Book #51 - The Apostle by Brad Thor

This was the best of the Brad Thor books I've read. I literally could not put it down yesterday. This is the story of a female, American doctor who is kidnapped and held ransom by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Harvath, the main character of all of his books, is a retired Navy Seal, Special Ops, Secret Service guy who is sent in to get her. Not only was the action incredible, but the description of life in Afghanistan for the Afghan people was breathtaking. The locals are depicted as a beautiful tribal culture who believe that honor and respect are the utmost qualities you can have. Unfortunately, it is these very people caught in the wake of the Taliban's crusade. I cannot imagine what it is like day to day for the people of Afghanistan, and it is incredible the sacrifice and risk charitable organizations make just to go and help the natives of the country. Fascinating look into local customs, like offering tea to guests, and the social repercussions of refusing that offer. The action in the book was excellent, and I highly recommend this to someone who likes a fast paced thriller.

Book #12 - The First Commandment by Brad Thor

I have to honestly admit the first book I read by Brad Thor I picked up off the shelf because of the cover. I do that quite often (make note publishers that the cover art does matter), and about half the time, the result is great and the other half of the time a flop. Brad Thor is a great adventure writer who has cornered the market on the Secret Service/Covert Ops books. Throughout this book, I found myself thinking, who would I have play Harvath in the movie. Still haven't come up with anyone. Must be beautiful like Tom Cruise but would have to be far tougher. It must be played by someone who can go crazy on the bad guy like Mel Gibson in "The Patriot." This book was great on many levels. Great adventure, high paced, great subplots, etc. However, what got me was how close it hit to what we are seeing in the news. All of the talk about Gitmo and terrorism were right out of the evening news. What was disturbing was the description and detail of how torture works. There were many occasions that my stomach rolled right up into my throat. If excerpts of this book were read of this book about the torture that happened at Gitmo, the citizens of our country would be furious and appalled by the fact that our government opened the prison and maintained it unlawfully for so many years. On a lighter note, for those avid readers as myself, I would be interested to know if you catch the reference he makes to Steve Berry's Cotton Malone.