Brilliantly conceived and exquisitely executed, Soft Target shines from the very beginning and doesn't let up. A political thriller with the threat of bioterrorism, Trudel utilizes the alternating story lines of Marine Mike Mickelson, Senator Harriet Stiles, and Ahmed Mahmoud Muhammed with ease and intrigue. Moving among the motives of several different characters douses the reader in anticipation and intrigue, creating a novel that is hard to put down. When Mike is charged with a special task of overseeing a top secret project with the NSA, he doesn't expect to be attacked by an Arab jihad on the first day. Nor does he expect the father of the woman he is protecting to go missing on the next. But these events are only the beginning in this fast paced, explosive story. Trudel knows his history and entertainingly interprets it in his highly realistic writing. The characters feel alive and read with authenticity from the FBI, the Islamic extremists, the Oregon Police Chief, among many other varied characters, each reads the way one would imagine it could. While the NSA works with Cybertech to build a secure system that would allow congress to be run virtually, Bukhari terrorists create a bioweapon aimed to take down the United States' legislative branch through conspiring with members of the US government. Where very few can be trusted, an unusual alliance between Ms. Patton, who runs the NSA project, Marine Mickelson, and the President provides the only chance that the attack won't be successful. Trudel creates a believable tale packed with plausible scenarios and likeable characters. The edges of fiction and reality overlap in Trudel's books. Thrillers are fiction …. Until it happens!
