Simon Lawder

The Messiah Complex : A contemporary tale Simon Lawder

In a small English town, a group of kindly Muslim refugees suddenly go on the rampage. The attack bears similar hallmarks to two incidents in the US days before. Dr Patrick Cameron, a medical researcher, is asked to investigate.

He spots something odd in the rioters' brain scans but, hours later, it's disappeared. Were these people programmed to turn violent?As a wave of similar attacks spreads to other countries, large crowds, fearing that extremist Islam has now declared all-out war on Christianity, pour onto the streets, calling on their dithering governments to retaliate. Cameron's enquiries reveal something quite different - fundamentalists who believe they have been called by Christ to launch a holy war against Islam.

Cameron and his wife, a practising Christian herself, are sent in to destroy the plot before it can reach its horrifying climax. Whatever that may be.