Both the storming of the Capitol in Washington D.C. and efforts to safeguard Joe Biden’s inauguration on 20 January echo my 2018 thriller “Blood Summit”.
Storming the Capitol
Many observers of events in Washington D.C. on 6 January 2021 were astonished. How was it possible for a few thousand demonstrators to storm a bastion of democracy? Did the police collaborate? Did the authorities use insufficient force?
Now, Washington is preparing for the inauguration of Joe Biden on 20 January. The Internet is alive with alarming stories. Could armed protesters disrupt the inauguration? Could they launch other attacks?
Fortress Washington D.C.
In response, central Washington is being turned into an armed camp. Fences are going up. Thousands of troops are on stand-by. The scenes of soldiers snoozing in the halls of Congress remind me of blockbuster movies.
They also remind me, rather eerily, of my 2018 thriller, Blood Summit.
Storming the Capitol vs “Blood Summit”
In Blood Summit, secret intelligence reveals that terrorists plan to launch an attack on a meeting of political and business leaders and one hundred children. The meeting will take place inside the Berlin Reichstag – pictured on the cover above.
In response, the authorities fortify the building. They build a steel wall around it and fill it with security forces.
The images of the preparations for the inauguration in Washington D.C. are spookily similar.
As world leaders gather in Blood Summit, everyone believes they are safe. The Reichstag is impregnable. Yet terrorists seize the building. They take hostage the leaders of the world’s eight most important states – including the US President.
At the Capitol in Washington, by contrast, the President was outside. The protestors hoped to seize the Vice-President and other law-makers. What they would have done if they had seized them, we shall never know.
In Blood Summit, those seeking to end the siege ask: how could this happen? Why was the building not secure? What do the terrorists want? Only the heroine of the story, Helen Gale, can work out the answers to these questions.
If you like fast-paced political thrillers, Blood Summit may be for you.
How security works – and doesn’t
If you want to drive me crazy, say to me “Blood Summit isn’t realistic. Don’t you know anything about summits, and how security works?”
Actually, if you know me well, you will know that I know a good deal about summits. I also know a lot about how security works. I just don’t talk about it, much.
If you haven’t read Blood Summit, do take a look on Amazon. Or, if you live here in Vienna, pop along to Shakespeare & Company and buy yourself a copy.
And if you’d like to explore my other two books, please take a look at my original fiction category. I hope you enjoy it.