The Last Operative Book Review by Bradley Evans

Premise:

Jordan Kirkwood wants to go quietly into the sunset. His career as an NSA intelligence officer has taken a significant toll. His two adult children are little more than distant acquaintances. His wife has been patient and supportive, but he knows she has deserved better. That was part of the reason they were going to London. He wanted her to see Europe like a tourist. But that was before he was given intelligence information during the recent mission to Germany. The threat is grave—bigger than 9/11. And the risk is compounded by the fact that someone inside the NSA is involved. The most hidden place in Kirkwood’s past will have to be unmasked in order to meet the challenges of this mission.

Review:

The Last Operative by Jerry B. Jenkins is a fast paced thrill ride dealing with a last of his kind NSA agent Jordan Kirkwood. His fight is to keep everyone around him safe as well as a whole nation. Unfortunately as the story begins, Jordan was in a disguise at an airport in Germany when a gunman shoots and kills several people at an arrival gate. One of the people killed was his wife Rosemary. After this event, Jordan starts out wanting to officially retire from the NSA but ultimately changes his mind when he realizes that he needs to solve his wife’s murder and find a potential killer wanting to finish the job to kill him also. As the story continues to unfold, Jordan discovers that he is unsure of who his real friends and enemies are.

If you like to read book versions of NCIS or CSI TV series or Jason Bourne thrillers, then this is a must read book. The Last Operative is full of twists and turns with international flavor giving this reader guessing several times to figure out whom the bad guys are and who the friendly agents are for Jordan Kirkwood.

I give this book a 4 ½ out of 5 stars. I hope that you will consider reading this book in the future.

Be blessed!


Bradley

The Jihad’s Messiah Book Review by Bradley Evans

Premise:

In a future when world power has shifted to the Middle East, and the Arab nations have signed a seven-year peace treaty with Israel, a radical Iraqi leader — known as Al-Mahdi, “the Awaited One”— rises to power promising to convert the world to Islam.

Major General Farid Zadeh is Al-Mahdi’s most loyal follower and the next in line to become the Full Army General of Iraq—until he is falsely accused of being an Israeli spy. Determined to vindicate himself, Farid flies to Jerusalem to spy on the Israeli military. Before he can return home with the intelligence, the peace treaty is broken and war breaks out between the Arabs and Israel.

Now he must run for his life, as both armies consider him their enemy and want him dead. Help — and perhaps redemption — comes from unlikely sources: a stunning Jewish woman and a Christian prisoner. When his faith and loyalties are tested, Farid must decide which side to take…. His decision could alter the course of Man’s final war.

Review:

What can be said about The Jihad’s Messiah besides the Premise above? It is labeled as a Christian fiction book talking about the End of the World issues. It is set about 13 years into the future and is also controversial. How is that for enticement to get you wanting to read this book?

Alright, then how about these points for consideration…. The Jihad’s Messiah is exciting to read. It is filled with the author’s opinion on the Qur'an and Islam and the Anti Christ rising from its religion’s ashes. It is a story from first person accounts of Major General Farid Zadeh, a very devout Muslim, and his fall from grace to realization of how life is outside of his own bubble.

Nick Daniels, author of The Jihad’s Messiah and published by Risen Books, has written a thought provoking, edge of your seat thriller that could be compared to Joel Rosenberg’s End of the World trilogy dealing with similar subject matter. He talks about events as if they were in the past and why things are always as they seem including a new look at people from an unfiltered Islamic structure.

What makes it a Christian novel? The events in the story are mostly laid out in the Holy Bible dealing with end of time sequences and the “Rapture” of all those believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Further, it shows how Christians differ from Islam and might interest you or anger you depending where you fall in the two spectrums.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I challenge those that love Christian fiction or who are Christians to give The Jihad’s Messiah a read and see if your curiosity was worth a glimpse as it was for me.

Be blessed!

Bradley Evans

Fear No Evil book review by Bradley Evans

Premise:

With his father in a nursing home and his mother needing support, former Great Smoky Mountains park ranger Lincoln Vailes moves to the bayou town of Eternal Springs, Louisiana, to become a police officer. Recent college graduate and eager social worker Jade Laurent has also moved there to try and right the wrongs of an abusive past. But someone is running her car off the road and pointing guns in her direction. As Lincoln investigates her case, he uncovers ties to big-city gang warfare up north that appears to be making its evil way down south.

Review:

When I decided to start reviewing again for 2011, I had 3 stacks of books to choose from that day. At the top of the second stack was this book Fear No Evil by Robin Caroll. My first foray several months ago was her first book in a trilogy called Deliver Us From Evil. It was a very exciting read. I never had heard of the Bayou series that she wrote a few years prior and so I read it with a blank slate. The main characters in that book were Brannon Callahan, Roark Holland and Lincoln Vailes(partner of Brannon’s with U.S. Park Service) set in the Great Smokey Mountains.

In Fear No Evil, book two in the trilogy, the story shifts from the Smokey Mountains back to more familiar grounds of Louisiana where Mrs. Caroll is from actually. Just like with the first book, I wanted to be green and open minded to escape in the story and see if she can teach me something new and investigative. I knew very little about child trafficking issues and how bad it was in this country until I read Deliver Us From Evil.

Fear No Evil's subject matters are gang issues and the struggles both in and out of prison which Caroll brilliantly portrays. The main characters are Lincoln Vailes and Jade Laurent.

Lincoln Vailes has gone from being a Park Ranger to being a police officer in Louisiana. His first job as a newly constituted lawman was moving to Louisiana at the most crazy time of year. It was hurricane season. While escaping a direct hit by one, the damage and flooding was just as severe.

Jade Laurent, social worker for Child Protective service, is a recent college graduate that seems to try and help everyone in the small town of Eternal Springs, Louisiana. In addition to helping women and the local shelter, she befriends Lincoln’s parents at the hospital she frequents with her job. His father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and she seems to help him and his mother cope better.

One thing that was hard for Jade was fixing her own problems. Her mother died when she was young and unable to leave her past in the past. The strengths of Lincoln helps Jade’s weaknesses and vice versa for Jade. As this reader found out Lincoln, Jade and the supporting cast make Fear No Evil for a fun quick ride of words.

If you like romantic suspense thrillers, then Robin Caroll is a good author to choose. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.


Be blessed!

Bradley