The Icarus Agenda by Robert Ludlum

In the Sultanate of Oman over 200 hostages are being held - the world helplessly watches as the Madness begins; the spirit of the Mahdi is abroad, intent on financial and political domination. To the Oman comes a quiet Congressman from Colorado: Evan Kendrick would seem an unlikely hero, but in his past there is a violence that he cannot forget - the blood of 70 men, women and children in a country which he literally loves. He will be the bolt that changes a nation - but which nation?

On the other side of the world, five of the very rich - and very different - meet. They are the inheritors of Inver Brass, changers of the world. A new kind of world saviour is sought, an innocent messiah. Kendrick is to be that unwitting victim.