The Fifth Column

by John Fenzel, Tom Rendall

When your oath is to defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, no duration is defined and there is no statute of limitations.... Luke Archer is a retired Special Forces Colonel and CIA operator who never expected or wanted to go back to those days of living in the shadows and at the tip of the spear. But when he wakes up early one morning to the sound of a helicopter landing in his front yard, those hopes and expectations are forever dashed. Called back to Langley, he s asked to identify an elusive terrorist leader, known as The Ghost, who only he can identify. Reluctantly, Archer agrees to assist, and in the aftermath of that operation, his life is turned upside down. Reuniting with his former team members, he learns that an old teammate has been deliberately poisoned with a rare substance that only sophisticated nation-states possess. Launching his own investigation, Archer suddenly finds himself as the FBI s Most Wanted Terrorist, fighting an entrenched government network of high-level officials who will stop at nothing to take over the United States from within. In a deadly race against time, through the unseen corridors of power, Archer uncovers dark forces that threaten the security and stability of the nation, leading to a personal revelation that is all but impossible for him to conceive. Riveting, explosive, and all-too-evocative of today s political environment, The Fifth Column is an unforgettable story that has been torn from today s headlines. John Fenzel and Tom Rendall have created a page-turning thriller that provides extraordinary view of our nation s history, our democracy, and those who have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

315 pages, Hardcover

Published March 16, 2018

About the author

John Fenzel is an Army Special Forces officer who has served on our nations battlefields throughout Europe and the Middle East. He has served as a military assistant on the personal staff of the Secretary of Defense, as a Special Assistant to the Vice President, as a Strategic Planner for the Army Chief of Staff, and as a White House Fellow during the Clinton and Bush administrations. He is the only active duty American military officer to testify at The Hague in support of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). John is a graduate of Tulane University, the Naval War College and the National War College. Born in Iowa and raised outside Chicago, John lives with his wife and three children in Annapolis, Maryland. The Lazarus Covenant (BREATHE, 2009), was his first novel. The Sterling Forest, an international thriller, is his second novel, to be released August, 2016.

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent page-turner of a thriller novel. I highly recommend this one if you can function on little sleep because you won’t want to put this one down. The story is packed with many twists and turns that will have you guessing right to the end. The little nuggets of historical facts are an added bonus that might just come in handy on trivia night. ;-)

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, fun read, though it recycles some elements from Fenzel's The Lazarus Covenant.