He saw first-hand the 9/11 carnage in New York City. Now former NY Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik imagines how the next attack could happen in his explosive new thriller released today — "The Grave Above the Grave." Available at Amazon and bookstores everywhere.
Bernard Kerik has lived an extraordinary life by any standard. Abandoned at age 2 by his alcoholic mother, he dropped out of high school, became a military policeman and martial arts specialist, then rose through law enforcement from patrolman to become a highly-decorated undercover narcotics officer in New York and then the city’s top cop before it was attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.
Drawing on these incredible experiences, the 63-year-old former commissioner has just penned an explosive new thriller, "The Grave Above the Grave."
"I’ve spent 30 years in policing and security, 10 of which was in the Middle East, and people constantly ask me what are my fears, and whether I believe we could suffer another 9/11 attack," Kerik tells Newsmax. "Writing this book gave me the opportunity to educate people in a fictional way what rolls around in my head daily."
In "The Grave Above the Grave," published this month by Humanix Books, Kerik tells the story of NYPD Commissioner Rick Raymond who, while battling a cop killer with Islamic terror ties, uncovers a plot to launch another devastating attack on the city. As he races against the clock, Raymond also must juggle the pressures of a grandstanding mayor, a disreputable reporter and a secret love — who just happens to be the district attorney.
It’s a gripping thrill ride that bares the intricate workings of big city policing — warts and all — in the nation’s most important city, and one that only an insider could write.
Kerik has had his share of scandals, including a stint in federal prison for tax fraud. That became the basis for his 2015 nonfiction best-seller, "From Jailer to Jailed."
So is Commissioner Raymond’s character based on Kerik?
"I like to believe that he is based on me and every other cop in this country who has stood between good and evil, who’ve put their lives on the line for their communities on a daily basis, and who so often are extremely unappreciated," he says.
Kerik acknowledges the World Trade Center attacks weighed heavily as he wrote his debut novel.
"9/11 taught me what happens when the wrong people are allowed in this country, and we have since seen the results. New York City is always going to be a target because of its size, its wealth, its financial centers, and the attention that it would get sustaining an attack. However, there is now no safer city in the United States.
"We have learned the hard way and the men and women of the NYPD have the most substantial counterterrorism programs in the U.S."
Kerik believes the days of an international terrorist hijacking in which jets are flown into buildings "couldn’t happen again, or at least I hope not."
He says intel plays a crucial role.
"However, the scenarios I’ve played out in the book could happen if U.S. intelligence services don’t pick them up first, and that’s why in the realistic world I constantly talk about the effectiveness of our intelligence capabilities and how important they are, that local, state, and federal authorities are communicating."
Kerik, who was appointed to head the NYPD’s 34,000 uniformed officers by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now President Donald Trump’s lawyer, recalled the gritty days when New York was a hellhole.
"I’ve had friends and partners shot and killed. Being a New York City cop in the mid-1980s up until Giuliani took over in 1994 was like working in a combat zone daily," he says.
"Today, my 33-year-old son is a Newark, N.J., police detective on their SWAT team, and I worry about the same things now that I worried about for myself 30 years ago," he says.
"I think President Trump has made the U.S. safer in a number of different ways, most importantly is the denuclearization of North Korea, and diminishing that threat.
"Hardening up our borders, going after MS-13, pushing ICE to get rid of the criminals, and taking the handcuffs off of our military for the first time in decades to let them go do the job they’re supposed to do."
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