The Mystery Section: Unseen: Evil Lurks Among Us by Jeffrey James Higgins

Unseen: Evil Lurks Among Us

by Jeffrey James Higgins

Genre: Crime Thriller

Rookie Homicide Detective Malachi Wolf investigates a string of murders in Washington, DC and uncovers both a vigilante killer and a terrorist conspiracy—making himself a target.

After his father’s murder, Malachi abandoned his economics doctorate to become a police officer and protect the innocent. Now, he must solve his first homicide to prove himself worthy of the badge.

Austin grew up in a strict religious home, with an abusive father who taught him to solve problems with violence, so when an Islamist infiltrator murders Austin’s girlfriend, he seeks revenge the only way he knows how.

The body count grows as Malachi hunts the brutal assassin and unearths a sinister scheme that threatens the country. The former academic seeking justice and a vigilante set on revenge travel on a collision course—two men fighting evil by different means. Can Malachi stop the murders and expose the plot before the streets run with blood?

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Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

I’ve wanted to be an author since my parents read me bedtime stories. I worked as a journalist to pay the bills, then entered law enforcement and stopped writing during my 25 years as a police officer and special agent. When I returned to writing a few years ago, I felt like I was coming home. I’ve always been a writer, even when I wasn’t writing.

Who is your hero and why?

My wife, Cynthia Farahat Higgins, is my hero. She grew up in Cairo, Egypt and wanted to be a sculptor, but the government prevented her from going to art school. Instead of accepting being a victim of a patriarchal, socialist, Islamist society, she decided to understand the minds of Islamists.

Cynthia spent the two decades studying Islamic jurisprudence and became a founding member of Egypt’s first secular, pro-western political party. She fought for the rights of women, minorities, and all individuals. The government, al-Qaeda, and the Muslim Brotherhood targeted her, but she stayed true to her values and never backed down. She spent more than a decade under surveillance and received death threats daily. She sought asylum in the US only after Islamists murdered her friend and targeted her for assassination.

My wife has continued to write and expose radical Islamic terror groups. Her efforts had saved countless lives, and she has helped transform Egyptian society. The woman who once had her name officially banned from print now regularly appears in the most widely circulated newspaper in the Middle East. Cynthia’s courage and morality are a shining star for all to follow.

Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?

I think all my novels would make great movies. I say that because I’m a visual author. Stories play like movies in my imagination when I write. Readers often tell me my books would make great movies. Some writers get offended by that comment, because novels and cinema are different mediums, but I take it as a compliment, because it means the book came alive in the reader’s mind.

Furious: Sailing into Terror would probably make the best movie. It was a quarterfinalist in Screencraft’s Most Cinematic Book Competition. Furious would also be the least expensive to film, because 90% of the story takes place on a 62-foot Beneteau yacht. I’ve been studying script writing, and I hope to have the screenplay written soon. I plan to adapt my other work into scripts too. Unseen: Evil Lurks Among Us would also translate to the big screen.

Jeffrey James Higgins is a former reporter and retired supervisory special agent who writes thriller novels, short stories, creative nonfiction, and essays. He has wrestled a suicide bomber, fought the Taliban in combat, and chased terrorists across five continents. During his career, he made the first narco-terrorism arrest, convicted the world’s most prolific heroin trafficker, and arrested an Iranian operative trying to acquire surface-to-air missiles. Jeffrey received both the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism and the DEA Award of Valor.

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