Autarky

An Iraqi stonemason drives his family to a construction site to celebrate the project’s completion. On the way, he gets a flat tire delaying him for an hour, after which he gets back on track and works his way to the site. As he nears, he notices military troop carriers and a bulldozer driving to the site. He doesn’t stop. He drives to a hilltop nearby from where he could witness the activity. He couldn’t believe what he saw. His colleagues and their families were all dead. The bulldozer was digging a mass grave and pushing the bodies inside. Unbeknownst to him, he was now a witness to an event and a location for which some wanted him dead and some alive.

Years later, a computer software engineer working late one cold winter night in Virginia slides off the road at a highway exit on his way home. His death leads to a favor that leads to clues tying the dead man and the stonemason together.

Sitting at his desk one morning, Jason receives an encrypted email containing a series of files. He reads and passes them off to the proper people thinking it’s the end. Within days, they summon him to a meeting between the CIA and FBI; the topic merely read ‘Urgent - For Your Eyes Only.’ At the meeting, he learns that the email and associated files point to the needed evidence in a long-standing case against one of the world’s largest private military contractors, an American company. There is only one problem, details about the evidence is known only by the key witness and he’s gone missing, somewhere in Iraq. They task Jason with finding the witness, validating the evidence, and extracting them both.

Jason’s fluency in cultural nuances, local dialects, and regional geography make him the best person to blend in, with the requisite skills to survive and adapt to the chaos that is Iraq. The pursuit takes him all over Iraq, to Iran, and to multiple theaters of war, facing Iraqis, ISIS killers, Russians, and corrupt Americans.

But, he’s not the only one hunting for the witness.

A Little More…

If you’re a fan of Mark Greaney, John Grisham, James Patterson, Jack Higgins, Tom Clancy, David Baldacci, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Robert Ludlum’s Bourne and Janson, then you’ll love this page-turning Jason Caius political thriller. Jason is a combination of stealthy CIA agent and university professor. He is smart in his ways and brutal when the occasion requires it. And, Max Boroumand is an author whose life experiences working and living in the world’s most volatile areas, dealing with governments and large multi-national corporations, have introduced him to many of the characters in his books. His attention to detail is uncanny and make his work seem non-fiction. The truths to which he was privy are frightening.

What Readers are saying …

“So near the truth, as I watch the nightly news with my book in hand, it shakes me to my core.”

“Details and scenery are picture perfect.”

About the Author ...

Max Boroumand is a seasoned and experienced technologist, a futurist, and special advisor. His career spans over two decades, with clients in the Fortune 500, Governments, and non-profits, and many technology startups. His work and life have taken him all over the world, from the Middle East and North Africa, to Europe and the Americas, and to Asia.

Over the last decade, he has been the CEO of a holding company, whose portfolio includes several software companies, and most recently a publishing and media company supporting his new passion, writing books.