The Occurrence

Script writer Desiderio makes his fiction debut with an uplifting political thriller-cum-fantasy. Photojournalist Dominique Valen and U.S. Army captain Julian Ledge are being held prisoner in a warehouse in the Iraqi desert by the new leader of ISIS and are about to be executed when a drone missile goes off course and hits the warehouse. In her struggle to escape, Dominique grasps an ancient cuneiform covered in markings that “refer to an inner elevation in consciousness that leads to a place in the world where that level of transcendence exists in physical form.” In that moment, Dominique, Julian, and the ISIS leader, each in their own way, have a revelatory experience, one that will unite them forever. Reincarnation, psychic communication, a Bedouin spiritual guide who looks like actor John Hurt, a miracle-working Peruvian teen, and so much more enter the mix as the three seek to “change the world.” Those with a mystical bent tired of conventional Middle East thrillers will welcome this exercise in wish fulfillment. Agent: Bob Gersh, Gersh Agency. (Feb.)