Aura of Purgatory: A Novel

Nathan Rhodes is an American agent assigned to influence the internal affairs of a Southeast Asian country. As he gets deeper and deeper into messy political turmoil, he loses his sense of loyalty and right and wrong--partly because the situations is so complex and ambiguous, and partly because he brings to the assignment all his own psychological baggage, particularly in the area of sex and religion. Eventually, he infiltrates the “enemy,” has an affair with a powerful woman, and is ultimately paralyzed when he has the opportunity to interfere with a terrorist attack.