Old friend Marty Vail is still slashing through the legal system, now as a prosecutor. Vail views law as his religion. Currently Attorney General of Illinois, he wins the largest ever RICO (Racketeering) action.

While relaxing after the verdict, he receives a call from the Attorney General of the United States who asks him to meet with her. Although no attorney in his or her right mind turns down this kind of invitation, Marty approaches the meeting with suspicion.

The U.S. Government has learned that a semi-trailer filled with deadly weapons has been hijacked in Montana, and the soldiers accompanying the weapons have been summarily executed. Federal agents suspect "The Sanctuary", a right wing terrorist group masquerading as a church, which has its own military training camp in Montana.

The Attorney General believes that a confrontation like Waco or Ruby Ridge can best be avoided by proceeding under the RICO provisions of the Federal Statutes. And who better to spearhead a prosecution of The Sanctuary than the newly successful RICO prosecutor, Marty Vail?

Of course Marty wants to bring in his "Wild Bunch," a team of attorneys he has worked with in the past. And that past also includes Aaron Stampler. Evil incarnate, Stampler was thought to be dead in a prior Diehl novel. But he is back…this time in the guise of a religious zealot who has a radio show espousing the tenets of The Sanctuary. As Marty's team closes in, it becomes apparent that "The Sanctuary" is headed toward Armageddon and time is running out.

It would be fair to say that this book is event driven, rather than character driven. Ordinarily a better balance would be desirable, but the subject matter is so powerful that the reader is swept away by the events.

Diehl has sounded the alarm, albeit clothed in a fictional account. Who among us can afford not to listen?

--Thea Davis