Deterrence

In the post cold war era of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, when the threat of nuclear annihilation is closer than it has ever been, conspiracies abound. This is a tale of one of them. In an atmosphere permeated by sex and violence, lovers try to navigate dangerous rapids in their search for fulfillment. Unfortunately for them, the time is out of joint. So, watch the deceptions, watch the betrayals and wonder whether love can endure when tested by circumstance. The story opens with Stanley Pollard, a writer for a small magazine, coming to understand the peril posed by nuclear weapons in the modern world. Apparently by chance, he becomes involved in what he imagines is a conspiracy against America. Still a vital and virile man, he loves not only his chosen career but also his brilliant and sexy girlfriend, Catherine Buis. They travel and indulge their desires as lovers do. However, all is not as it should be. Stanley is hounded by menacing signs. Violent assassinations seem to follow him and he falls upon a code indicating that an attack is about to take place. Is it all real? What should he do? The plot takes us to New York, Paris, Mont Tremblant and a bunker in New Mexico, evolving toward the inevitable end fate has prepared.

Over the years, Mel Month was a research scientist, a management specialist, a community organizer and an educator. He has a PhD in physics and an MBA, and has written extensively on technical matters, his last being the book, Managing Science, published by Wiley in 2000. As his varied professional pursuits came to a close at the turn of the 21st century, he found himself in retirement with the opportunity to realize a lifelong dream to explore the human mind. Although all his pre-retirement occupations are generally considered to be purely rational endeavors subject to yes or no propositions, the truth is otherwise. In real life, they are permeated by real people prone to the dark side of human nature, duplicity, deception and betrayal. This is what Mel Month really wanted to write about and finding fiction to be the perfect vehicle to combine his knowledge of technical matters with matters of the heart, he embarked on a new career as a writer. By 2003, his first novel, Weep for ISABELLE, was published by AuthorHouse, followed by Dreams and Shadows in 2009. Now, with his third venture into fiction, DETERRENCE, he explores ambition, passion and love in the time of nuclear peril when any moment could be the last.