Rating: 4 stars

When Senator Jake Telemark is contacted by the beautiful Isadore Hathaway, he thought it was his lucky day. Upon meeting at the agreed upon restaurant, instead of dinner, Jake finds himself following Dora through the main dining room, out the back door and into a waiting car. At first unsure what was happening, Dora soon had Jake’s undivided attention as she outlined the reason for their meeting: 12 extreme right-wing, fanatically-religious government officials calling themselves “The Bookkeepers” were planning to overthrow the U.S. government to create a religious oligarchy.

Although Jake vacillated between stunned disbelief and having Dora committed, his attention quickly refocused when Dora noted that a suspiciously large number of federal judges have died in the past few months and that not only were chemical attacks being planned, but the Bookkeepers were also planning to kill certain senators who might oppose their efforts; Jake being one of them.

Disbelief soon turned to shock when Dora revealed her knowledge of Jake’s well-hidden military-assassin past and the mental break down he suffered for it. While Jake toyed with the idea of leaping from the moving car to get as far away from this stunning, yet deranged woman, the final blow was dealt -- Dora asked Jake to reactivate his assassin status and terminate the Bookkeepers.

Toxin is a thought-provoking, fast-paced novel that plays on our fears of foreign terrorism, giving it an even scarier twist – having our freedom jeopardized by our own countrymen. The possibility of being attacked and ruled by the very government officials we entrust our lives and liberty to would be considered ridiculous; yet Midden’s well-developed plot and straight-forward writing style makes it seem quite plausible. Page after page, the average-Joe persona of Senator Jake Telemark, was in excellent contrast to his calm, cold-stone killer alter-ego; paired with the understatedly-powerful Isadore Hathaway made for a very dangerous, but complementary team. With Dora’s penchant for gathering inside intelligence and Jake’s killer instinct, these are two people Americans will want on their side.
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Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: American Book Publishing Group (March 31, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1589824928