In the second book of the series - picking up where Othello ended - this near-future re-imagining of Shakespeare's RICHARD III is set in an America that has only recently emerged from a bloody and bitter civil war. Weakened by years of unrest and the sudden departure of their charismatic president, Othello, foreign enemies see their opportunity to strike. Richard, as Secretary of Defense, has had about enough of the incompetence of Othello's successor and the sycophants that enable him. Flawlessly handsome, charming and witty, Richard is painfully aware that his outward beauty lead few to take him seriously. But if they saw a fraction of the bitterness and bile that mangles every fiber of his interior... they'd know to beware. And so Richard embarks on a murderous path to power that will ultimately change the course of human history. But it won't be long before threats to his ugly reign mount - along with his insidious paranoia - and Richard will unleash a weapon that doesn't just destroy his enemies but sets off a worldwide pandemic of the most heinous kind, ultimately taking down Richard himself. Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end.