First Cause — Paul West

The world is in chaos from a two-day battery of explosions in many of its major cities.

A week after the explosions, journalist Adam Grey wakes up in the hospital. He pieces together the events leading to his injury, involving a woman named Angela.

Senator Cyrus Reardon has been appointed the new President of the United States' decimated government. A politician who isn't generally fond of his peers, he's faced with leading a discordant provisional Cabinet, addressing the nation's growing panic, and trying to separate fact from fiction.

Confronted with the truth behind the attacks, they--along with the world at large--are forced to reconsider conventional assumptions about human nature and possibility.