A brilliant professor has created a plan for a terrorist attack against the United States that will require the cooperation of two ideologically opposed terrorist groups. In fear of discovery, and perhaps also a way of flaunting his intellect and stroking his ego, the professor cloaks the plan in three four-line riddles.

After an attack on an asylum, the only tangible location of the riddles is in the mind of a young woman with an alter personality. It is up to dueling agents from the two terrorist groups, as well as one from the United States, to try to coax the riddles from where they are locked inside Raven Slade's mind.

This author's first novel in 30 years, his first since FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, was well-worth the wait. With murder, mayhem, double-crossing and emotional turmoil, THE ASYLUM PROPHECIES rises above current terrorist-based thrillers; just what one would expect from the masterful mind of Daniel Keyes.