Evil's Root: A Political Thriller

When American expat journalist Steve Collins sets off for the middle of the Amazon Jungle to cover a plane crash with a U.S senator aboard, he has no idea how his life is about to change. The Peruvian military is claiming the Shining Path rebel insurgency launched a missile attack on the aircraft, and the U.S. State Department is backing the military's claim. Steve just ain't buying it. He smells complicity, but has nothing to go on except the word of a rebel leader and the testimony of an old farmer and his grandson who witnessed the crash.
Steve's editor informs him that Jennifer Strand, a gorgeous, spunky young journalist embedded with the U.S. embassy, will be accompanying him to the crash site. Though wide apart in their political views, they manage to set aside their differences as they attempt to unravel the dark mystery behind the senator's death. Their investigation places them at the epicenter of the conflict between the rebels and the Peruvian government while taking them on a terrifying adventure in which they uncover shocking truths about the American Empire and the ruthless and seemingly indomitable force behind it that demands the Empire execute its plan.

Evil's Root is not just a political thriller. It is a powerful tale of romance and courage, of dark intrigues and harrowing revelations, of absolute power and pervasive evil. But more than anything, it is an encomium to brave souls, past and present, who have shown the will and moral commitment to confront the dark forces that threaten civilized life.
When American expat journalist Steve Collins sets off for the middle of the Amazon Jungle to cover a plane crash with a U.S senator aboard, he has no idea how his life is about to change. The Peruvian military is claiming the Shining Path rebel insurgency launched a missile attack on the aircraft, and the U.S. embassy is backing the military’s claim. Steve's editor informs him that Jennifer Strand, a gorgeous, spunky young journalist embedded with the U.S. Embassy, will be accompanying him to the crash site.

Although wide apart in their political views, they manage to set aside their differences as they attempt to unravel the mystery behind the senator’s death. Their investigation places them at the heart of the conflict between the rebels and the Peruvian government. The shocking truths they discover take them on an adventure that transforms their perceptions of the world and of themselves.

Finalist for best thriller in the 2013 Readers' Favorite Annual International Award Contest
Finalist in the 2014 National Indie Excellence Award.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Segedy's novel Evil's Root tells the story of Steve Collins, an expatriate American journalist living in Peru, who is investigating the death of a U.S. Senator who was allegedly killed by leftist-guerrillas. As he delves deeper into the story, Collins ventures into the jungles of Peru and becomes entangled in a web of schemes involving drug traffickers, guerrillas, diplomats, anti-terrorism operatives, and others who threaten to kill his story and perhaps, ultimately, him. Here is a seductive expatriate's tale, brimming with intrigue, politics, and humor.

Jake Halpern, author of Welcome to the New World, the New York Times Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic story of a refugee family who fled the civil war in Syria to make a new life in America