The Plot to Save America – A Novel

While the investigation into what really happened on January 6, 2021—the day of the Capital riot, when a bevy of Trump supporters launched an attack on the Capital Building in Washington, DC in response to calls to “Stop the Steal” and overturn the victory of President-elect Joe Biden—is still ongoing, in The Plot to Save America Avraham Azrieli presents an alternative scenario in which the insurrection was successful and Donald Trump retained the presidency, although the storming of the Capital and the resulting deaths were said to be the work of a group of Black Lives Matter and Antifa activists.

As a result of the attack, President Trump signed the Capital Fire Decree, which imposed a state of emergency across the country, and launched a War on Domestic Terror. Moreover, the surviving members of the House and Senate passed the Enabling Patriot Act of 2021, thereby suspending the Constitution, introducing martial law, and concentrating all the power of the government in the President’s hands. As for Joe Biden, he was imprisoned for inciting domestic terrorism.

To streamline the justice process and action the massive number of trials necessitated by the War on Domestic Terror, a force of Death Penalty Investigators (DPIs) was created to conduct quasi-judicial investigations into all death penalty cases. Among these DPIs is the individual known merely as #1645, a stalwart Trump supporter who is tasked with conducting the investigation into Stuart Tenison following his arrest and subsequent death sentence for treason.

Among the numerous people sentenced to capital punishment during President Trump’s second term, Tenison stands out as a particularly unlikely domestic terrorist. Prior to his arrest for attempting to pass top-secret documents to a foreign spy, he was a Chief Inspector with Immigration and Customs Enforcement—it was his idea that all immigrants should wear a lime-green patch on their clothing at all times—and a very vocal supporter of both the president and his new policy. However, an investigation into an apparent suicide seemingly caused Tenison to question his understanding, change his priorities, and seek to pass information concerning something big to a foreign power.

The Plot to Save America follows DPI #1645 as he interviews first Tenison and then various other individuals associated with the case, initially believing it to be a clear-cut matter of treason but slowing becoming aware that there might be far more at play. Although this approach does leave #1645 to deliver a good deal of exposition, it also allows readers to become drawn into the conspiracy alongside him, questioning everything and everyone as more information is divulged. As the interviewees reveal what they know and truths are stacked atop lies, there is plenty for #1645 to unravel.

A thriller based on a carefully crafted alternative history that sadly rings true, The Plot to Save America starts off fairly slowly as #1645 pursues his investigation in the standard methodical way, but quickly picks up both tension and pace as layer after layer of the conspiracy is peeled back and the danger involved in seeking the truth becomes apparent. As the story unfolds, it is clear that there are various competing interests involved in the Tenison case and very few people that #1645 can trust, perhaps not even himself.