Written with deftness and high energy, "Serpent Girl" is a voyage into the darkest depths of carny life--and, remarkably, a funny and tender love story as well.

For the one hundred and twenty-six people aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig, April 20, 2010, began like any normal day. Before day's end, the world would bear witness to one of the greatest man-made disasters in United States history. It reveals the brave acts of the men and women who rose to the challenge and risked everything to lead others to safety.

Here is a scathing, Corporate America-skewering comedy about a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his way with and for his clients.

A terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, causing an international incident to ignite. FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury quickly assembles an elite team and negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the madman behind the bombing. Fleury and his team discover that the Saudi authorities are suspicious and unwelcoming of the Americans into what they consider a local matter. The agents find...

A petty thief and a pizza deliveryman are gunned down in an alley. A US Congressman's assistant falls in front of a subway train - three seemingly unrelated deaths. The dead assistant was the chief researcher for Congressman Stephen Collins, spearheading hearings into the role of private security firm PointCorp. She was also his lover. Cal McAffrey, a rumpled, old-school metro reporter at the Washington Globe is covering the first story. He was Collins'...