Members of a Christian militia called the Hutaree were arrested last month following FBI raids in several Midwestern states. The government claims the nine suspects planned a violent action in April, so agents were forced to act quickly to diffuse the threat.

The uncovering of the alleged plot sent cable channels and other news outlets scrambling to find experts willing to discuss whether militias and other groups bent on organized violence are on the rise.

Terror from within not only makes news, it can also result in some compelling fiction. Four months from now, a shadowy collection of environmental extremists will plan and successfully carry out an act of domestic terrorism — blowing a hole in the side of a Manhattan office building.

That attack is at the center of David Goodwillie's debut novel.

"American Subversive" is told from the perspective of its two main characters: Aidan Cole, a journalism school dropout who is sleepwalking through an uninspired existence as a New York-based blogger, and Paige Roderick, a policy analyst whose life is turned upside-down by the death of her beloved brother, Bobby, in Iraq.

When Aidan receives an anonymous e-mail that implicates a beautiful young woman in the bombing, it sets him on a collision course with Paige, who became radicalized in the weeks following Bobby's death.

"American Subversive" is a political thriller, love story, whodunit and examination of our modern world, all rolled into one. More than anything, though, it's a great read, a captivating page-turner from the first line — "I am in hiding, someplace cold. Someplace they won't find me, or haven't yet" — to its thrilling conclusion.

Goodwillie, a 38-year-old former baseball player, private investigator and Internet entrepreneur, clearly has found his calling.

He writes with a command of plot, character development and pacing that makes "American Subversive" hard to put down.

The timeliness of the subject matter doesn't hurt either.

The Hutaree case will eventually play out in a federal courtroom. In the meantime, Goodwillie provides us with a triumphant work of fiction that's every bit as credible as what's happening in the country these days.

"American Subversive" (Scribner, 320 pages, $25) by David Goodwillie.