From IPPY gold medal winner Robert Cook comes the fourth installment in the Cooch series. With all the classic elements of a spy thriller—intrigue, violence, sex—The Mahdi is a narrative geopolitical battlefield where Islamic and Orthodox Jewish ideologies clash, seen through the lens of a modern, liberal Muslim. Raised in a blend of Bedouin tradition and Western education, Alex Cuchulain, Cooch, is a former US Marine, CIA operator, and entrepreneur. Partnered with Dr. Caitlin O’Connor, the self-described “smartest person in the world,” they make an unlikely yet formidable duo.

When Alex takes on a mission to reclaim stolen Bedouin land, he finds himself imprisoned and branded a criminal. Meanwhile, Caitlin faces her own dangers, becoming the target of an extremist plot. But the rules of warfare change forever when Caitlin condenses an electromagnetic pulse into shootable ammunition and deploys an AI chatbot–quantum computer that can use the internet to control secure Israeli communications and provide strategic intel.

As tensions escalate, some begin to believe that Alex may actually be the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam. But can he shoulder that mantle? And can technology and enlightened thinking prevail over entrenched dogma?