<DIV>William Peter Blatty has thrilled generations of readers with his legendary bestseller <I>The Exorcist</I>. Now Blatty gives us <I>Dimiter</I>, a riveting story of murder, revenge, and suspense. Laced with themes of faith and love, sin and forgiveness, vengeance and compassion, it is a novel<I> </I>in the grand tradition of Morris West's <I>The Devil's Advocate</I> and the Catholic novels of Graham Greene.<BR><BR><I>Dimiter </I>opens in the world's most oppressive and isolated totalitarian state: Albania in the 1970s. A prisoner suspected of being an enemy agent is held by state security. An unsettling presence, though subjected to unimaginable torture he maintains an eerie silence. He escapes---and on the way to freedom, completes a mysterious mission. The prisoner is Dimiter, the American “agent from Hell.”<BR><BR>The scene shifts to Jerusalem, focusing on Hadassah Hospital and a cast of engaging, colorful characters: the brooding Christian Arab police detective, Peter Meral; Dr. Moses Mayo, a troubled but humorous neurologist; Samia, an attractive, sharp-tongued nurse; and assorted American and Israeli functionaries and hospital staff. All become enmeshed in a series of baffling, inexplicable deaths, until events explode in a surprising climax.<BR><BR>Told with unrelenting pace, <I>Dimiter</I>'s compelling, page-turning narrative is haunted by the search for faith and the truths of the human condition.</DIV>