UKIAH, Calif. – Mystery author Sheldon Siegel will premiere his newest thriller novel, “The Terrorist Next Door,” introducing a new series set in Chicago, on Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Mendocino College campus in Ukiah.

The reading will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 4210 upstairs at the new Mendocino College Library, 1000 Hensley Creek Road.

The Friends of the Mendocino College Library, an affiliate group of the Mendocino College Foundation is sponsoring the event and will provide light refreshments following the event.

Siegel also will be available to sign copies of his new book.

The new novel is set more than a decade after 9/11. Someone is setting off fire bombs in Chicago using untraceable cell phones. The international terror channels are silent.

An unknown group calling itself the Islamic Freedom Federation takes credit for the bombings and demands the release of Hassan Al-Shahid, a University of Chicago graduate student whose plan to set off a bomb at the Art Institute was thwarted at the last minute by Det. David Gold and his long-time partner, Det. Paul Liszewski. Their heroic efforts had cost Liszewski his life and put Gold in the hospital.

The FBI and Homeland Security believe the new bomber is a “lone wolf” – a freelancer who operates off the grid. That makes him even more dangerous.

As the explosions rock Chicago and the death toll mounts, Gold and Battle are drawn into a desperate cat-and-mouse game against a brilliant and cunning mind.

“The Terrorist Next Door” is a timely, compelling, and, at times, terrifying read by a master of suspense.

A native of Chicago, Sheldon Siegel earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in 1976 and graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1983.

He has been in private practice in San Francisco for more than 20 years and specializes in corporate and securities law with the firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP.

Prior to writing “The Terrorist Next Door,” Siegel had released “Perfect Alibi,” the seventh novel in his series of critically acclaimed, best-selling courtroom dramas featuring San Francisco criminal defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez.

His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into eight languages.

This is one of many several events that the Friends of the Mendocino College Library is sponsoring this fall, including an Oct. 27 event with Carolyn Wing Greenlee at the Mendocino College Lake Center and C.D. Payne on Nov. 21.

For more information, call John Koetzner at 707-468-3051 or visit www.mendocino.edu .