Publication day, and I’m in the mother of all bad moods: four years’ work, and it’s all over. What to do next? No idea. 

But here’s a challenge.

Beside me on the desk are signed first editions of three books: ‘Cocaine’, ‘Brainwash’ and the new one, ‘A History of the World since 9/11′. They’re yours – if you can answer this not-entirely-simple question.

A History of the World since 9/11 contains a sort of code.

Scattered throughout the book are phrases and terms designed to link the eight stories inside it together. These phrases crop up time and time again, in weird places.

They’re not obvious (at least, I hope they’re not!) but they’re there. If you want these three signed books you have to find them, let me know what they are, and why they’re there. Email this site when you’ve got the answer.

Just so you know what you’re looking for, here’s a clue. The most obvious of the hidden words is POMEGRANATE – which shows up in chapters 1, 2, 3 (six times), 7 and in the epilogue. Why? And what are the others?

Got the idea? Happy hunting!

Oh, and if anyone out there has an idea what I should write a book about next, my editor would love to hear from them. So would I.

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According to the Lancet, 654,965 ‘excess deaths’ occurred in Iraq from 2003 to 2006 – approximately 2.5 per cent of the entire population. These figures have been disputed. Four years on, other estimates range from 95,000 to well over 1 million…

From the new book by Dominic Streatfeild, A History of the World since 9/11, published in February 2011 (UK) by Atlantic Books, August 2011 (US) by Bloomsbury Press.

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Not long after Ghani’s death, a plaque arrived from the CDC in Atlanta. Signed by the Center’s president C.Charles Stokes, it announced that – in the light of his ‘extraordinary contributions and sacrifices’ – Abdul Ghani had been named a ‘Polio Eradication Hero’…

From the new book by Dominic Streatfeild, A History of the World since 9/11, published in February 2011 (UK) by Atlantic Books, August 2011 (US) by Bloomsbury Press.

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What was the point in fighting a War on Terror if your own allies were busy boiling people alive?

From the new book by Dominic Streatfeild, A History of the World since 9/11, published in February 2011 (UK) by Atlantic Books, August 2011 (US) by Bloomsbury Press.

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About the only thing the CIA man managed to convince the IAEA experts of was that, actually, he didn’t have the first clue what he was talking about… Another officer was so struck by Joe T’s initial briefing that he wondered whether the CIA man was trying to start a war…

From the new book by Dominic Streatfeild, A History of the World since 9/11, published in February 2011 (UK) by Atlantic Books, August 2011 (US) by Bloomsbury Press.

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