Poison Heartbeats by Temple Emmet Williams is the second novel in the Heartbeats series, a surprisingly compelling work that features terrorism and the insanity that accompanies it with a clarity that is quite forensic. And readers get acquainted with very compelling characters as well. The Islamic organization ISIL, synonymous with ISIS, is about to unleash terror in a form never imagined before. This time, it is not about suicide bombers, but a systematic poisoning of the wells in the US, and the target is the Jackson River in northwestern Virginia. If they succeed, many will die from touching or drinking the water. What could follow is undeniably clear: paranoia, panic, and fear. Who can stop them?

There is something very moving and intimate about this book that one finds it hard to read without feeling a hastened heartbeat or goosebumps. The setting is international and the story offers glimpses of some part of Afghanistan ravaged by war. Now, it is interesting to watch a pair of twins living two diametrically opposing lifestyles: a terrorist warrior and an American girl who falls in love with a very important person in the Security Sector. How their destinies intersect is a riddle the author allows readers to mull over. 

Poison Heartbeats deals with themes that are current and crucial, and it comes across as a powerful warning to the threat that fanaticism can pose to society. Globally, there is an outcry of war against terrorism, and this book carries a message that will create a sense of awareness in many readers. Temple Emmet Williams is a great storyteller and he has the gift of making readers get lost in the trail of his characters and the twists in his plot. One of the best books I have read on terrorism.