Aug. 11, 2008

On Books. I just finished two books that explore the war on terror--one fiction, one non-fiction. The Last Patriot by Brad Thor is fiction which explores the idea of a lost revelation to Mohammed that would radically change the message of Islam and end radical Islam’s argument for violence against infidels. It is fast paced, well written, and very satisfying. It is rooted in well researched history about Thomas Jefferson and the United States’ first encounter with radical Islam. Something that Thor does with this book is to separate the fact from the fiction in his story. I appreciate this because I am always bugged when I don’t know where the fact ends and the fiction begins.
The other book is by Oliver North and is a short first history on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Titled American Heroes in the Fight Against Radical Islam, it is based in large part on North’s many trips to Afghanistan and Iraq as a correspondent for Fox News. It is full of great pictures taken in the war zones. A particularly good feature of the book is the insets of medal citations for medal recipients for bravery in the wars—stories rarely heard or seen in a war covered by much of the media solely in negative terms.
I finished three other books, too. This is what I have been doing instead of writing. I dug out the J.A. Jance books stashed at my house, put them in order, and started in. In her J.P. Beaumont series about a Seattle homicide detective, I read the first two, Until Proven Guilty and Injustice for All. They are formulaic, but fast moving one and a half day books, a good distraction. But I am interested in how the stories are developed. Jance now has at least eighteen books in this series alone. I have read number seventeen Long Time Dead, and it was very good. The third book is Day of the Dead, the first in her newest series about an organization called The Last Chance or TLC. TLC is funded by the bequeathal of a wealthy widow whose daughter was murdered and her killer never found. Its mandate is to look into unsolved homicides, usually brought to the organizations attention by relatives after law enforcement has stopped looking. This first book in the series was brutal. These books do not appear to be for the weak stomached. This one was, however, far more complex than the early Beaumont series. I will keep reading. There are at least thirty-three books in three series by Jance.