Hammer of Eden. Ken Follett. 1998.

The huge brightly painted vehicle grinds down through the gears, yawing and bumping along the highway. To a casual observer, it is a crazy fairground ride, but two men have already died to bring it to the chosen spot. If it does its job now, countless others face destruction.

In the cab is the man his disciples know as Priest. With him are two women, bonded by idealism and a powerful love. Star’s is for the guru who once brought reality to her dreams, the younger Melanie’s is for her child, the same man and the future.

Priest stopped running when he founded the commune lost in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, never once leaving the 60s. Shindig. Because without it he’s another tortured ex-mobster, with no space for his soul to find peace.

A week ago, he and his friends went on the radio claiming they could bend the Governor of California to their will.

The cops in Sacramento had heard their demands a million times before. Alone in taking them seriously is FBI agentJudy Maddox.

This time they promised an earthquake to force the issue. The earthquake is now forty-eight hours away.