Infinity Jihad - Paperback
by Lance Novak (Author)
Infinity Jihad is the story of two ostensibly divergent characters whose worlds collide in Danbury Park, a small town in Southern California that prides itself on being one of the safest, most closely-knit communities in the United States. As a teenager who has struggled through some adversity in his life, Brandon Wallace has pulled himself up from the ashes: After nearly dropping out of high school during his junior year, he perseveres through his parents' impending divorce and strives to excel as a graduating senior who dreams of going to UCLA and becoming an electrical engineer like his father. On the first day of twelfth grade, he meets a peculiar and mystifying foreign exchange student from Saudi Arabia named Lyla Hanania, and he is infatuated with her almost immediately. As he gets to know Lyla over the course of the school year, their relationship blossoms from unfamiliar classmates to good friends to a girlfriend-boyfriend duo the likes of which surprises everyone on campus. But as the school year progresses, and after meeting Lyla's hypertensive and seemingly fanatical uncle Amir, Brandon slowly realizes that there is something not quite right about "the new girl in town" he has fallen in love with. Indeed, Lyla's dubious past-a past she refuses to share with Brandon or anyone else-is inextricably linked to a treacherous, incalculable plan that could engulf an unsuspecting community as well as an entire country in a diabolical, international-news-worthy disaster. Ultimately, as Brandon uncovers just who Lyla and Amir really are and what they are doing in America, he does whatever he can to stop Lyla from making the biggest mistake of her life, one that will involve his beloved Danbury Park High School of all places-on graduation night of all nights.