An Important Novel

Every once and a while a really thought provoking book comes along that everybody ought to read. The current example of such a book is Robert Ferrigno's novel "Prayers for the Assassin." A science fiction thriller set in a future world in which the USA has lost the war on terror and much of America is under the control of the Islamic States of America, a fundamentalist Moslem regime. The only free region of the United States in this world is the former Confedracy the Southern Christians being the only Americans willing to fight back against Islami-terror in this world. The novel follows a fairly generic formula of an elite covert operative for the Islamic terrorist regime discovering the sorry tissue of lies that covers up the Moslem regime and his efforts to expose them. Ferrigno is far to sympathetic to the Islamic terrorists for my taste and far too dismive of average Americans commitment ot freedom for my tastes. Still it's a frightening and thought provoking read, in Ferringo's future America Catholics are a persecuted minority and gays are murdered in the street by religious police while Jews have been exterminated. In this world Blue State America is now an Islamic Republic average Americans preferring Islamic law and order to the Secularist Brave New World. Although it is sure to provoke controversy criticisms from the politically correct elite and possibily violence from Moslems (note to Mr. Ferrigno buy a gun, chance your name to Farley and move if you see any Arab looking guys staking out your house)
Although it is exciting and thought provoking "Prayers" is a deeply flawed work, it is set in the year 2040 yet no technological progress seems to have taken place between now and then. People still drive the same cars and use the same weapons as today. The subject of space travel is ignored although space planes allowing average people travel to the Moon are likely to be everyday contrivances in that era. My guess is that there will be considerable progress between now and then and I serioulsy doubt it'll be taking place in the Islamic world. A more likely scenario of the year 2040 is the Islamic fanatics hiding out in some cave from the killer robots of the Israeli Defense Forces and complaining that the bullets from the AK-47s bounce off the robots' skin. Still Ferringo's work is a fascinating read, I hope some better author a Phillip K. Dick or Robert A. Heinlein will take up this theme and write something more fun and thought provoking.