."

Yet bin Laden produced a ripple effect. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have created a world in which even non-war-related defense spending has grown by 50 percent since 2001. As the U.S. military adopted counterinsurgency doctrine to fight guerrilla wars, it also continued to increase its ability to fight conventional battles, boosting spending for weapons from national-missile defense and fighter jets to tanks and long-range bombers. Then there were large spending increases following the overhaul of America's intelligence agencies and homeland-security programs. Those transformations cost at least another $1 trillion, if not more, budget analysts say, though the exact cost is still unknown. Because much of that spending is classified or spread among agencies with multiple missions, a breakdown is nearly impossible.

It's similarly difficult to assess the opportunity cost of the post-9/11 wars—the kinds of productive investments of fiscal and human resources that we might have made had we not been focused on combating terrorism through counterinsurgency. Blomberg says that the response to the attacks has essentially wiped out the "peace dividend" that the United States began to reap when the Cold War ended. After a decade of buying fewer guns and more butter, we suddenly ramped up our gun spending again, with borrowed money.

The price of the war-fighting and security responses to bin Laden account for more than 15 percent of the national debt incurred in the last decade—a debt that is changing the way our military leaders perceive risk. "Our national debt is our biggest national-security threat," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last June.

All of those costs, totaled together, reach at least $3 trillion. And that's just the cautious estimate. Stiglitz and Bilmes believe that the Iraq conflict alone cost that much. They peg the total economic costs of both wars at $4 trillion to $6 trillion, Bilmes says. That includes fallout from the sharp increase in oil prices since 2003, which is largely attributable to growing demand from developing countries and current unrest in the Middle East but was also spurred in some part by the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Bilmes and Stiglitz also count part of the 2008 financial crisis among the costs, theorizing that oil price hikes injected liquidity in global economies battling slowdowns in growth—and that helped push up housing prices and contributed to the bubble.

Most important, the fight against bin Laden has not produced the benefits that accompanied previous conflicts. The military escalation of the past 10 years did not stimulate the economy as the war effort did in the 1940s—with the exception of a few large defense contractors—in large part because today's operations spend far less on soldiers and far more on fuel. Meanwhile, our national-security spending no longer drives innovation. The experts who spoke with National Journal could name only a few advancements spawned by the fight against bin Laden, including Predator drones and improved backup systems to protect information technology from a terrorist attack or other disaster. "The spin-off effects of military technology were demonstrably more apparent in the '40s and '50s and '60s," says Gordon Adams, a national-security expert at American Univeristy.

Another reason that so little economic benefit has come from this war is that it has produced less—not more—stability around the world. Stable countries, with functioning markets governed by the rule of law, make better trading partners; it's easier to start a business, or tap national resources, or develop new products in times of tranquility than in times of strife. "If you can successfully pursue a military campaign and bring stability at the end of it, there is an economic benefit," says economic historian Joshua Goldstein of the University of Massachusetts. "If we stabilized Libya, that would have an economic benefit."

Even the psychological boost from bin Laden's death seems muted by historical standards. Imagine the emancipation of the slaves. Victory over the Axis powers gave Americans a sense of euphoria and limitless possibility. O'Hanlon says, "I take no great satisfaction in his death because I'm still amazed at the devastation and how high a burden he placed on us." It is "more like a relief than a joy that I feel." Majewski adds, "Even in a conflict like the Civil War or World War II, there's a sense of tragedy but of triumph, too. But the war on terror … it's hard to see what we get out of it, technologically or institutionally."


BIN LADEN'S LEGACY
What we are left with, after bin Laden, is a lingering bill that was exacerbated by decisions made in a decade-long campaign against him. We borrowed money to finance the war on terrorism rather than diverting other national-security funding or raising taxes. We expanded combat operations to Iraq before stabilizing Afghanistan, which in turn led to the recent reescalation of the American commitment there. We tolerated an unsupervised national-security apparatus, allowing it to grow so inefficient that, as The Washington Post reported in a major investigation last year, 1,271 different government institutions are charged with counterterrorism missions (51 alone track terrorism financing), which produce some 50,000 intelligence reports each year, many of which are simply not read.

We have also shelled out billions of dollars in reconstruction funding and walking-around money for soldiers, with little idea of whether it has even helped foreigners, much less the United States; independent investigations suggest as much as $23 billion is unaccounted for in Iraq alone. "We can't account for where any of it goes—that's the great tragedy in all of this," Hellman says. "The Pentagon cannot now and has never passed an audit—and, to me, that's just criminal."

It's worth repeating that the actual cost of bin Laden's September 11 attacks was between $50 billion and $100 billion. That number could have been higher, says Adam Rose, coordinator for economics at the University of Southern California's National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, but for the resilience of the U.S. economy and the quick response of policymakers to inject liquidity and stimulate consumer spending. But the cost could also have been much lower, he says, if consumers hadn't paid a fear premium—shying away from air travel and tourism in the aftermath of the attacks. "Ironically," he says, "we as Americans had more to do with the bottom-line outcome than the terrorist attack itself, on both the positive side and the negative side."

The same is true of the nation's decision, for so many reasons, to spend at least $3 trillion responding to bin Laden's attacks. More than actual security, we bought a sense of action in the face of what felt like an existential threat. We staved off another attack on domestic soil. Our debt load was creeping up already, thanks to the early waves stages of baby-boomer retirements, but we also hastened a fiscal mess that has begun, in time, to fulfill bin Laden's vision of a bankrupt America. If left unchecked, our current rate of deficit spending would add $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That's three Osamas, right there.

Although Bin Laden is buried in the sea, other Islamist extremists are already vying to take his place. In time, new enemies, foreign and domestic, will rise to challenge America. What they will cost us, far more than we realize, is our choice.

On a very personal note, I, like millions of my fellow Americans are relieved to know that the madman no longer walks on this planet. There have been reports that Al Quada had split into two fractions, with the more lethal division still actively in existence. I pray that peace will prevail. God Bless America. Peter Thomas Senese

Osama bid Laden Is Dead. God Bless America. God Bless All Who Stand Strong In The Name Of Liberty.

The news of Osama bin Laden's death is a great victory for the people of the United States and our government. Now, in the truest sense of the word 'closure' all of us connected to the attacks on our nation and the life we embrace can perhaps heal in a different way.

I know that my own heart and spirit moved forward after hearing the news of how our brave U.S. Navy SEAL 'Team Six' invaded the closed-quartered compound located in the heart of Abbottabad where bin Laden lived for what could have been up to six years. Flashbacks and memories created during the months I spent at and around Ground Zero continue to flood my mind. They are both hard and comforting. Yet, bin Laden's death eases the pain.

I also had many phone calls with friends and family deeply connected to Ground Zero. In fact, after speaking to my brother John, who is a 'First-in, Last-out' New York City Firefighter who heroically was at the Financial Center during the attacks on our nation's Twin Towers, I realized just how important finding bin Laden was. "We got him. It's finally over," my brother said before letting me know he was in route to Ground Zero to stand in honor of all who lost their lives during that 11th day of September.

So today we celebrate closure to a madman's wicked scheme to hurt innocence. This said, I know this war on liberty we face is far from over, but our SEAL's cut the Al Qaeda's serpent's head off with a bullet to the forehead and one to the chest. Amen.

Of course there are many questions, and they are extremely important. The first that comes to mind is how did bin Laden live in Abbottabad without our government being tipped off? Abbottabad is home of Pakaistan's elite military training grounds. Grounds mind you that appear to be less than a half mile from where bin Laden was holed up. Grounds that had U.S. military personnel training Pakistan's army only a few years ago. Did the elite military complex in Abbottabad serve as a protective fort for bin Laden. Was there a tunnel that connected the military academy with bin Laden's complex?

If in fact bin Laden was in Abbottabad for several years, then the possability that the Pakistani government was in collusion with protecting the world's number one terrorist and murderer is something we all must be deeply concerned with. After all, we provide Pakistan with billions of dollars each year in aide. Set that aside and add up all the tax-payers money that was spent looking for bin Laden alone, and I'm sure the number will surpass the aide provided to Pakistan.

I applaude President Obama and his team in their decision to keep the details of our U.S. SEAL strike concealled from the Pakistani government. It is unquestionably due to this strategy that we were able to get to bin Laden.

According to the news, the Navy SEAL 'Team Six' spend 40 minutes on the ground hunting for bin Laden. After killing the terrorist they were able to confiscate a large horde of computers and information storage devices. Hopefully this is the motherload our intelligence agencies have been looking for.

But today belongs to America and all who are attached to the victory found in the death of bin Laden.

As we all take a giant step forward in our healing process, we must keep a mindful eye on Abbottabad and discover exactly what the three-headed dysfunctional Pakistani government's operations run by the political government, the military, and the ISI [their intelligence branch] knew.

Additionally, in bin Laden's death combined with an anticiapted escalation to end the reign of terror against Al Quada, there is a sense of hope growing that I am unfamiliar with. It is the hope that my child and yours will sooon live in a world free of terrorist and perhaps one day in the not too distant future free of conflict that leads to man trying to act in violence against a people for whatever their reason is.

God Bless America. Land of the free. Home of the brave.

Peter Thomas Senese

Acclaimed Author Peter Thomas Senese Releases Two Video Book Readings: The Den Of The Assassin, and, Chasing The Cyclone

After nearly four years from his last published book, the outspoken author and children’s advocate Peter Thomas Senese prepares for the publication of a series of novels and book reading videos now that he has safely navigated the treacherous road of international parental child abduction.


Author Peter Thomas Senese is pleased to announce the release of the first two narrative videos in a series of forthcoming installments based upon the author’s published written works. The initial video releases include the author’s insight and readings from ‘The Den Of The Assassin’ and ‘Chasing The Cyclone’. Both books are penned under Peter Thomas.

‘The Den Of The Assassin’


is an international financial espionage thriller steeped in the modern-day realities of our world, which provides the story a visceral prescience teeming with realism and frightful possibilities of global terrorism. The powerful, historical fiction story of Wall Street, weapons of mass destruction, rogue nations enriching uranium and an unassuming young banker named Tyler Boxter, will pull the reader into the dark and unknown world where words are seldom spoken, and code is the language of the unseen. ‘The Den Of The Assassin’ was initially published in hardcover prior to the author’s unexpected race into the cyclones of international child abduction. Since its limited publication, critics have raved that in ‘The Den Of The Assassin’, the author displays a wealth of knowledge of geopolitics, espionage, and international finance while keeping the reader wrapped in the pulsating action of the story. ‘The Den Of The Assassin’ will be released in June, 2010 in paperback.

‘Chasing The Cyclone’, written in the form of a novel, was inspired by the perspectives and views of Peter Thomas Senese as he navigated the long and treacherous road that led to his child’s safe return. ‘Chasing The Cyclone’ will be released in hardcover in May, 2010. Reviewers have praised the author as a writer of distinction, and ‘Chasing The Cyclone’ as a masterfully gripping story of a father’s love for his child, and a child’s belief in his father.

Peter Thomas Senese, a successful Chasing Parent, is committed to raising the public’s awareness of International Parental Child Abduction with the hope to increase dialog that will reform key issues in the areas of prevention, education, legal reform, and international accountability and participation of ‘The Hague Convention On The Civil Aspects Of International Parental Child Abduction’. The writer points out that there are over 200,000 parental abductions that occur in the United States alone each year, with thousands of these types of abductions occurring across international borders.

Peter Thomas Senese has recently produced a documentary titled ‘CHASING PARENTS: Racing Into The Storms Of International Parental Child Abduction’ that will be released in late Spring, 2010 in conjunction with the international release of ‘Chasing The Cyclone’. Educational previews of the documentary are available to view at the Chasing The Cyclone website (www.chasingthecyclone.com). The documentary will be given complimentary to all government institutions and agencies, as well as advocacy and outreach organizations involved with assisting abducted children and their Chasing Parents.

For more information on Peter Thomas Senese and to view the narrative readings of ‘Chasing The Cyclone’ or ‘The Den Of The Assassin’, please visit www.petersenese.com or www.chasingthecyclone.com

The Den Of The Assassin by Peter Thomas To Be Released Worldwide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Los Angeles, March 2nd, 2010.

Peter Thomas Senese, writing under Peter Thomas, will release on June 1st, 2010 the mass market paperback publication of his praise-worthy novel on global terrorism and the financial markets titled THE DEN OF THE ASSASSIN: A Novel Of International Finance and Espionage.

THE DEN OF THE ASSASSIN was initially released in hardcover right before the author was chasing the cyclones known as international parental child abduction - and began a long and treacherous journey to reunite with his child. Now, after successfully accomplishing what every Chasing Parent hopes for: the legal reunification of their child, the author will release THE DEN OF THE ASSASSIN in paperback, in conjunction with the author's release of the critically acclaimed story inspired by the ordeal his family faced titled CHASING THE CYCLONE, later this Spring.

As Peter Thomas points out in THE DEN OF THE ASSASSIN, the world was expected to be a less threatening place after the Soviet Union collapsed due to financial instability in the early 1990's. But for now, ongoing corruption in Russia continues to fuel belligerent organizations intent on implementing terror and destruction in the West.

In this provocative international espionage novel Peter Thomas has a lot to talk about concerning the present U.S. - Russian relationship, and how this relationship affects the world. "Russia is the only destabilized country in the history of the world near-similiar same weapons capacity of the United States; it is a country today that in fact has had one major financial crisis after another, and actually implemented little needed governing reform capable of circumventing black-market activities, which are, without a doubt, a threat to the West." Despite a visibly more cooperative working arrangement between the two countries, the author as well as scores of news headlines suggest that though the Cold War may be over, the ramifications of years of threats and distrust are still highly visible, and ongoing differences between the two nations continues to grow despite public attempts to shield these differences.

THE DEN OF THE ASSASSIN opens in New York City, where an unassuming investment banker, Tyler Boxter, is preoccupied with his all-consuming career that acts as a personal shield against the trappings of life that hid guilt and pain and memories he didn't want. Memories of a time when there was more than superficial niceties. And work. And work for Tyler Boxter was fruitful, perhaps even his salvation. Unknown to the world, Tyler Boxter and his partner, retired federal judge John Morgan, had in fact embarked upon altering the investment world they dwelled in, a strategy that would, if successful, earn them untold amount of monies. More importantly, if it were possible to receive penance by masterminding a financial strategy that would benefit millions, then that much the better. However, if they failed . . . failure was not even an option.

A mysterious theft leads the two partners from the sanctity of their Wall Street office as they are thrust into the dark world of international terrorism -- where zealots stir in the brutal desserts of the Middle East, where dark, sunken eyes look into the abyss of Siberia's desolate terrains, where prisoners -citizens- who live on a remote peninsula in Asia would rather submit to isolationist cleansing than feel the wrath of a deceitful troll intent on destroying the ideals of the West.

Unknown to Boxter, a sophisticated game of corporate chess is about to be played against a madman who is more savage and merciless than the winds of an atomic holocaust. From the current resurgence of former-KGB hard-liners in Russia and the corrupt oligarchs who control the black-market of the weapons trade, from the isolationist mountains of North Korea to the sweeping deserts of the Middle East, from the looming specter of biological warfare to the ways in which terrorists hide and wash their money, from the arcane methods by which corporate America funds itself to the inner workings of Wall Street's war rooms, to democratic nations' use of sophisticated computer systems such as PROMIS and PISCES, Peter Thomas' DEN OF THE ASSASSIN is an informative, compelling, spin-tingling international espionage thriller that will keep readers turning through the pages.

Peter Thomas Senese is a children's advocate and author. He has recently produced a documentary titled CHASING PARENTS: Racing Into The Storms Of International Parental Child Abduction which will be distributed worldwide. To view educational preview segments of this documentary, please visit www.chasingthecyclone.com, or, www.petersenese.com

The Den Of The Assassin - The Cast

TYLER BOXTER: A young financial mogul with a conscience, Tyler is the president of Constellation Capital Management, a Wall Street investment firm with a lot more going on than "buying" and "selling" stocks and bonds. Raised in a middle class neighborhood in New York City where honor and loyalty meant more than any material gains, Tyler finds himself at the helm of a very industrious investment firm that possesses a secret agenda that if completed will shock the very foundation of Wall Street. But Boxter's massive investment deal is not the only thing he tries to keep hidden. Tyler Boxter is bound by a secretive past filled with love and suffering and death. Upon leaving his office on Wall Street on what appears to be another typical late night, Tyler could never have imagined the foreboding chaos awaiting him.



LEONARD MORGAN: The partner and legal genius behind Constellation's clandestine corporate dealings, Morgan and Tyler Boxter share a special friendship that led them to develop Constellation Capital Management, and the secretive investment transaction that will change the way Wall Street operates. Morgan possesses a brilliant legal mind, and is in fact the necessary legal catalyst to what he and Tyler are doing, yet like many who are obsessed with their work, there is a great personal void in his life that he must overcome or all that he and his partner are attempting to complete will fall apart.



RONALD PITT: Morgan's mentor while both served in the Federal Courts, Pitt, with a personality somewhere between General Patton and Don Quixote, is awakened from his deep slumber when an unexpected attack on Constellation occurs. A veteran of both the financial and legal communities, Pitt must become the guide to Constellation's principles as they walk through a minefield of death traps. The only problem is that the brilliant former judge is a quasi-delusional drunk who hasn't been able to fight-off his own demons.



JULIA MERCARDO: Out for a casual night out in Soho, the D.C. native suddenly enters into a world she could never be prepared for. Intelligent and direct, there may be more than what meets the eye behind this U.S. Senator's aide. As Julia is confronted with startling questions about her intent, the balances of power in a conflict that could trigger off Armageddon will be swayed by her actions.



L.D. CASSIDY: The Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI stationed in New York City may be responsible for defending America against an attack worse than the winds of an atomic holocaust. Cassidy becomes a major player in a deadly game of deception and terrorism, so dangerous he can't even turn to his own agency for assistance. With limited options available to him, Cassidy is willing to do anything to protect masses of innocent lives from dying a horrific death. The problem is, the Deputy Assistant Director doesn't know where to begin.



DAN GENOVESE: A former Mercenary, Genovese is the operative behind Praetorian Risk, a most unusual investigative service company hired by Tyler Boxter when all hell breaks loose at Constellation.



THE APOSTLE KALB: An Apostle to the one who calls himself "The Father", Kalb follows the directives of "The Father" without question: his main directive is targeted toward America.



OMAR SA'ID: Perhaps the most deadly and intelligent of "The Father's" loyal disciples, SA'ID's grip on his followers causes great trouble in the world.



THE FATHER: All that is mad and insane, he is behind all that may await Tyler Boxter, and an unsuspecting American public. A living ghost, he is only 'rumored' to exist, but soon, if all goes as he expects, he will become the most visable person in the world

Readers Rave About Peter Thomas Senese's 'The Den Of The Assassin'

Review by Roland Calbott


The Den of the Assassin is a rip-roaring tale timely in historical accuracy as it is in presenting a matrix of current international issues America now faces. Brilliantly executed due to a phenomenal premise, a detailed but not overwhelming use of actual fact, and memorable characters, Peter Thomas novel focuses on the foundation of post 9-11 terrorism: money and the quest for it by organizations that bitterly desire it from the West. And there is no place that epitomizes finance than the Mecca of global capitalism itself: Wall Street. Elegantly portraying its brutal honesty, the Mecca of capitalism provides an ideal setting for this fascinating suspense thriller where Thomas brings the reader into the dark and deviant side of Wall Street few individuals have any idea exists. Nevertheless it does, and The Den of the Assassin had me racing through the pages while all along pressing me to think more deeply about the world I live in. Are there any shortages to this book? Yes, but overall this was simply a terrific story.

The Den of the Assassin is indeed a story of geopolitics, but there is so much more here: as the story unfolded before my racing eyes, the humanization of the differences mankind has with one another is beautifully portrayed, which I might add, pleasantly, but disturbingly forced me to think about the complexity of the world we live in. Love, hate, anger, confusion, innocence, pride, friendship, betrayal, religion, and hope, its all nicely crafted and put together through superb character development and dialogue.

Starting in the bowls of the birth of capitalism and western democracy; Wall Street, the reader literally races across the globe in an exciting, unpredictable, spin-tingling tale of terrorism and world control. From The United States to Canada, England, Russia, Nauru, Iran, Pakistan, Bermuda, and North Korea, Thomas alluring ability to use these countries and their cities as settings as historical, rich characters adds to the deep plot line as much as it presents the opportunity for the author to share his vast wealth of knowledge of the consistencies, customs, and current views of the people who live their, giving a deeper meaning to this superb thriller. Of equal importance is the fact that I did not feel as if I was being taken all over the place without purpose. In this sense, the geographical movements were tightly held together. Something most writers do not do well.

Tyler Boxter is the successful president of Constellation Capital, a Wall Street investment firm located in the center of the Mecca of capitalism. Similar to Wall Street, regardless of time of day, Boxter's professional activities are relentless and indefatigable. Perhaps it was the money, the power, or the control that made Boxter a workaholic? Perhaps it was easier to hide in the stakes of a giant-sized banking deal rather than finding out the world he carved out for himself was hollow? Perhaps work was easier for Boxter than facing his painful past he didnt have the courage to accept? Perhaps Boxter's habit of working twenty hour days was due to the compilation of all these issues (and perhaps, deep down, the desire to help others); however, there was nothing that could have prepared the middle-age take-over specialist for being the focal point of such pure hatred by a realistic psychotic genius so disturbing and warped in his perspective of America and the West.

As Boxter and his partner at Constellation, John Morgan, work in secrecy from the world in developing a technique that could actually lead them to revolutionizing and taking control of a large portion of the healthcare industry, it becomes apparent their activities are unknowingly being closely watched by individuals who could only exist in ones gravest nightmare.

The risk associated with their deal, and its big, is that the two partners had begun purchasing hundreds of clinical labs without having the "special letter government rulings" they desperately were still working on (something similar to a patent, except used primarily in the finance industry). The fact is that they used essentially all of Constellations money to work in the grey world of leverage buyouts.

Once critical legal documents that are the base for Constellations partners secret efforts are stolen from one of the partners homes, the action takes off leaving you gasping for breath between chapters because Thomas doesnt stop escalating the pace, the suspense, and the action until the unpredictable ending.

Soon after, Thomas introduces the shadowy Vladimir Stockow, a former Soviet general believed to have been missing and dead for over a decade. Stockow, also known as the unconfirmed terrorist The Father is the worst terrorist and madman imaginable: highly educated, patient, wealthy, and access to hideous stockpiles of weapons (not to mention possessing great stockpiles himself hidden throughout the world) belonging to the crippled, but still extraordinarily dangerous former superpower: Russia. A Russia Stockow intends to raise from its feet again by crippling the UnitesStates and her allies.

How? By releasing biological weapons in the United States for which the West had no cure for that the former Soviet Union built by the worlds most dangerous biological and chemical weapons program; the former Soviet Biopreperat Division the west didnt know existed (nearly 100,000 scientist developed in secrecy WMD during the late 60s-early 90s without the U.S. knowing). After America is on her knees and begging for a cure, Stockow intends to offer to her the desperate antidote, but at prices that will replenish depleted economy. But before the games begin, he needs to control an extensive healthcare network in order to conceal the antidotes development, not to mention to optimize the potential profits looming in the horizon if he and his extensive network of terrorist are successful.

The target that initiates the commencement of the living nightmare the West will suffer through? Tyler Boxter and his secret activities at Constellation.

Thomas presentation and knowledge of the threats now in existence due to WMD proliferation is remarkable. The author does a wonderful job of presenting clearly the little-spoken of details about current weapon sales occurring in the black-markets of Russia, North Korea, Pakistan, not to mention the zealot drifters living in the Middle East.

In the structure and easy development of highly complicated banking issues of Boxter and Morgans financial transactions, Thomas shows off a deep understanding of the legal intricacies of banking and corporate finance that only the most seasoned veterans of this industry would understand. Writing in easy to understand terms, it is easy to follow some of the most complicated components of the finance industry.

Where are the shortcomings? There were times when the author could have used less obvious clichs to make his point. They were noticeable enough for this reader. Additionally, there are times when I felt a layperson not familiar with the financial markets might have got lost in some of the intricacies of the banking world, though, I know I am contradicting myself since I have stated above that Thomas presents complicated components of the industry in an easy writing style. And finally, I think I would have like to know more about the antagonists background, perhaps even seeing him interact further in the Russian underworld he controls. Lastly, I thought of all the characters in the story, Judge Morgan was weakest. For someone so important to Boxter, we really didnt get to know him.

I will final say this in summary of my review: this is the longest book review I have ever written. I did so because I think this is one superb novel, and wanted readers to know what I thought. I wanted to share the full scope of my appreciation for this intriguing, exceptional work of current fiction. Explosive yet inspirational, Thomas The Den of the Assassin pulsates in the post-9/11 world we live in, making for a great adventure for those inclined to read thoughtful, provocative thrillers that offer more than jumping from one setting to another with gun in tow. With twists and turns where you least expect it, startling information presented in the form of hard fact, and a writing style that makes you feel part of the action, I found this book to be an engaging thriller of the highest caliber, and look forward with great anticipation to Thomas next release.


Reviewed by Daniel Jolly

This is one seriously good thriller. Billed as "a novel of international finance and espionage," Den of the Assassin is a super-realistic exploration of frightening possibilities, unsurpassed heroism, Lucifer-like evil, and terrorism of the worst kind. When you look at the cover, which features a shot of the American Stock Exchange captured in the sights of a rifle, you might think this the novel revolves around some kind of Day of the Jackal-like assassination plot, but the complexity of this novel stretches its tendrils deeply into international finance, the vagaries of the American legal and health care systems, international terrorism, diplomacy, intelligence, WMD, and cold-blooded murder with a little romance thrown in just to stir up the pot a little more. Peter Thomas does a masterful job traversing the inner hallways of diverse institutions as he slowly brings all of these diverse elements together for a slam-bang climax

The novel is steeped in the new realities of our post-9/11 world, which gives the whole story a visceral prescience teeming with realism and frightful possibility. The focus also provides a warning of sorts, as the greatest danger to America may lie where it is least suspected. The potential dangers inherent in the secret black-market underworld (and the rogues' hall of evil men it does business with) of a still-troubled Russia become a clear and present danger as Den of the Assassin works its way toward its highly suspenseful conclusion.

Tyler Boxter is a young, well-respected investment banker working in the heart of Wall Street. He and his partner, retired judge John Morgan, are days away from finally realizing a dream borne of years of hard and highly secretive work. If eight Special Letter Ruling applications (SLRs) they have submitted amongst several federal agencies are approved, the two partners will thoroughly shake up the financial, insurance, and medical world by revolutionizing (and perhaps even fixing) the health care industry they will also, in the process, earn almost unimaginable profits for themselves and the company. Tyler has basically staked his wealth and reputation on this plan, and it is a truly risky proposition - if a single one of the SLRs is rejected, the whole plan falls apart. The greatest danger, however, is that someone outside of Tyler's tight circle will find out what is going on and begin putting up legal roadblocks to keep it from happening. Many people stand to lose vast sums in the wake of this revolutionary change, and they will do just about anything to stop the deal dead in its tracks. Tyler knew that going in, but he could never have realized the true dangers he would soon be facing.

Tyler's greatest fear is realized when copies of the SLRs are stolen by unknown thieves. Thinking a competitor is out there trying to circumvent the deal, Tyler and Morgan bring in Judge Ronnie Pitt, a brilliant but disparaged 83-year-old lawyer and Morgan's mentor, and rush to move their timetable up so that they can move as soon as the applications come through (they hope). As things develop, it becomes increasingly clear that Tyler and Morgan have a much bigger problem on their hands than they initially thought, though. For reasons they can't comprehend, their ordeal seems to be linked to an international terrorist operation. Fears of financial failure soon turn to fears for their very lives and those of their friends and loved ones. What makes this terrorist threat so insidious and dangerous is the fact that it does not come from the likely suspects (e.g., al-Qaeda). The real enemy here consists of a criminal, Mafia-type organization of old guard Russian hard-liners led by an untraceable mad genius with designs on destroying America and using her pilfered resources to make Russia the dominant player in the world. The Father, as this mysterious entity is called, needs money and lots of it and he will stop at absolutely nothing to get what he wants including the unleashing of an all-too real "mythical" superplague secretly developed in Russia's biological weapons labs.

Thomas displays a wealth of knowledge of geopolitics, espionage, and international finance, describing all the technical intricacies of the story's elements and implications with great attention to detail without ever letting the pace get bogged down or become confusing to the reader. He also keeps a number of secrets close to the vest, saving them for just the right time in the story. This serves to make the book thoroughly believable and increasingly suspenseful. There's no shortage of action here. What Tyler finds himself involved in is nothing less than a war, and he must fight to save not only himself, his friends, and his company, but his very country from an unimaginable catastrophe. The Father's network of agents and killers is as formidable as they come, and the security-related forces Tyler brings into the game are some of the best money can buy. In the end, though, the drama becomes deeply personal, as The Father and Tyler Boxter rush headlong toward a face-to-face encounter of epic proportions.

Many a writer of thrillers seem to drop the ball somewhere in the middle of their novels, but Thomas' knowledge of geopolitics, international finance, and 21st century terrorist threats keeps the fires of detailed complexity and story evolution stoked and red-hot for the entire ride. Tyler Boxter is no James Bond, but Den of the Assassin proves to be just as exciting as any 007 caper and much more realistic.

Review by Shelley Shey

Nail-biting drama and intrigue . . .

This timely novel brings most of today's headlines into an action-packed drama of intertwining plots involving North Korea's Kim Jung-Il, biological warfare, Muslim terrorists, mercenaries, members of Russia's underbelly, Pakistani nuclear scientists and the brokers & money-movers of Wall Street together web of why's, how's & whodunits.

Some of the enemies of America's economy and way of life don't fit the usual suspects and they easily slip under the radar of both average citizens and our Department Homeland Security. The linchpin to this international plot is Tyler Boxter, a Wall Street broker who is one of the few good guys who sees beyond the almighty dollar, but who also knows how to turn millions into billions. As he and his partner, former Federal Judge John Morgan, form the building blocks of a multi-billion-dollar empire, they believe they have crossed all "t"s and dotted all "i"s by keeping their plans as close to the vest as possible before the official unveiling. Even their trusted friends, members of the firm they built from the ground-up, have not been included in this scheme which is intended to not only make them all filthy rich, but to also make life better for the common man.

Unknown to them, secret eyes are watching them in the wings, waiting to kill them. Are they just hired mercenaries from some company pushing industrial espionage to the next level, or do these cut-throat terrorists have more sinister plans in which Boxter and Morgan are just stepping stones?

The story takes the reader across the world, literally, as each character travels from one square to another on the global chess board, stitching together a plan to take over the economies of the planet itself, destroying America along the way.

Author Peter Thomas weaves together complex, but believable characters - described both physically and emotionally so you really care what is happening to them. Despite the fact that everything from prostitution to beheadings is touched on, Thomas manages to tell his story without foul language, without grotesque details that give you nightmares and without detailed sex scenes that make you want to bathe after reading. How refreshing!

Just when you think you've figured what is going to happen next, the story twists and turns just like real life - and you don't know what's happening until it's over. Antagonists are hate-worthy and protagonists are not perfect, but heroic nonetheless. Thomas is a gifted writer and can write certain scenes in such a way that you feel like you are in the room with these characters.

My less than perfect rating is for a number of reasons, but I think they all stem from one main problem - this book needed a professional editor to chisel off the rough edges. Some of the economic, trade and health care concepts were way too detailed and over-explained, and made the story less than enjoyable. The concepts are explained, re-explained and then explained again in dialogue that sounds like an infomercial. An editor would have been instrumental in snipping these over-the-top explanations, as well as eliminating the typos. Each chapter has a scene change - citing a date and a time. Some of the time differences are really irrelevant or at least were lost on this reader. Most of these time notations would have been better as "later that evening" or "earlier that morning..." in my opinion. And finally, the over-use of $50-words - words that no one with even an above-average IQ would use in a normal conversation. I had to consult a dictionary so many times, I simply stopped looking the words up because it stopped the natural flow of reading. I love an intelligently-written book such as "Den of the Assassin," but it felt as though the words were thrown in because they were the most intelligent-sounding words found in a thesaurus.

Despite these shortcomings, the book is well-worth the read and enduring the technical jargon regarding the financial markets. Once the story gets going, it is a page-turner. Love, hate, anger, joy, jealousy, loyalty, celebration and grief - the novel takes you through about every emotion and experience you can imagine in a brief 400+ pages and does an excellent job at it. The end of the book sets the reader up for expectations of a second novel. Just like life, things are not tied up in a neat little bow all the time. For his first novel, Thomas truly shines, I am already looking forward to reading his next book.


Review by R D' Angelo

A Mesmerizing Thriller

The Den Of The Assassin is a mesmerizing thriller that I belive all readers will enjoy immensely. Author Peter Thomas does a fantastic job blending in historical facts to guide a story deeply layered in dramatic plots, but does so in a manner that readers will 'push the pages', desiring to stay caught in the twisted actions surrounding the main character, Tyler Boxter.

Beginning in remote Russia, the reader is teased in Thomas' whimsical prologue that introduces the reader to the story's main antagonist ( a former Soviet General), and, clearly illustrates how Russia did not have complete control over their Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The opening chapter brings the reader into the present post Iraq War, and onto fabled Wall Street . . . where the author's descrption and use of the visual is brilliant. It is here where we meet Tyler Boxter, a brilliant investment banker working on changing some of Wall Street's finanical methods. If Boxter is successful at completing his plans, then not only will the banker earn untold wealth, but he will change the landscape for modern-day healthcare intergration.

What happens next is a twisted plot where unknown and unseen enemies of Boxter set him up for more than his personal downfall! As Thomas takes the reader into the heart of terrorist organizations and their hatred against America.

I will say this: I am a big fan of espionage thrillers. From LeCarre, to Clancy, to Ludlam, to Patterson, I've read them all. Den Of The Assassin is, in my openion, outside of the Bourne trilogy, the best espionage thriller I have ever read. This is a must read for anyone who follows and enjoys this genre'.



Review by: Brenda Schiller

A writer with courage . . . this is an outstanding story!

What I liked most about this book is how the complicated pace of the story moves so quickly. What Thomas has created is a seriously good thriller in his novel 'The Den of the Assassin'; however, what impressed me most is how the author used his great wealth of knowledge in the areas of finance, terrorism, and health care and created a complex (but easily understandable)storyline filled with many subplots.

Character development appeared to be very well thought out and carefully executed. In particular, the story's protagonist, Boxter, is a deal maker on Wall Street who appears to have everything. To my eyes, I would probably not have been so interested in him, however, the gradual rate of understanding and insight into the character was carefully orchestrated, allowing my feelings for Boxter to grow, which made me more interested in the 'peddle on the metal' thiller.

In the end, Thomas left me craving for more, as there are many unexpected twists and turns, including a epilogue that was simply perfect.

Using fact in fiction is a very tricky proposition for writers. At what point does creative storytelling and fiction overlap, and how does this add or detract from the other's prose? I think the answer is in keeping consistant with factual presentation, and here, I think is where the author shines most.

I would like to add that what Peter Thomas writes about in 'The Den of the Asssassin', is based upon true and current realities. Over the past four years nineteen fellow journalist reporting about the Russian oligarch system have been murdered. And only last week was there finally an arrest for one of these nineteen victems. Putin has moved Russia backward, and clearly away from the democracy that Yelstin hoped for. Additionally, all that is presented in 'Den', the lack of accountability of WMD control, continual biological and chemical weapon build -ups, oligarch manipulation on world markets, etc, are FACT. I was end this review by saying that Thomas did his homework, and showed the courage to write a story that others may not have.

This is an outstanding novel.

The Den Of The Assassin

There is a small patch of land in New York City that may have more symbolic meaning of what is “America” than any other place. Deep in the frenetic canyons of capitalism, surrounded by glass and concrete and steel that is the framework of the towering structures known as Wall Street, the intersection of Broad and Wall is in fact the womb of modern-day America. Yet few people realize this small patch of land where the sun seldom shines is where the seeds of democracy and capitalism were nourished and took root. Ironically, there are individuals from distant lands filled with contempt toward America that are aware of America's womb.

Tyler Boxter, a young investment banker who had risen from the poverty-stricken streets of New York City to become a major player on Wall Street had established a grueling pace for himself over the past few years. Using his all-consuming career as his personal shield against the trappings of life, he hid guilt and pain and memories he didn't want. Memories of a time when there was more than superficial niceties. So he filled his emptiness with empty things. And work. And work for Tyler Boxter was fruitful, perhaps even his salvation. Unknown to the world, Tyler Boxter and his partner, retired federal judge John Morgan, had in fact embarked upon altering the investment world they dwelled in, a strategy that would, if successful, earn them untold amount of monies. More importantly if it were possible to receive penance by masterminding a financial strategy that would benefit millions, then that much the better. However, if they failed, the financial gains the two had made over the years would instantly disappear, and so too would the hopes of many individuals who were hindered by a system that was supposed to protect them.

Then, something unexpectedly happens: a safe containing details of their complex plan is stolen from John's home, and the two partners are instantly thrust into the dark world of international terrorism - where zealots stir in the brutal deserts of the Middle East, where dark, sunken eyes look into the abyss of Siberia's desolate terrain, where prisoners - citizens - who live on a remote peninsula in Asia would rather submit to isolationist cleansing than feel the wrath of a deceitful troll intent on destroying the ideals of the West. Unknown to Tyler, a sophisticated game of corporate chess is about to be played against a madman who is more savage and merciless than the winds of an atomic holocaust.

From the current resurgence of former-KGB hard-liners in the Russian Republic to illicit sales of nuclear materials in Iran, from the isolated mountains of North Korea to the sweeping deserts of the Middle East, from the looming specter of biological warfare to the ways in which terrorists hide and clean their money, from the arcane methods by which corporate America funds itself to the inner workings of Wall Street's war rooms, to democratic nations use of sophisticated computer networks such as Promis and Echelon to deter threats on peaceful nation states from terrorists who purchase the most sophisticated technology developed on the black market, Den of the Assassin brings to light issues at the forefront of today's geopolitical concerns.