Greg J. Gardner brings to life the darkest terror attack America has every faced, when a small enclave of Islamic extremists works to bring about the collapse of the American ideal. Gripping, engrossing, and graphic without being grotesque, the story follows a small but well-trained group of terrorists who attack busy shopping centers and grocery stores during the height of holiday shopping and the busiest day of the year, Black Friday. From the bloody front line to the CNN news desk and from California to the Oval Office, Black Friday details the attack from the moment it begins in the small town of Boone, North Carolina. Simultaneously, in several states, jihadist teams open fire on shoppers with semiautomatic weapons, killing thousands in minutes. As America reels from this attack, another begins. Hell-bent on the destruction of America and willing to give their lives, the terrorists will stop at nothing to kill as many innocent people as possible, dividing America in the process and turning neighbor against neighbor. As race and religious differences threaten to push the country apart, the American people must fight to overcome differences and band together to conquer a common enemy. While it augurs an effect on the United States more eerie than a prolonged nightmare, Black Friday sets forth in convincing detail what a small enclave of Islamic extremists could do to bring about the collapse of the American ideal. Indeed, in this breakout novel by Greg Gardner, a cadre of terrorists brings about a transformation in this country that no one now anticipates. And yet, Gardner’s narrative of unfolding horrors is neither a condemnation of Islam nor anthem to America’s virtues. It is a play-by-play through a harrowing month in the tribulation of ordinary people who comprise the bedrock of America during the course of a continuing nationwide atrocity. Gripping, engrossing, and graphic without being grotesque, I can argue that Black Friday is precisely what would happen, from the White House to the newsrooms across the continent to the back roads around every town, when a few dozen well-trained, well-coordinated, and determined fanatics do what, in their perverse minds, God demands of them. (David A. Woodbury, author of Tales to Warm Your Mind: Ten Whimsically Morbid Short Stories, The Clover Street News, Fire, Wind & Yesterday: A Tale of Ukraine and Khazaria, and Babie Nayms: [Baby Names])