What makes a nation believe a lie? That's the question Jay Nichols has been trying to answer since he first experienced widespread mass hysteria as a child. A question that started when Orson Welles put millions across America into a panic in less than an hour. Now, his Ph.D. work is attracting the attention of world powers, secret societies, and dark organizations. Only they don't care if he can answer the question. They just want him to build a weapon. After Nichols refuses all the recruiters, a stranger shows up at his apartment with a warning. As the student's life becomes ever stranger and more dangerous, Nichols is dragged into the world of secrets, lies, and espionage. Unsure of whom to trust, the final question he has to ask himself is what kind of person he wants to be, while the spies around him try to ensure he picks their side. From the Author Interviews: "History offers us a chance to look at ideas in entirely new ways. I wanted to write about propaganda, and mass media persuasion but I could see people's eyes gloss over. They'd heard it all before, fake news, ideology-driven media, etc... I recognized that to truly look at the idea I had to pick a moment in history when it was more potent. When it made everyone look around and ask, 'How is that possible?' I chose the Orson Welles panic because that's exactly what happened. Media persuasion and propaganda produced an event the world didn't understand and they still don't fully understand."
