When Alex Reynolds, his lover Peter Livesay, and his mother Jean--occasional freelance operatives for the CIA--are asked to stash an Iraqi military defector in their home, all three are less than thrilled. It turns out the defector is an 18-year-old soldier who has ties to a terrorist organization and, to further complicate matters, is gay. But the real trouble begins when the young man mysteriously disappears, and suddenly Alex, Peter and Jean find themselves in the middle of a very dangerous game, in Fred Hunter's The Chicken Asylum.

Fred Hunter is the author of numerous mystery novels, including four previous in the Alex Reynolds series and four in the Ransom/Charters series.