Excerpt from The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

These were grand words, and Richard Cody felt himself grand speaking them. And then he changed his tone, spoke more quietly, took them into his confidence and told them dark tales of terrible plots foiled, of the mass poisonings and bombings and gassings planned and, through vigilance, averted, offering vivid descriptions of how Australians might otherwise have died en masse in the very heart of Sydney.

Richard Cody could feel the fear take hold. He sensed the pull of a story, the power of its telling, as the table went quiet, their imaginings now hot-wired to his images of conspiracy, fanaticism, horror. He could feel himself cheering up. He was on to something, were it not for the fact there was no new story other than three unexploded homemade bombs at Homebush Olympic stadium.

Excerpted from The Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan © 2007 by Richard Flanagan. Excerpted by permission of Grove Atlantic. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.