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Duplicity,
the newest novel by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
and Pete Earley, has a highly plausible plot that mixes domestic
and global action. Readers will be reminded of the Benghazi-style
attack on the US embassy along with political deception, radical
Islamic terrorists, and ruthless DC staffers who scheme to
manipulate the electorate during the Presidential election.
The plot has the current President, Sally Allworth, deciding
to take a tough stand on terrorism to gain votes by opening
an American Embassy in Mogadishu Somalia. While the history
and background in the area is provided it does not slow down
the action but actually enhances the story. The authors do
not take the politically correct course as they depict the
terrorists' violent actions of decapitations, torture, and
dismemberment. Allworth's opponent, Governor Timothy Coolidge,
challenges that she is playing politics with American lives,
especially after the embassy is attacked and hostages are
taken. This leaves CIA station chief Gunther Conner and Marine
Captain Brooke Grant, the military attaché, to plan
a rescue. Throughout the book the story shows how each main
character's agenda affects the circumstances: Connor wanting
to prove that the different terrorist groups are actually
headed by one person; Grant attempts to coordinate with the
US military to attempt a rescue; Governor Coolidge uses the
incident to cement his isolationist views; and President Allworth
and her administration attempt to manipulate the event by
going into damage control.
Gingrich
explained he got the idea for the story from the headlines
as terrorism has become "a worldwide phenomenon and much
more purposeful and technologically advanced than we give
it credit for. One of the key terrorists in our novel is an
American who has rejected Western civilization in favor of
the radical Islamist effort to impose an alternative system
of belief by force and terror tactics. One of the reasons
I agreed to do contemporary modern history is to show the
gap between the elite denial of reality and what is happening
in the worldwide war with Islamic supremacists. I used the
genre of a novel because it is the most effective way to tell
a story."
The setting
of Somalia was chosen because 125,000 Somalis reside in Minnesota
and the terrorist group Al-Shabah is prevalent in that country.
Gingrich hopes to show that only a small amount of Minnesota
Somalis have gone to ISIS, stating, "only about twenty.
80 to 90% of Minnesota Somalis have become true Americans.
There are millions of American Muslims who embrace our values,
are deeply patriotic, and loyal. One character in Duplicity
is a Somali American who is running for Congress in Minneapolis
while his brother is the No. 2 leader in Al Shabaab in Mogadishu.
The tension between the two is like a civil war in a single
family. We must be aware, as Paris and California reminds
us, it does not take a large number of terrorists to cause
a great amount of danger."
Part
of what makes the story so interesting is the well-developed
characters. Running against President Sally Allworth is Governor
Timothy Coolidge, a declared isolationist. For any reader
who wondered if that character mirrored 30th President of
the US, Gingrich noted, "I admire Calvin Coolidge since
I consider him one of the most interesting guys in American
history. In the 1920s isolationism did not mean the same thing
as today. During that period Republicans were very engaged
in foreign diplomacy. For example, they were involved in the
German financial problem, in Latin America, and had US Marines
in Nicaragua. They did not believe in entangling alliances
because they did not trust anyone. Just because they were
opposed to the League of Nations the Left summarized them
as isolationists."
Gingrich
is hoping that after reading this, Americans will begin to
understand "The world is genuinely dangerous. This danger
is coming here and we need to hold our public officials accountable.
Just as in the book, world events will have an impact on the
2016 Presidential election in a way we cannot anticipate right
now."
He gave
a heads up about the next book in the series, Treason. It
follows in the footsteps of the book by Diana West, American
Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character, which
accounts the massive Moscow-directed penetration of American
society. West shows that the system of spies designed to denigrate
the American way of life was deep and extensive during the
1940s. Treason has a similar premise brought up to date: why
couldn't there be someone in support of radical Islam that
is able to keep it secret as they rise in power. It will also
have terrorism coming to the US.
Gingrich
has proven that not only can he write non-fiction and historical
novels, but also riveting thrillers. Anyone looking for a
well-paced novel with excellent characters and a story ripped
from the headlines should read this book.
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