Fans of war stories and Christian fiction should be rooting for the hard-nosed hero to find grace.
In this novel about the war on terror, bravery and faith go hand in hand.
This American military drama begins in 2003 in a village square near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Dressed as an Afghan woman, Special Operations officer Jake Drecker slips into the crowd and shoots a Taliban leader in the head. Meanwhile, an American Christian missionary has been kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. And on that very same day, Special Ops forces in the mountains north of Jalalabad in Afghanistan are about to be overtaken by Chechens, but they are saved by a mysterious army. Weaving these incidents together, the author creates a story of heart-pounding action and edge-of-the-seat suspense. Jake is a professional killing machine who struggles with his past and sarcastically refers to himself as a “nice Jewish kid from Hawaii.” His commander, Michael “Pancho” Sanchez, leads the Prodigal Avenger Special Operations task force. Soon to be promoted to colonel, Pancho has a high degree of respect for Jake and the other soldiers in the field. Pancho’s last wish before becoming a paper-pusher is granted when he and Jake must take out the terrorist Abbas Bin Azzam. But a defect in the plan occurs when the missionary hostage is placed in their crosshairs. Can they obliterate the bad guy while saving the captive? Or is Jake going on a crazy suicide mission? Though the real star of this novel is Jesus (Jake fights an inner battle with disbelief), the Christian theme is not heavy-handed in the story, and any reader should appreciate the predicaments of the characters involved. Moynihan’s (No Greater Love, 2015) polished prose is fast-paced, and his gritty descriptions are sometimes starkly poetic. For example, during one exchange of fire, “the mini-guns opened up and began chewing up the hilltop. Shimmering brass shell casings fell in twisting clumps from the guns to the earth below.” The author also offers some singular points of view. In a scene that’s both compassionate and provocative, readers go inside the mind of a failed suicide bomber to find out how he came to such a low point in his life.
Fans of war stories and Christian fiction should be rooting for the hard-nosed hero to find grace.Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-948888-79-0
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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