"MindField"

A mind-blowing novel by John F. Egbert!

What would happen if most of the people in America became deaf almost overnight? Chaos? Financial collapse? Anarchy?

None of the above?

"MindField" is a thrill ride with a message; a premise torn right out of today's headlines. A terrorist cell ignites an aerosol dispersion of what is thought to be a deadly bacteria-spinal meningitis. It quickly spreads from a small town in Montana to nearly 30 states, eventually affecting more than 3-4 million people-an epidemic of nation-threatening proportions.

Homeland security, the CDC, the EPA, FBI and the NSA spring into action. The first city is quarantined. As the disease spreads and fears mount, martial law is established by the recently elected Libertarian President. The year is 2010.

However, the problem isn't death - it's deafness. The physical symptoms of the disease disappear after three weeks, the only remaining symptom is that all those who are stricken become permanently deaf - a common side effect of spinal meningitis.

First, telephones become useless. Air traffic control shuts down. Police and all emergency services stop. Few people understand sign language outside the deaf community, including most of those in government positions.

The United States is turned inside out, a country where more than a third of the inhabitants can't hear. An underground government is formed deep beneath the NORAD facilities in Colorado. It is a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions - or is it?

...and this is just the beginning.

In "MindField," people are forced to listen with their eyes, to learn to communicate in a way that is fluid, graceful and nearly symphonic - American Sign Language.

Finally, people are forced to pay attention to each other, to listen deeply, to listen with their eyes and hearts for once instead of trying to talk over or through one another, to slow down and not only smell the roses, but see them.

"MindField" is a fast paced, plot driven suspense novel with a pleasant surprising, and incredibly potent message about the way we might live our lives if we all had to listen with our eyes and hearts, and how the world might be a much better place for it.

"MindField" is a compelling, thought-provoking tale that takes us on a neck-snapping ride of intrigue; at the intersection where civil rights, national security, technology, and humanity collide. Ultimately though, it makes us look at the ways we try to understand the world around us and within us, leaving us wondering - what if?