Prayers for the Assassin, by Robert Ferrigno

This novel has a really interesting plot line: after a series of nuclear explosions around the world, blamed on Israel, the USA has become a splintered nation. The bible belt (Texas through South Carolina) is a Christian stronghold, and most of the rest of the country is an Islamic republic.

The book's hero is a retired Fedayeen who helps his girl friend to tell the world the truth about the explosions and their real source. The book depicts the good parts -- and (to a free thinking -minded American) the very bad of this imagined future, but is not a position paper.

It turns out that there is a predecessor book to this one, and a follow-on, making this a trilogy. Credit to the author's writing skills that I didn't know there was a prior book until after completing this one and doing some research on Amazon.

The few love scenes were awkward, and the author would have been better off omitting them. But other than that this novel kept my attention throughout and I recommend it.