Heart of the Assassin

Time is running out for the Islamic Republic and the Bible Belt, the two warring nations that arose when the former United States split apart after an economiccollapse left tens of millions unemployed and desperate for leadership. Weakened by their endless conflict, both countries are now threatened by the expansionist dreams of the Aztlan Empire (formerly known as Mexico) to the south, which has steadily encroached deep into the regions once called California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Riven by intellectual and social decay, both the Islamic Republic and the Belt are at the brink of collapse.

The only solution is to reunite the countries and regain America's former power and global standing. And there's only one man who can do it: Rakkim Epps, genetically enhanced shadow warrior and hero of the two previous books in Robert Ferrigno's astonishing Assassin Trilogy.

Time is also running out for Epps's archenemy, the Old One, the sly, immensely rich Muslim fanatic who seeks to create one world under his domination. Now more than one hundred and fifty years old, he is dying and unhappily knows it. His solution is to reunite the Islamic Republic and the Bible Belt his way, and his plan involves his voluptuous but deadly daughter, Baby, and none other than Rakkim himself. The Old One is aided by his sadistic, carbon-skinned enforcer, Gravenholtz, whom Rakkim failed to kill in an earlier encounter and who now wishes to kill Rakkim and those he loves.

Meanwhile, there is a rumor of a discovery of a sacred relic in the contaminated ruins of Washington, D.C., a radiation zone peopled by diseased zombies and daring treasure hunters. It is into this deadly wasteland that Rakkim must secretly travel and retrieve the icon if he is to defeat Gravenholtz, Baby, and the Old One, and have even a chance to unite the two halves of America.

A stunning stand-alone read, Heart of the Assassin is a feast of cinematic violence, brilliant plotting, and futuristic scene-setting. Completing Ferrigno's Assassin Trilogy, Heart of the Assassin confirms his position as a master of thriller fiction.

With its neo-Orwellian setting and “genuinely fright- ening” (The New York Times) premise in which most of the United States has become an Islamic republic, Robert Ferrigno’s Assassin novels have prompted readers to sit up and take notice. Now, he returns once again to the blood-soaked dystopia in Heart of the Assassin—the final installment in his provocative page-turning trilogy.

Time is running out for the two nations that once made up the former U.S.A. Weakened by their division, both the Islamic republic and the Bible Belt are threatened by the expansionist dreams of the Atzlan Empire to the south, and their own intellectual decay engendered by their fundamen- talist beliefs. The only solution is to reunite the two nations and regain its former glory, and there’s only one way to do it. And only one man, Rakkim Epps, who can. Time is also run- ning out for the arch enemy of the trilogy, the Old One. Over 150 years old, long used to the idea of near immortality, he is dying, and with him the idea of creating one world under his domination. His solution is to reunite the Islamic republic and the Bible Belt, a first step in his march to power. His plan involves his voluptuous and deadly daughter Baby...and none other than Rakkim himself.

In his Assassin novels, Ferrigno has created a futuristic world that is at once completely familiar and utterly different. Filled with bold cinematic imagery, compelling characters, and riveting suspense, Heart of the Assassin is a satisfying thriller with timely appeal.

After earning college degrees in Philosophy, Film-Making, and Creative Writing, he returned to his first love, poker. He spent the next five years gambling full-time and living in a high-crime area populated by starving artists, alcoholics, thieves and drug dealers, becoming friends with many people who would later populate his novels.

He used some of his winnings to start a punk rock magazine called The Rocket, where he interviewed the Clash, Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, etc. The success of The Rocket got him a job as a feature writer for a daily newspaper in Southern California, where he took the adventure-and-new-money beat.

Over the next seven years he flew jets with the Blue Angels, drove Ferraris, and went for desert survival training with gun nuts. He ultimately gave up his day job to become a novelist, and his first book, The Horse Latitudes, was called "the fiction debut of the season" by Time magazine.

His most recent novel, The Wake-Up, was described by Kirkus Reviews as "Sharp, fast, and slick. Ferrigno can read like Raymond Chandler on speed, with pages turning and adrenaline pretty high throughout."

Prayers for the Assassin is his ninth novel.

He lives in Washington State with his family.