Code Name: Juggernaut follows an FBI agent investigating a series of murders that all seem to be connected to an assassin named Jack-L who also happens to be working for a neo-Nazi terrorist group. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Previously, it seemed that terrorism arising from the Middle East – hijackings, bombings, kidnappings and so on — was constant fare on the news. I first started researching what emerged as Code Name: Juggernaut in the mid-1990s, seeing the disturbing rise of political division in this country. In writing this book, I wanted to not only create a thriller which is hopefully entertaining but also to delve into the mindset of political extremism in this country. I decided that it represented a relatively untapped and fertile area for literary development. Jacqueline (“Jackie”, alias “the Jack-L”) Lynch is a strong woman and, in many respects, the book’s main character. She is associated with WEREWOLF, a neo-Nazi terror group. She and her lover, Howard Brennan, are conspiring to carry out a plot (code named “Juggernaut”) to foment unrest.

Special Agent Douglas Rabson has had to overcome a lot in his career and personal life by the time this story starts, and he is working on these cases. Was the character’s backstory something you always had, or did it develop as you were writing?

It was a little of both. Novels are generally driven by conflict. In addition to the obvious conflict presented in Code Name: Juggernaut of extremist terrorists versus the federal government there is the inner conflict of Agent Rabson, who is Jewish and whose relatives perished in the Holocaust, pitted against neo-Nazis, as well as antisemitism he encounters. His commitment to his duty is only strengthened in the novel as he slowly uncovers the scope of the terrorists’ plot, sometimes in the face of skepticism of his superiors.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

I got the idea for this novel when domestic terrorism, as seen by the Oklahoma City and Atlanta Olympics Bombings, was becoming increasingly prevalent right here. It touches on racism and antisemitism which, unfortunately, are quite prevalent today. Part of the book’s appeal is that the baddies are domestic threats who arise among us, rather than being foreign-born terrorists. The national threat comes from within. These terrorists are our fellow Americans, people who might be your co-worker or next-door neighbor, rather than some troglodyte residing in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan. Finally, as one goes through the book, the reader is made to ponder the question “…Given the political situation in the USA today, could something like what is depicted in Code Name: Juggernaut actually happen?”

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