People from all walks, young and old, rich and poor, brought together by desire and circumstance to confront illusion and splendor - "caught up in the rings" - a dazzling spectacle of deception, vengeance, and courage played out against backdrops as diverse as West Africa, Washington, DC and Monte-Carlo. "In the Splendeur grand salon, nothing grand, simply the despondent faces of traumatized people all walks of life, old and young and rich and poor, caught up in the rings, huddling together helpless as the day they were born." A fisherman from Gabon, a British Secret Intelligence Service officer in West Africa, a German assassin, a Washington, DC college professor, an Afghan heroin producer living in Paris, a National Security Agency specialist in Washington, a high-priced French escort, the CEO of a French telecommunications company, an American shipping tycoon living in Dubai, an assortment of wealthy businesspeople, their families, and a band of African terrorists-Illusion of Splendor is an imaginative interlocking story merging currents of poverty, extravagance, terrorism and power. "'Where is the cause?' he thought, the glorious cause that transcends human frailty, making unconscionable acts noble, ignoble men respectable. Freedom fighters or soldiers of fortune, Raymond and Gatimu were in the end simply capitalists selling their talents in a free market. They became the thing they most loathed. Worse yet, unrestrained by laws or norms of society they were rogues to whom eliminating an impediment to greater profit through the taking of life seemed no more dastardly than the lie told a prospective customer." This is the first novel by J.D. Easley-a courtroom lawyer with a varied background who brings considerable world travel, legal, and business experience to his writing.