Pure Genius Series #4, Triple Threat, Releases November 14

Don't miss the giveaways on release day, November 14

In Triple Threat, a high-action, romantic suspense story, an all-grown-up Katie Brandt, now 20, closes out the Pure Genius Series by using her doctoral research to ferret out participants in a planned, 3-pronged terror attack on the US, an attack that dwarfs 9-11. Katie, who has been engaging terrorists on their cyber turf, earns the name Crazy Kate, by proposing that 23-year-old, doctoral candidate Joshua West help her engage the conspirators on real turf in order to gain incriminating evidence.

Katie Brandt & Joshua West

Katie, armed with a 180 IQ, a slender, 5' 9" athletic body, and her great-granddad's Karate, makes a formidable opponent, one who already has 2 notches on her gun. When Josh joins her, the story erupts in a war of deadly weapons and wits. But Katie and Josh must also fight each other in a war of words spawned by their opposing worldviews, a war Katie must win before she can pursue a relationship with Josh. Whenever she mentions her faith, an argument breaks out. Over the course of the book, Josh forces Katie to answer nearly every major objection to her faith. Let's have a bit of fun. In the excerpt below, Josh takes exception to Katie calling British Columbia's beautiful Howe Sound part of "creation." Katie's approach to Josh's challenge is brilliant in that she goes for the heart of the underlying issue, the nature of truth.

Katie Brandt on Truth:

By the time they rounded the turn above Horseshoe Bay, the morning sun had topped the mountains and lit the water in Howe Sound. The view from the road, high on the side of the mountain, took her breath away.

Katie swept her hand across the panorama in front of them. “Look at this view. The Northwest is one of the most beautiful places in all of creation.”

“Yeah. It’s beautiful, but creation? You sure about that, Kate?”

Though this might send their honeymoon south, she had to respond to his remark. “We all subscribe to some worldview. Which one do you follow?”

“Well, I don’t follow my parents’ philosophy.”

“Following your parents isn’t always a bad thing.”

“If they’re like mine it is. Pure materialists. Not in the philosophical sense. They’re just…consumers. Buying toys and luxuries until…”

“Yes. Until…”

“So you follow Jesus and God because your parents want you to?”

Katie looked into Josh’s eyes. “I chose to follow Jesus because that’s where I found the truth.”

“The truth? You’re too bright to fall for a bunch of legends and myths, Kate. Doesn’t it bother you? Leave you with a mountain of doubts? The truth is, at best, empirically derived from scientific evidence, and at worst, it’s—”

“First, let’s get something straight. My faith isn’t blind. It’s rooted in evidence. There’s ample evidence to provide intellectually satisfying answers to any question you can ask, even the existential questions, the cries of the human heart.” Katie paused as she realized the implication of her words. “The only surprising thing to me is that truth isn’t found in a set of logical propositions, or a philosophy, or by using science, which happens to be based upon the same thing as philosophy, metaphysical presuppositions. And truth isn’t found in any religion.”

“What? You don’t even think your religion has the truth…or at least part of it?”

“Truth, Josh, is found in a person, Jesus. He’s not a religion. I’m related to Him as His spiritual child, His follower, and His friend. He said He was the truth and every other thing He said rings true. Check Him out. Test Him. But remember, with Jesus you get a relationship with a real person, not a religion.”

“Maybe that’s just your truth. If it works for you, that’s great.”

“Truth doesn’t work that way. It’s absolute. True for all people, in all places, at all times. Try telling yourself that all truth is relative, Josh. See where that takes you.”

“All truth is relative. That’s…uh, self-contradictory.” A deep frown grew on his brow.

“See what I mean?” She nodded her head at him. “The nature of truth is fairly simple to discover if you just make the attempt.”

“I think we need to change the subject. For the sake of the honeymoon.”

You mean for the sake of Joshua West.

After her diatribe on truth, Josh went silent for nearly an hour. The snowcapped mountain on the right was Whistler peak. The village was only three or four miles ahead.

They had to function as a team and play the role of honeymooners. Josh needed to start talking to her or they should call off the honeymoon and drive home.

“Josh?” She spoke softly.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I…I wasn’t avoiding you. Just…thinking.”

“In Whistler you’ll probably have to hold my hand. Maybe even put your arms around me. You won’t be very convincing if you’re mad at me.”

Josh’s huge right hand closed around her left hand. “I’m not mad at you. See?”

“So…you’re ready to do this?”

He nodded.

“What time is it?”

“Don’t you have a watch, Kate?”

“Yes. But someone captured my watch hand and won’t give it back to me.”

“Yeah. Someone did. Maybe someone wants to keep it. I’ll look at your watch for you.” He lifted her hand. “It’s 8:20.”

“8:20! That’s thirty-five minutes faster than the computer said it would take. You’ve got a lead foot, Joshua West.”

“And you’ve got a nice hand, Kate Brandt.”

“We’re supposed to be pretending.”

“Thought I was doing a pretty good job of that.”

“But you’re not pretending.”

“I was doing such a good job I even fooled you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Their intense discussion was behind them. But the subject would come up again. She would see that it did. “There’s the entrance to the village. Time to get serious. The person here is dangerous. We can’t afford mistakes.” She opened her map of Whistler.

Triple Threat is available in softcover and most eBook formats. The Kindle version is on sale for $2.99 at Amazon from now to release day, November 14.

An adventure that spans the Pacific Northwest from the shores of the Olympic Peninsula to the mountains of Whistler BC. Stay tuned for more photos of the Whistler setting for Triple Threat.