This Is Good, But Make Sure You Read The Whole Series

I recently started reading Joel C. Rosenberg's books... starting out backwards with the last book in this series, Dead Heat. I enjoyed this book so much, that I had to continue reading from the beginning, with the first book, The Last Jihad.

Because I had just finished his fifth book, I was slightly disappointed. This book is good, don't get me wrong... but just as my husband (who is an author in his spare time) has written books that have only gotten better over time, Joel C. Rosenberg has improved as an author over the course of his series. The Last Jihad was his very first published work of fiction.

This book was written 9 months before the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. There was a lot of hype about how he had written about a suicide bomber before it actually happened, which got me confused, because this book talks about September 11th. Turns out that the book was revised after September 11th to include references to it.

Although this book is not as good as the final book in the series, I did enjoy it a lot. It has some suspense (although not the jaw-dropping in disbelief type of suspense from his final book), is well written, and is realistic... his past career as a communications strategist must have something to do with that.

Plot - Just the Basics

Our story begins as the president, the successor to President G.W. Bush, is returning to his Colorado home for Thanksgiving. There is a huge motorcade ready and willing to do anything to protect the president. Suddenly, the unthinkable happens. A plane, allowed to land because he was running low on gas, flies past the runway towards the motorcade... although there is a decoy presidential limo, this plane seems to know which one to target.

As you read the book, the answers to the questions that this scenario creates are answered. Does the president survive? How did they know what limo to target... was it an inside job? Is anybody else in the country threatened?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, we meet another character... Jon Bennett. He's a shrewd businessman that listens to innocuous tips and analyzes them to make big bucks. While sent on an assignment to try to figure out whether interactive TV was going to be a big hit or not, he discovered that all the soccer moms were drinking bottled water... ended up making a fortune for his company by investing in water instead of TV.

Jon Bennett is ready to sign a HUGE oil deal... oil has been discovered in Israel, but nobody knows about it yet. While Bennett seals the deal, the plane flies towards the president. After the attack, Bennett tries to make his way back to the United States and is stopped, accused of being a terrorist. Will his interrogators believe him? Will they let him go? Or will they torture and kill him? You'll have to read the book to find out.

Realism

Joel C. Rosenberg seems to know what he's talking about when he's writing about presidential motorcades, press buses, missiles, and Israeli locations. He has done his research. I figure that I'm probably your typical reader of his books... I've watched my share of CNN and Fox News over the years, spent 5 1/2 years on active duty in the Navy and another 5 years in the Navy Reserves, and have read a few other books partially set in Israel (primarily the Left Behind series). While I've seen movies and read books that seemed to not know what they were talking about, Rosenberg's books do. Maybe if I had spent some time on the White House staff, I could pick it apart, but to the average reader, it will seem credible.

I like the characters that Rosenberg has created for this story. He spends enough time telling us about the characters and their histories that you care about them, but he also didn't spend an excessive amount of time on character development.

Suspense

This book has a lot of suspense to it. You'll have to read a while to find out whether the president is okay, and by then you've been introduced to Bennett, and after that something else happens that has to be resolved. It is not as suspenseful as the final book in the series, but it has enough on its own.

Final Thoughts

I'm giving this four stars... on another day I might have given it five, but I was blown away by the final book, and I wasn't as much by this one. I enjoyed it a lot though.

This book has been out for a while... the last Helpful or better review written on this site is four years old. As time passes, this book will become more of an alternative history rather than the up-to-date political thriller that it was initially intended to be. This book was written in a time where Sadaam Hussein, Osama Bin Ladin, and Yassir Arafat still were big players. While Bin Ladin is still around, obviously the other two are not. In a decade, this book might be difficult to read by people who are not old enough to remember these people, but for now, this book is still well worth your reading time.