Monday, November 12, 2007

Monday Night Jihad-Jason Elam & Steve Yohn

Monday Night Jihad
Jason Elam & Steve Yohn
Tyndale, Jan 2008, $19.99, 350 pp.
ISBN: 9781414320076

In 1991 Baghdad, Hakeem lost his mother father, uncles and cousin to the American bombs and was taken to a camp where he was to become a mole living in the United States. He was brainwashed to avenge the death of his family and all those of Islam that the Americans killed in their war on terror. Hakeem settled into his American life waiting to be called to do his duty to Allah.

After Afghan duty, Second Lieutenant Riley Covington of the US Air Force Special Operations Command has become a valued linebacker for the football team the Colorado Mustangs. Hakeem’s group partially succeeds at bombing the Mall of the American. His next mission is the stadium where the Mustangs are hosting a playoff game. Bombs go off and thousands are injured and killed including Riley’s friend. As a reservist, Riley is called to find and put in a cage the mastermind, something he volunteered for; while Hakeem has one more site to hit before he is finished.

Former NFL kicker Jason Elam and Steve Yohn have written an exciting fast paced thriller that goes inside the mind of the terrorist to learn why they perform such horrific acts. The protagonist is a decent gentle man loved by his friends and feared by his enemies as he has no qualms about killing a killer who doesn’t believe it is wrong to kill or maim thousands. Hakeem’s handlers want America as the next country where suicide bombers operate with impunity. Readers will appreciate this action-packed thriller as Hakeem brings much more to the tale beyond the movie Black Sunday with the insight into his gut need for revenge accentuated by those who gave him three meals, a cot, and indoctrination.

Harriet Klausner

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