Red The Riot Act — James Mullaney

RED IS THE NEW GOLD

There's more than meets the eye when inmates riot in a West Coast maximum security prison. What could transform men into wild beasts? Turns out the dead prisoners are guinea pigs in a larger scheme, and Washington sends in the only two men who can deal with the sinister plot.

Patrick "Podge" Becket and Dr. Thaddeus Wainwright trace a trail of bodies to a crazy California cult whose demented leader welcomes all who seek truth. But enlightenment costs, mainly in the form of cold, hard cash into the bank account of failed writer and self-proclaimed High Star Admiral R. Gunn Hallifax.

Hallifax's tall tales of out-of-this-world enemies have the gullible lining up in droves to join his church, and his disciples become an earthly army for their leader's terrestrial aims. There's nothing otherworldly about murder and mayhem. It's up to the Red Menace and Dr. Wainwright to discover just what the cult has to do with the head honcho of a down-on-its-luck perfume company, a Russian hit squad, a sexy Hollywood superstar, and a threat to all America.

No matter what the stars have to say about it, here on Earth all the players quickly learn that even in the Golden State blood runs Red. Just like everywhere else.