Can teaching counterterrorism be entertaining? Even for women? Rain for the Wicked, a new educational novel aims to teach the public what terror is, how terrorists really operate, and what it means to be vigilant and proactive.

Through a thrilling plot the reader will understand crucial aspects in the current American methods of detecting terrorist threats and will learn how to create a safer environment and harder target for terrorists.

The plot is extracted from The Art of Deterrence^TM, a two-day seminar being taught by the author for the last three years. This seminar is approved by Department of Homeland Security for law enforcement and professionals as a program in terrorist threat mitigation, and by San Diego State University for Continuing Education Units. Although the characters in this novel are fictitious, the methods and events described are real and based on personal experience.

The 98,000-word Rain for the Wicked is written methodologically, covering the area of Hollywood's heroes and how they deceit the public awareness, terrorists' methods of operation from the marking of a target to the attack, and ending with the assimilating of the terrorists' profile in order to predict their moves and deter them.

This book has a logistic value as well. Most security directors face the same problem when they want to train their staff-budget. Even if there is a budget for the trainer and training facility, there is no budget to pay all the security employees for the time of training. Eventually, those who need training the most, the first-line officers, don't get it due to bureaucracy and logistic difficulties.

How about giving the employees a book as a gift? This is not a textbook but rather an interesting thriller that would also teach these employees some keynotes in terrorists' threat mitigation. You might recognize the skeleton of this book as the topics were discussed in the seminar you've attended back then. This book would shed light on the ineffectiveness of technology and the importance of human power in addressing threats. This book would also teach methods of operation in which terrorists chose their targets and attack them and what is needed for apprehension of these attempts. The best element of this initiative is that the security director doesn't need to pay his employees for the time of training and the training itself is cost effective and inexpensive. 

The Heroes and The Reality

The drill is known, albeit predictable.  There's the good guy, probably a loner, and definitely someone who doesn't play by the rules. And there's the bad guy who is extremely unpleasant, outstandingly clever, filthy rich, and, of course, has a wicked agenda to either demolish the world or conquer it. The set or background is realistic and up-to-date. The good guy's life is viewed as grey and routine, while the bad guy's is flashy and prosperous-a guy who has everything but wants more, or wants it all. The scenario depicted is unbelievable but has some anchors in reality. The level of complexity aims at a new world record.

Through a gradual buildup of suspense and several inevitable clashes, the good guy is on to the bad guy's conspiracy. The competition between the sides is not just between the good guy and the bad guy, it's a competition between good and evil in general, right and wrong, perhaps even a struggle between God and Satan. The end must be optimistic when the forces of good and light overcome those of the dark and sinister. The journey won't be easy for our hero, because he will find himself suspended between life and death, success and failure numerous times, but in the end he will survive, excel, and conquer. That's the common plot of any suspense thriller. This raw material is sculpted into novels as well as movie and television scripts. This plot seems repetitious, but the scenarios, sets, and features change. The good guys-our heroes tend to move on to the next novel or sequel, to more unbelievable scenarios, and continuous efforts to save the day yet again. Whether it's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Nelson DeMille's John Corey, James Patterson's Alex Cross, Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, or even Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt, they all act in the same manner and in the same precedent.

The goal of this article is not to challenge the authors or the readers who seek an entertaining way to stimulate their minds and enlighten their imagination. The only challenge should be the lack of realistic perception that influences our way of thinking. The bad guys' characters in these novels are exaggerated beyond any proportion. They are shown as so wicked that the reader can't feel anything but delight when they are brutally eliminated in the end. The good one, or the hero, is the most gifted man on earth with intuition beyond a fortune-teller. He bets his career, his loved ones, and, in most cases, his very life in a losing battle against all odds ... and he wins! No one understands the big picture better than he does, and nobody can withstand the evil forces represented by the bad guy better than our hero. Writers and/or producers are astute in convincing their audiences to comprehend the mistaken illusion that heroes, like those described, actually do exist. The belief in their existence reduces our own responsibility since we rely on them to save us from bad guys, threats, and even disasters. The reality, of course, is far from that.

So, are we too reckless, clumsy, and habitual to deal with real bad guys? Should we wait for John, Jack, Alex, or Dirk to help us out and save our lives, our nations, and our societies? Are we offered any tools in these novels, movies, or television shows that could teach us how to take action like Jack, John, or any other mighty hero would? Probably not. Giving up the secrets and tools would reduce the magnitude of these heroes in their next novel or show.

Seeking an innovative way to promote everyone to the mighty-hero scale, Rain for the Wicked creates both, the brain stimulation of a suspenseful thriller and a tool box needed for any of us to do what it takes to beat corrupt and evil at its own game. Rain for the Wicked is a blend of fictional and true events, some of which are still classified, that sheds light on how terrorists operate, what we as a society are competent at doing and what we should do in order to be adequate when it comes to mitigation. The latter is the core of the plot-how can we mitigate terrorists? How can we find what will deter them from selecting our country's precious targets?

With no exceptional hero or science-fiction scenario, and most of all, with down-to-earth factual information about terrorists, operations, technology, and mitigation, Rain for the Wicked aims to equip the reader with innovative solutions to solve current threatening problems. The characters are all present, both the good and bad, sacred and infidel. Suspense is added in as well, along with a twist, and a thought-provoking and spellbinding end. But in between, you'll learn firsthand from someone who didn't just read or researched about the topic but rather experienced it for most of his adult life. So what will you gain by reading Rain for the Wicked? You'll not only have entertainment and suspense, but you'll acquire useful tools, and a highly innovative, thought-provoking education.

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