Vern A. Westfall

As religions confront each other and as science confronts religion, a simple lecture series becomes an international incident and turns a quiet classroom into an ideological war zone. As agendas infiltrate innocent institutions the unsuspecting are easily recruited and used as pawns. Even an innocent dog can become a victim of extremist views.

“Darwin’s Paw” highlights current global tensions as the book’s three unsuspecting characters become caught in a tangle of conflicting ideas. Middle Eastern extremists, Evangelical Christian zealots and blindly subservient bureaucrats all go on high alert as a new scientific perspective grows to international proportions.

Ahmad, an exchange student from Pakistan, Mary, a student on an unwanted Christian scholarship, Colonel David Maelstrom, an unwitting recruit of Homeland Security and his dog, Darwin, all become part of a world of intrigue when their paths cross at Miami University.

Fear directs Ahmad, naïveté allows Mary to be controlled, and Colonel Maelstrom’s commitment to his vision makes him vulnerable as he accepts a new assignment. Only Darwin enters the struggle without prejudice and, unfortunately becomes its first victim.

Secret organizations, mysterious events, violence, humor and romance are all a part of the adventures of Ahmad, Mary and Colonel Maelstrom as they share unexpected dangers, overcome their mutual distrust and eventually join forces in an attempt to extricate themselves from their handlers.

New perspectives are powerful and can have profoundly useful or disastrous results. The reader is left to decide if the controversial ideas presented in “Darwin’s Paw” are significant.