The Copper Scroll

JOEL C. ROSENBERG'S NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING NOVELS HAVE AN UNCANNY WAY OF COMING TRUE.

The first page of his first thriller, "The Last Jihad," put readers inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city . . . but it was written nine months "before" September 11, 2001. As "Jihad" unfolds, an American president finds himself in a war with Saddam Hussein over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction . . . but it was published five months before the actual war with Iraq began.

Rosenberg's second novel, "The Last Days," opens with an attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy heading into Gaza, the death of Yasser Arafat, and radical Islamic terrorists trying to take over the West Bank and Gaza . . . but two weeks before it was published, a U.S. diplomatic convoy was attacked in Gaza . . . thirteen months after it was published, Yasser Arafat died . . . and then Hamas seized control of the West Bank and Gaza.

In Rosenberg's third novel, "The Ezekiel Option," a dictator rises to power in Russia, an Iranian leader vows to annihilate Israel, and Russia and Iran form an unprecedented military alliance . . . but on the very day the novel came out, Iran elected a new president vowing to accelerate his country's nuclear program . . . four months later, he vowed to "wipe Israel off the earth" . . . and two months after that, Russia agreed to sell Iran $1 billion worth of fighter jets, missiles, and naval warships. Now comes "The Copper Scroll," Rosenberg's most exciting adventure yet.

Will it come true as well?