Hell for the Holidays: A Christopher Miller Holiday Thriller by Chris Grabenstein

Product Details

Synopsis

Christopher Miller is up against a group of domestic terrorists who are copying Al Qaeda's tactics: operating in cells, following a twisted fundamentalist doctrine, targeting "public amusements." A White Supremacist hate group has smuggled in a stinger missile and recruited an army marksman — a nightmare vision of a new and more talented Timothy McVeigh. Their initial plan is to bring down an airliner as it takes off from JFK airport.
When Miller warns authorities about this group and its plans, no one listens because the FBI's focus has shifted to foreign terrorists, and his home, Jersey City, has the second largest population of Arabs/Muslims in America. "Saint Chris" comes up against the same sort of bureaucratic resistance encountered by the FBI agents who, pre-9/11, wrote memos about Arab Terrorists Flying Airplanes that no one paid attention to. The White Wolves have chosen Thanksgiving as the day to strike, since they feel the holiday commemorates God giving of this country to his chosen people: the white man. Meanwhile, on the home front, Miller has to cope with his daughter's post traumatic stress as the anniversary of her Christmas nightmare draws near and he will be torn between taking care of her and saving thousands of innocent lives!

Publishers Weekly

When kidnappers seize seven-year-old Carlos Acevedo, the son of a U.S. customs agent, on Halloween, Jersey City FBI agent Christopher Miller swings into action in Grabenstein's gripping second holiday thriller (after 2006's Slay Ride). Miller's sidekick, Lieutenant Cimino, wonders why Carlos would be abducted without ransom demands. Meanwhile, Miller's own seven-year-old daughter, Angela, remains traumatized from an encounter with a "monster" Santa who held a gun to her head the previous Christmas. Hiding at a remote Wyoming hunting lodge is the mastermind behind these crimes, Dr. John Tilley, with a demonic plan to take over the nation and save Western civilization. In New York City, an embittered ex-GI awaits orders from Tilley, "a visionary and prophet," for the next operation. In a spectacular finish, SWAT teams close in on home-grown terrorists planning an attack on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. This rapid-fire entertainment is sure to please Grabenstein's fans. (Nov.)

Biography

Chris Grabenstein was the first writer hired as a result of James Patterson’s famous advertising aptitude test that ran in the New York Times when Patterson was creative director of J. Walter Thompson. He spent several years at the nation's top ad agencies. Before he started in advertising, Grabenstein also worked with Bruce Willis (among others) in some of New York’s most acclaimed improvisational comedy troupes. A member of Mystery Writers of America, he lives in New York City. Hell for the Holidays is his fifth novel, following on from his John Ceepak/Jersey Shore mysteries, Tilt-A-Whirl, Mad Mouse, and Whack-a-Mole.