Cobra Talon by Patrick Sydor

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MWSA Review

Cobra Talon is a compelling look into the Vietnam era through the experience of an author who was there with the US Air Force as a combat security policeman. Vietnam era—but not Vietnam: Like many Air Force personnel at the time, author Patrick Sydor served in Thailand, where excessive eating, too much drinking, and drug use leading to addiction was commonplace. The characters are well drawn, but the narrative doesn't leave out the lives lost and frightening battles engaged in, including the rescue attempt on USS Mayaguez, a real American container ship that had been seized by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge in May 1975. Pop culture references such as this serve to add the "historical" to the genre historical fiction.

One of the centerpieces of this true-to-life wartime narrative are the counterpoints in main character Nick Parker's love life. Professed as a Christian and in love with his girlfriend back home, Nick eventually succumbs to the classic military-in-Thailand lifestyle, including a local girlfriend with whom he's also in love and an affection for
recreational drugs. This creates a dissonance in his emotions that results in him dividing his love in two directions with no clear way home. Once he's injured in battle and sent home as a medical casualty, his decision is made for him. But a reader wonders legitimately how it might have worked out differently if he'd stayed in Thailand longer.

This narrative will appeal to Vietnam veterans of any service, but most especially to Air Force vets of the time who served in Thailand. For the uninitiated, there is a comprehensive glossary in the back to demystify the liberal use of acronyms and ranks. All told, a good look at a dangerous time.

Review by Daniel Charles Ross (June 2020)
 

Author's Synopsis

A fictional thriller based on true events, Cobra Talon is an action-filled tale with many poignant moments detailing the effects of war on a young, idealistic, honor-driven man and the two women who love him.

Nick Parker is plunged into the unpublished war in Thailand following alongside the Vietnam War. His assignment: develop an effective defensive strategy for a CIA/USAF radar site, a job his immediate boss expected to take on. Hostility escalates between them as Nick refuses to give up his sarcastic humor in the face of his boss’s demands.

Off duty, Nick and his friends frequent the local culture for adventure and entertainment. As a Christian, Nick is faced with the demoralizing effects of extensive injuries and the ready availability of drugs and alcohol to get through his days. Then, one of his best friends, a man under his command, commits suicide. Nick is accused of murder.

Back home, his Sunday School teaching girlfriend longs to help him while a beautiful Thai educator is there by his side. He slips further away from his roots and ideals. The final blow comes when he’s drawn into the last horrific battle of the Vietnam War to emerge barely alive. Will he ever see any of his loved ones again?

ISBN/ASIN: B07XCR8ZLH
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 274

Rice Paddy Stew and Saigon Tea by Kerry Pardue

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MWSA Review

Rice Paddy Stew and Saigon Tea is a combination of verse and prose. The verse is extraordinary—heartbreaking in places, thoughtful in others. In its entirety, the book explores the impact of war that follows young soldiers home after the fighting is over, whether they are dead or alive when they make that journey. For example, the first poem, “A Brand New Day,” is determined and hopeful, ending with these lines:

“Today is a guide to build upon future days
I choose to respect life
I choose to be more loving and kind
I choose to be loving in word and deed
I choose to begin with changing me
I choose to be thankful for events in my life even PTSD
I choose by loving me.”

Certain lines make the reader smile, like in a poem called “Chris Jackson,” where the poet ponders what a friend might be doing now: “As I think of you in Heaven I know you will make the Angels blush and/St. Peter will shake his head when he hears them complain and/ All he can say is that Chris Jackson acting up again?”

There are stories about old vets and young, some who made it home and some who didn’t. Coming from a medic who tried to rescue them all, each battlefield loss is painful and the reader can feel the author’s ongoing personal connection with the many ghosts of war.

One poem is especially vivid. “In the Shadow of The Blade” is about a Huey Helicopter, #091. It begins: “We were soldiers brave and true/ Who rode upon you in our youth.” It ends with: “After fifty years it is time for both of us to rest/ We both know we did our best our story is finally complete/ For we are HOME at last.”

Other poems—like “Why Do the Good Ones Die So Young” or “Your Life Made a Difference to Me” or “Wrong Place at the Wrong Time”—make the reader put down the book for a moment and think about the ghosts who haunt this author. Perhaps the most poignant of all, “We Lost Another Corpsman/Medic Today,” will haunt his readers.

 Review by Joyce Faulkner (June 2020)

 

Author's Synopsis

After leaving the Army, he tried to put Vietnam behind and lead a normal life. Though he’d go on to be outwardly successful, on the inside he battled demons of anger, guilt, traumatic memories, and inability to trust, leading eventually to getting fired and other destroyed relationships. Almost forty years later, after a breakdown and PTSD diagnosis, Kerry began to examine his torment through writing. This book is the gripping story of his experience in Vietnam and how it shaped his life for decades to come.

Being a Medic in the Infantry isn't for the faint of heart. Gunfights and medivacs are daily activities. Every decision means life or death in the heat of combat. Follow along as Doc Pardue recalls his combat tour with the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam

His journey is one of hope that help did come from many sources, the VA, his writing, going to group with other medics and corpsmen, and actively serve medic and corpsmen in leadership roles in their organizations.  He found that his service was honorable, that he did much to relieve the pain and suffering of those that he served with that were wounded. He saved lives and he held the hands of those that did not make it helping them to cross over death’s portal.

ISBN/ASIN: ASIN: B08787WG6V,  ISBN-13: 978-1477414989,  ISBN-10: 1477414983
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Poetry—Poetry Book
Number of Pages: 278

Student, Sailor, Skipper, Survivor - How WWII Transformed the Lives of Ordinary Americans by Julia Gimbel

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MWSA Review

Author Julia Gimbel took her father's draft, an unpublished memoir, and expanded on it to give us her interesting book Student, Sailor, Skipper, Survivor. Her father, Robert T. McCurdy, was in college when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and like so many of his peers volunteered to join the military to help his country win the war. As a college student, he had the opportunity to enlist as an officer in the Navy. He took advantage of that and never regretted his choice. McCurdy served on a landing craft tank (LCT) in the Pacific, transporting men and equipment on and off the islands. Many of the men he returned to the larger ships were injured. McCurdy survived the war, and after a while, he began to jot down his memories of the war years. While author Gimbel's discovery of her father's memoir and war years correspondence served as the inspiration to write this book, once she got started, she realized she needed to expand her research. She researched military archives and talked to more World War Two survivors. This book is not about major military victories or the feats of heroes. Rather it takes a look at the common sailor and what life was like so far from home and so close to death. It's a good book that I recommend. 

Review by Bob Doerr (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

Student, Sailor, Skipper, Survivor goes beyond the often-told battle stories to describe the life experiences shared by millions of Americans serving during WWII. Using her late father's journal as the framework, researcher and author Julia Gimbel fleshes out what it was like to go through accelerated officer training, set sail, and live life at sea during the tumultuous war years.

Step into the shoes of one sailor and, by extension, millions more to catch a whiff of the American spirit and determination of WWII. Learn how young Americans navigated military life and connected with their new brothers over the simple pleasure of a meal or a smoke, all while keeping their eye on the goal of returning home to resume the life they put on hold.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1645381068
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 307

House de Gracie by Dennis Maulsby

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MWSA Review

Dennis Maulsby’s House de Gracie is an excellent mix of fantasy fiction and military action that will leave the reader wanting more.

Hugh de Gracie is a worn out, half-blind, shot up military officer who is out of the Army because of his injuries. He doesn’t have long to live, and so he returns to the family mansion to live out his remaining days. While home, he learns two important things. First, being home has completely cured him of any illness, and second, he has started a blood feud with the family of terrorists he killed when escaping Taliban activity. As he learns more of his family history, he realizes that the timelines don’t make sense. His father should be MUCH older than he looks. More and more, as Hugh learns that things are not what they seem, he is hurtling down a path of reckoning with a Muslim fanatic that will see much bloodshed by both families.

While I am not a fan of fantasy fiction, I am a fan of military fiction, and I love how Maulsby weaves both together to create one of the most unique stories I have ever read. The story seems perfectly plausible, even though it shatters the normal boundaries of time and the human relationship with nature. It’s very well done, and a fun read besides. I am absolutely hoping for a sequel!

Review by Rob Ballister (June 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

After ten years in the U.S. Army, Major Hugh de Gracie returns to the five-hundred-year-old family mansion in New York's Adirondack Mountains. A terminal bat-borne disease caught in Afghanistan gives him very little time to reconcile with a family he rejected a decade ago. Only his pending death provides a powerful enough reason to bring him back into an isolated Gothic household of many secrets. His family and their residence -- in both mind and flesh -- are more intimately intertwined than Hugh can possibly imagine.

The illness is not the full extent of his problems. An implacable Taliban enemy made on the battlefield will attempt to destroy him, his family, and his house. Supported by wealthy Saudi interests, the enemy will force a climactic battle on his front lawn.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN: 978-1-945663-27-7, ASIN: B0843S5X5C
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Horror/Fantasy/Sci Fi
Number of Pages: 315

Saigon Summer: Corruption & Murder During/After the Tet Offensive 1968 by Robert M. Pacholik

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Author's Synopsis

“SAIGON SUMMER: Corruption and Murder During/After the Tet Offensive 1968” is a fictionalized account of real events during the nine months and three phases of the Tet Offensive, in South Vietnam.

During and after Tet, five military photo/journalists covered the war in the rice paddies, the cities, the mountains and highlands, and all across the Mekong Delta. While fighting raged, these same enlisted men discovered that Black Marketeers based on the Saigon Docks, were stealing and selling 45 tons monthly of uniforms, weapons, equipment and supplies, GI socks, ammunition, vehicles, MOGAS and AVGAS to both sides for obscene profits.

Tasked to photograph and report about the war, these young men saw US military infantry and support units starved of equipment, and infantry men dying because of the stolen goods. Two of the five set out to find out who is running this corrupt operation, how it works, and expose it to the two major Commands that ran the US effort in Vietnam. (namely MACV, and USARV).

Through the prism of a Public information Office on the Saigon Docks, we see both US military officers and non-com sergeants who operate the Black Market on a day-to-day basis. These active-duty men censor, distort, and destroy evidence of the operation run by four American military men.

Photo/Reporters endure terrifying firefights, monsoon rainstorms, rancid mud and insects, and hardened VC/NVA troops daily. Their work is censored and distorted to show that things are going well, despite facts to the contrary. As time passes, these “photo guys” find stolen American goods in every part of the country. And a steady expansion of further Black Market activities into all four tactical zone of Vietnam, is in the works.

They also find out about phantom ships delivering non-existent AVGAS to pipelines that don’t exist, from ports that have no record of these ships ever arriving. All to enrich these insulated “Four Horsemen.”

The enlisted men are subject to (Article 15) discipline, bogus charges and trumped-up Courts Martial charges, and repeated daily harassment and physical abuse to, “go along/to get along.”

Murders follow in the path of Black Market expansion, and men on both sides fall victim to “stop at all costs, or terminate them,” and keep the Black Market ‘pipeline’ running at full speed.

You will not like SAIGON SUMMER, but every detail of this story is true, based on personal accounts and eyewitness testimony. Evil flourished in Saigon in 1968.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN#  978-0-988-1773-5-2       (for E-book)
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 210

Plans That Made God Laugh by James Allen

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MWSA Review

Captain James "Bluto" Allen, USN (Ret), has had a heck of a life. His earliest dream had always been to live that life in the air as a Naval Aviator (think "Top Gun"), and except for his unshakable Christian faith and a powerful, military-grade level of personal determination, Life itself might have veered him onto a different course. Only an inability to quit chasing his dreams is ultimately responsible for his success, and this is fully debriefed in Plans That Made God Laugh.

Emerging from an early family situation that moved him around in a military lifestyle (his father flew B-52s), Allen prospered in college and flight school, which is not to say it was easy. Indeed, Allen makes it very clear that military aviation is hard, sometimes made harder when his problems weren't his fault. A minor sketchy eye exam kept him from flying front seat in the Navy's then-premier air superiority jet fighter, the F-14 Tomcat, but he was still able to get the back seat as a naval flight officer.

The memoir is a telling narrative that, yes, details his life and times, career set-backs and progressions, and happy times and less happy times. But more than anything, Allen's faith in God and in himself overcame every obstacle until after his active Navy days, he became a civilian airline pilot at the age of 47. The tale begins a bit slowly, with the usual early years depictions of family and college life. But the story, while not a thriller, soon accelerates like an EA-6B Prowler launching hard off the bow catapult.

The phrase "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans" is attributed to movie director and comedian Woody Allen, not believed to be Captain Allen's relation. But author Allen has managed to keep his good humor and optimistic outlook throughout a readable memoir—and a life—distinguished both by his faith and by his extraordinary service.

Recommended—and a must-read for military aviators.

Review by Daniel Charles Ross (June 2020)

 

Author's Synopsis

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” 

My plan: As long as I can remember, I wanted to fly. 

From humble beginnings in Kansas, to flying as a back-seater in a Navy carrier-based jet, to flying big spy planes and training airplanes, I forged my own path.

After many crushing defeats and unexpected victories, and combat experiences in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, I finally realized my dream of flying as a commercial airline pilot at age 47.

Plans that Made God Laugh is my story.  I’m the little guy with the big dream.

It’s an example of what you can do, with God's help, if you put your mind to it.

ISBN/ASIN: B0864YJWXB
Book Format(s): Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 475

Caribbean Cabal by Hugh Simpson

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MWSA Review

Caribbean Cabal by Hugh Simpson is an action-packed, full-throated adventure story that is fast-paced and engaging. Since this is the second book in a series, it would have been helpful to have a quick summary of the story arc from the first Hap Stoner book at the beginning. If you hadn't read it, it was confusing as to how all the main characters got together and knew one another and the back story that they constantly refer to. Once you get beyond that, the story moves along well. The overall plot and the execution of the story line is a little unlikely in that all the cascading events in the story would emerge and pile on one another; but what the heck: it's fiction, and anything goes. It’s a good story to take to your den, curl up in your favorite chair, pour some Jameson over ice, and then engage in this boisterous and escapist adventure.

Review by Phil Keith (July 2020)

Author's Synopsis

A ruthless Central American President wants it. And he's willing to play a dangerous game of geopolitical chess with Russia and China to get it. Former LtCol Hap "Kang" Stoner owes his life to Will Kellogg and Will Kellogg owes a dangerous international banker millions of dollars. Hap and Will know where the Nazi gold cache is hidden, and they'll take every imaginable risk to seize control of it first. Russia, China, a Central American President bent on expanding his power throughout Latin and South America, collide with hap Stoner's gritty team of warriors.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-949393-04-0,978-1-949393-03-3
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 467

Alter Road by Mark James

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MWSA Review

Alter Road by Mark James is described by the author as a political thriller. The title refers to the road that is a border between troubled Detroit and wealthy Gross Pointe.

The 1967 Detroit riots lasted five days in the heat of the summer. The seven days of riot described in this book, set in a brutally cold winter in Detroit, were sparked by power shut-offs for non-payment, which led to many fires as residents tried to heat with dangerous gas heaters. The effects of the conditions leading up to various actions and to the riots are described from multiple viewpoints: students at Wayne State, various gangs, militia, politicians, CID, and the U.S. Army. The backdrop of the riots is critical to the story—significant unemployment, decreasing city budgets which affected infrastructure as well as the number of police available, and the huge number of abandoned homes and businesses. The death of a popular retired school teacher and her family provided the spark to set off the riots that spread to several neighborhoods and other cities in Michigan. Criminals took advantage of the chaos to kill members of other gangs, and some were smart enough to avoid any area that was being photographed by the media, knowing that after the rioters were controlled, law enforcement could use that footage. The Army’s massive numbers, equipment, and organization were finally needed to end the riots. All in all, a very disturbing examination.

Review by Nancy Kauffman (May 2020)

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Author's Synopsis

After decades of deindustrialization, economic decline, income inequality, and political polarization, parts of America are a tinderbox.  In Detroit, the match is lit when the local power company routinely shuts off the electricity of households behind in their monthly payments even in the midst of an unusually brutal winter.  Thousands of households resort to portable gas and kerosene heaters, causing a spike in house fires and fire-related deaths. Following the death of a popular retired school teacher and her family, massive protests erupt.  An underfunded and undermanned police department is quickly overwhelmed, and the U.S. Army is deployed. Welcomed at first by exasperated residents, the Army soon finds itself navigating internecine conflicts, an international refugee crisis, and failing infrastructure.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-948035-41-5, 978-1-948035-42-2, B086DS52G1
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, Audiobook
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 302

Chains Of Nobility by Brad Graft

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MWSA Review

Chains of Nobility is the first book in the Brotherhood of the Mamluks trilogy. The Mamluks begin as slaves taken from various places. Slavers take boys from nomadic tribes where the young develop exceptional horsemanship and hunting skills early in life. After being purchased and installed in a training citadel, the slaves develop almost superhuman skills with swords, arrows, lances and horses, or are killed in the effort.

Following Duyal, the main character, on his journey, we see him evolving slowly and believably from a young nomad enslaved after watching his family killed to a deadly Islamic warrior, devoted to the man who bought him and devoted to the cause of Islam.

His story is set in a nearly forgotten time when Islamic princes fought the European Crusaders, the eastern Mongols, and amongst themselves using mercenary and quasi-enslaved armies. Many pages held something surprising—a five-senses description of living freely on the Russian steppe or in a prison cell, a boy’s memory of his lost family fading slowly or intruding into the present, some feat of endurance or prowess that bordered on unbelievable.

The book involves various nomadic cultures, Russians, Mongols, Muslims living in Egypt, horse culture, warrior culture, slave trading at a massive scale, royal blood feuds, detailed information about and use of various ancient weapons of war—and that doesn’t begin to cover the characters, places and times, journeys and relationships, settings and subplots, political and other intrigues throughout. 

The author has created an intriguing and believable world from ancient ideas, settings and characters, a masterful job of both history and fiction. The interior is beautifully designed and easy to read, despite its 443 pages. Clever use of fonts signal the shift between the characters’ present lives and pasts, easing the reader through the transition to memories.

Chains of Nobility will appeal to anyone with an interest in unusual military history, the history of Islamic jihad, ancient weaponry, or warrior training. 

Review by Barb Evenson (August 2019)

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Author's Synopsis

Duyal, a teenage nomad living on the vast Russian steppe, is captured during a Mongol invasion and forced on a long, deadly journey into the war-torn Middle East. Purchased by a Kurdish prince in eastern Turkey, his destination is an Islamic citadel, filled with similarly enslaved strangers and one merciless instructor—a man determined to purge the weaklings from his ranks and forge the survivors into Mamluks, Islamic Knights unmatched in wielding sword, arrows, and lance from atop Arabian steeds. When Duyal becomes entangled in his instructor’s schemes and his mates witness another comrade’s unjust execution, the recruits can take it no longer. Their wrath is unleashed. Chains of Nobility is the first book in the Brotherhood of the Mamluks trilogy. Set during the 13th century, the book is an immersive dive into the world of military slavery—a Muslim institution largely unheard of in the West, whose ranks ousted the Crusaders and Mongols from the Levant, preserving Islam. Chains of Nobility was recently selected as a finalist for the 2019 Colby Award, which "recognizes a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a major contribution to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations, or international affairs."

ISBN/ASIN: 13:978-0999633854, 13: 978-0-9996338-2-3 , 10: 0-9996338-2-1
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 443 

Midnight Blues by Robert Kidera

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MWSA Review

Robert Kidera weaves a fast-moving story around Gabe McKenna on his first assignment as a private investigator. Midnight Blues is a suspenseful yarn—twisted in horrifying circumstance and sprinkled with humor—that starts with the kidnapping of the young son of an Indian friend.

Gabe and his partner Onion misread the kidnappers, losing the ransom money and the boy. Gabe gets shot, and his client is murdered. This leads them on a chase through New Mexico’s backcountry that reads like a travel log on out-of-the-way places not on the top of any places you want to visit. As they pursue the bad guys, they pick up a strange posse of a 90-year-old hermit driving a 70-year-old motorcycle, a dwarf toting a Tommy Gun, a female archaeologist, and a Native American big truck driver.

What started as two suspects grows to a human trafficking cartel that had abducted young girls, most of them Indian, from small towns. As Gabe and his crew play tag with the bad guys in running gun battles, they learn the cartel is headquartered in an old village that time forgot: Midnight. They find a back road to the ghost town. That task becomes more urgent with the news that the gang is leaving Midnight and taking their captives to another location. 

The FBI is called, but don’t arrive until after Gabe and friends engage the heavily armed cartel in a fierce battle that leaves most of the bad guys dead or wounded and their leader, improbably called Angel, trying to flee in an airplane. Gabe has to stop him as the others free the young prisoners.

This is the fourth in a series of Gabe McKenna action-packed novels that grabs your attention and doesn’t turn you loose until the last sentence of the last page.

 Review by Joe Epley (June 2019)

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Author's Synopsis

 What kind of person would harm a child? Private Investigator and Vet Gabe McKenna tracks a young boy taken prisoner by a human trafficking cartel through the wilds of New Mexico. With the aid of unlikely friends, including a 94 year-old former WW II vet, himself a former prisoner-of-war, a race against time results in a bloody final showdown at a remote, deserted, mining town called Midnight. Who will be willing to pay the ultimate price and make a difference in this struggle for freedom?

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN: 978-1723845062 ASIN: B07H5V4VZ3
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 251

Kanaga Diary: Lost in the Aleutians, 1938 by Estelle Lauer

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MWSA Review

Kanaga Diary—Lost in the Aleutians, 1938 by Estelle Gibson Lauer is a moving tribute compiled and written by a daughter in memory of her father. Lauer’s father, Navy Chief Pharmacist's Mate Royce Rainey Gibson, unexpectedly and inexplicably disappeared into the wilderness after setting out for a hunting trip on January 18, 1938, while serving on a remote outpost in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain.  Relying primarily on her father's letters and his diary entries, she documents the details associated with her father's final days and months.

A combination of Lauer's observations, as well as her father's various writings, provide an interesting look into the pre-World War II time frame in general.  The book also provides a thorough accounting of Gibson's experiences—both during his years of Navy service and while braving the barren wilderness in the middle of the Aleutian Islands.  The author’s description of how her mother, sister, and she came to grips with the loss of a well-loved husband and father are particularly poignant.  

Although the specifics of Gibson's disappearance will likely never be unraveled, the reader will certainly get a detailed look at one man's struggle to deal with the elements, boredom, and the challenges of family separation.  Perhaps more importantly, you’ll appreciate how one family learned to cope with loss and move on with their lives.

Review by John Cathcart (August 2018)

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Author's Synopsis

It’s the winter of 1937-’38. World War II is brewing. At a remote duty station on Kanaga Island, Alaska, in the middle of the Aleutian chain, eight men are engaged in a U. S. Navy mission whose aim is secret even from them. Six of the men record weather data and monitor radio communications between Japanese fishing boats. A seventh is the cook. The eighth man, the medic, Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Royse Gibson, has little to do — no one in this small contingent gets sick, no one is injured. There will be no mail in or out for months, and radiograms, the only other means of communication with home, are expensive and difficult to arrange. So Gibson keeps a diary in the form of letters to his wife and two young daughters, to be mailed if ever it’s possible. Then one day Gibson and the cook go seal hunting, and disappear without a trace. Gibson’s letters, finally delivered to his family months later, comprise half of "Kanaga Diary," detailing his daily routine and his far more interesting spare-time activities on the island. The other half of this “double memoir” is his daughter Estelle’s story of the family, struggling, eventually moving on, but keeping his memory alive. In 1995, fifty-seven years after the loss of her father, Estelle and her husband set out on a long-planned visit to Kanaga, to investigate her father’s disappearance and to finally say goodbye.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-99700-328-4
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Genre(s): Memoir, Nonfiction, History
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 132
 

Land of Wolves: The Return of Lincoln's Bodyguard by Tj Turner

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MWSA Review

T.J. Turner’s Land of Wolves is in some ways alternative history. In his first book of this series, Lincoln’s Bodyguard, Abraham Lincoln does not die at the hands of an assassin at Ford’s Theater. Instead, his half-Indian bodyguard, Joseph Foster, manages to kill John Wilkes Booth. Then Joseph and Lincoln team up to stop a Consortium of industrial magnates who are trying to seize control of the U.S. government to benefit their own financial goals. Land of Wolves jumps forward in time to the 1870s, only to find that the forces of the evil Consortium still pursue Joseph and the “Old Man,” Lincoln. Now their evil designs also threaten to steal the Great Plains from the Native American tribes who live there.

The storyline of the book is in every sense a “thriller.” Without too much emphasis on characterization or settings, the author relies on non-stop action—bloodshed, violence, torture, rape, brutality, and revenge dominate the pages. One life-threatening event follows another until the reader must surely believe all is lost. Plot twists change the outcomes with dizzying frequency. The same lost and stolen knife keeps cropping up whenever the hero needs it. A child faces serial kidnappings and emerges bravely from each one, scarred but unbowed. The faithful woman saves the day—again and again. This is the stuff movies are made of. 

Review by Carolyn Schriber (Aug 2018)

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Author's Synopsis

Land of Wolves finds Joseph Foster with Molly as they settle into a new-found life in the hills of Tennessee. But Abraham Lincoln’s former bodyguard, the man who saved the President’s life, cannot escape the Consortium as they come roaring back, killing his mother, abducting his daughter—all to coerce his Congressional testimony on their behalf.

Instead, Joseph and Molly strike the Consortium in their own safe haven of New York City. In a Bonnie and Clyde-like twist, they rob from the Consortium to draw out their leader—General Dorsey. But the hidden plan reveals more than they counted on, exposing the true intention to steal the Black Hills and the gold underneath from the Lakota Sioux. Land of Wolves traverses the American landscape, where only a full reconciliation with Joseph’s native heritage and a cast of characters ripped from history—including Lincoln—can bring true peace and stop General Dorsey and the evil Industrial Consortium.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-60809-202-4
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 336
 

Into a Dark Frontier by John Mangan

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MWSA Review

If you're a person who loves reading a thriller where the main character often enjoys near-superhuman powers—where the "bad guys" are unbelievably bad, and the "good guys" tend to be a bit shady—you'll probably want to give John Mangan's Into a Dark Frontier a try.  Mangan takes the reader on a dangerous journey, filled with nonstop intrigue—and plenty of action and violence.

In the book's early chapters, its main character, ex-Navy SEAL Slade Crawford, is forced to confront enemies who used to be his friends and brothers-in-arms.  He quickly jumps out of the American pan and into the African fire—where civilizational norms have broken down to the point of pure evil and savagery.  Slade's journey will prove to be an exciting and page-turning experience for the reader… as long as he or she is not too squeamish.

Review by John Cathcart (August 2018)

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Author's Synopsis

In the near future, Africa collapses into an enormous failed state, leaving the continent lawless and severely depopulated. For most, the breakdown brings horror, but for others—the outcast, the desperate, the criminal, and the insane—it allows unparalleled opportunity: a new frontier of danger and unlimited possibility. 

In America, ex-Navy SEAL Slade Crawford, emotionally crippled after twenty years of frontline combat, the dissolution of his marriage, and the accidental death of his son, is falsely accused of terrorism. Slade flees to Africa to build a new life and escape his past, but he is captured by an enigmatic American colonel, Gary Kraven, and blackmailed into tracking down a blood cult that is rampaging across the sub-Sahara. Struggling to stay alive and to free himself from Kraven’s grasp, Slade pursues the cult across the lawless African frontier. He soon learns that nothing is as it seems and that he is standing at the epicenter of a global struggle that will determine the course of history. Slade must decide whether to fight for his life or his honor—he can’t have both.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-60809-261-1
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Mystery/Thriller
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 356
 

Holy in the Moment: Simple Ways to Love God and Enjoy Your Life by Ginger Harrington

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MWSA Review

Let’s face it—holiness is no easy topic to write about! The whole concept of holy can feel esoteric, unwieldy and largely irrelevant to our daily lives. We tend to think of holiness as something that resides in the realm of the divine rather than the rough and tumble of daily life, right? 

Well, not exactly. After all, the Word is clear, “Be holy, as I am holy.” But how?

Perhaps this is what makes Holy in the Moment work. Ginger Harrington is no advocate for pious perfectionism or holier than thou religious endeavor. Holy in the Moment aspires to practical life strategies and meaningful moments that create patterns of holy living and right alignment with God. Harrington’s approach to holiness is less about religion than real life choices and meaningful relationship.

Holy in the Moment is a reminder of Richard Foster’s powerful insight into what he calls the principle of indirection—We do not become holy by trying to be holy; we only become holy by growing into right relationship with God (Celebration of Discipline). God takes our small daily offerings of ourselves and makes something that far exceeds our wildest expectations. 

Harrington translates the spiritual disciplines into something less about regimen than real life choices and faith in action. Through her own journey of discovery, Harrington offers simple reminders and holy habits to enable us to live less self-centered and more God-centered lives.

Get real with God about your true feelings. Set the atmosphere in your home. Choose holiness over legalism. Count the cost of perfectionism. Make the sacred choice to forgive. Call someone else's unrecognized gift to the surface. Extend the gift of invitation. Get rid of toxic attitudes.

This pragmatic approach to holiness lays out a road map of intentional moments, daily behaviors, and practical decisions that reorient our lives and put us on the path to deeper relationship with God. Holiness is fruit--the supernatural byproduct of incremental change, daily surrender, and simple obedience. Only God can make us holy.

“Sacred simplicity is a secret to a life well lived,” the author writes, “when we make the most of all our moments for God to change our lives one spiritual choice at a time.”

Review by Dana Tibbitts (August 2018)

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Author's Synopsis

Enjoying life (zoe) in Christ comes in the choices we make moment-by-moment. Transparently sharing her struggles with anxiety, fear, and insecurity, Ginger Harrington invites women to discover how intentional choices made in the moment can become holy habits that open the door to healing and freedom. With a refreshing perspective, she shows that holiness isn’t a rigid standard to keep but a gift to receive through a vital relationship with God, who makes us whole. Holy in the Moment explores the practical power of choices to grow in holiness without the pressure of perfectionism. Through gentle encouragement, biblical insights, and applicable ideas learn to discern feelings and overcome distractions and shame, adapt God’s equation for obedience, live a praying life, discover methods for practicing holiness in parenting and the importance of rest, embrace biblical love and forgiveness, and understand how work becomes holy. Find healing and wholeness with simple choices to love God, embrace truth, and enjoy every moment of life with practical ways to be holy by choosing to trust God, rely on his wisdom, and live from his resources.

ISBN/ASIN: ASIN: B074KM3D2W, ISBN: 978-1501857805
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Religious/Spiritual
Review Genre: Collections—Religious/Spiritual
Number of Pages: 227
 

Facing the Dragon; by Philip Derrick

MWSA Review:
A young boy witnesses the unthinkable, and in pursuit of revenge becomes a man.

Facing the Dragon, by Philip Derrick is one of the best Vietnam war era thrillers I've had the pleasure of reviewing. From page one, Derrick skillfully led me down his visionary path of a boy coming of age in a war zone. Not only were his characters in Facing the Dragon believable, they came to life for me. I was completely drawn in and held captive until the very end.

Derrick had me catching my breath, squirming in my seat, and shouting at my Kindle. Fear, frustration, helplessness, sorrow—I was emotionally embroiled with each page turn. Derrick is a master storyteller; Facing the Dragon satiates the categories of both mystery and thriller. I look forward to reading Philip Derrick's next book.

Reviewed by Sandra Miller Linhart, MWSA Reviewer

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Author's Synopsis:
A hitchhiker. A cavern. A series of murders over 25 years.
January 1970 - Twelve days ago fifteen year old Jim Peterson's biggest worry was failing his Geometry class. Now he is Vietnam impersonating a U.S. Army paratrooper. He's there to solve a mystery and make up for his cowardice.

Can someone without military training survive in a combat zone?
Will he find the answers that he seeks?
Or will someone see him as a loose end that needs to fixed?

A compelling page turner, FACING THE DRAGON is a coming-of-age story, wrapped in an historical mystery, and played out in a exotic land at war. Join the adventure.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-9991202-0-0
Book Format(s): ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages:
 

Doing a 180 at 60; by John Takacs

MWSA Review

Sixty is the youth of old age...

"Doing an 180 at 60" is a short motivational book written in a breezy, casual style often sprinkled with humor and sage advice. It is written to help us older folks get more enjoyment as we enter the senior citizen phase of life. 

Finding himself becoming sedimentary at age 60, the author made a U-turn in his life style and set an ambitious goal to accomplish 60 adventures or experiences that he had done in his younger years. This included modifying his diet and engaging in disciplined physical training programs that enabled him to compete in Ironman and triathlon contests, scuba diving, motorcycle riding, skydiving and other less strenuous outdoor activities.  

The author also recognizes not everyone wants to participate in demanding triathlon or Ironman events, but he does encourage his readers to get involved in outdoor activities.

Knowing first-hand how it can be done, John Takacs used his personal experiences in writing "Doing a 180 at 60." Through entertaining and often funny anecdotes, he provides inspirational advice on 60 being a renewal of life, not the start of life's ending. 

Review by Joe Epley, MWSA Reviewer
 

Author's Synopsis:
How many times have you heard that getting old was a bitch? What if it didn't have to be? What if getting older actually meant getting better?

Author John Takacs takes us on an adventure and shares his journey of transformation from overweight out of shape author to world-class Ironman triathlete in his age group. Along the way he shows us that many of the adages of old age are faulty. Join him in taking steps to:

Change your diet and change your health
Start moving and exercising for a more complete life
Actually go back to doing the things you once loved and enjoyed

You can do a You-turn, but only if you start the process now. If you want a better quality of life at any age, this is the book for you.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-943267-21-7
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): How to/Business, Anthology
Review Genre: Nonfiction—How to/Business
Number of Pages: 157
 

The Drifter; by Michael D Mullins

MWSA Review

Russell Pearce, “The Drifter,” wants a major change in his life. He has been a hired assassin, dispatching the enemies of the U.S. all over the world, but he is tired of living that life. He wants to drift, to disappear for a while in the mid-South, mostly Tennessee, to see the countryside, and to think.

As he embarks on his leave of absence from federal service, he keeps a low profile, staying in campgrounds and cabins, paying cash for almost everything, listening to nature, awakening with the sun, and making friends along in the way among barkeeps and restaurant owners. The author makes it very clear Russell enjoys home-cooked meals, and although Russell desires solitude, it seems that trouble finds him. He has an innate desire to help those who need it, and it results in several robberies which he foils, helping a shunned old woman, and setting a homeless Vietnam veteran on the right track to recovery. And that’s just the small stuff, some of which required him to use his considerable assassin skills. 

In the area where he has decided to live for a little while, he recognizes an Islamist terrorist who slipped his grasp in the Middle East. Azim  is now setting up a terror cell in the very town where Russell has met a woman, Jill. After Russell prevents many people in a church group from getting killed as a result of the actions of this terrorist, he disappears for a while, but promises to return to Jill. 

His attempt to become “invisible” involves his using multiple identities, having his truck repainted, and having his cell phone fool anyone who could track it. He meets or reconnects with helpful people throughout the book. But he is tired of this life in intrigue and makes a decision that will allow him to explore his softer side and lead him to an adventure in relationships.

Russell Pearce is a likeable character, if a little unbelievable. But the reader goes along with him and enjoys his exploits, hoping he will find whatever it is, besides peace, he is looking for in life on his leave of absence from the CIA. Will he ultimately change his life forever, and settle down? Or his way of living too set for him to change?  Read this enjoyable tale to find out the answer.

Reviewed by Patricia Walkow, MWSA Reviewer

Author's Synopsis
The Drifter is a story about a Vietnam veteran and career Central Intelligence Agency operative who had one assignment too many. It made him question his heart and soul. Did have any of either left? Were they hardened beyond redemption? Richard Pearce loves America and serving its people, wherever that took him, whatever he had to do, but fears he lost his humanity as his expertise became legend. Pearce begins a journey to find the answers to his questions, to quell his introspection. Along the way he finds adventure and discovers that his instinct to protect people is as automatic as breathing. His travel takes him into the heartland of his country where he hopes to find a way to fend off his demons. Somewhere in the magnificent mountains of the south he hopes to find peace in himself and perhaps even some way to forgive himself for a life defined by violence

ISBN: 194326712X
Genre: Thriller
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Pages: 224

After Bloody Shiloh; by Larry Murley

MWSA Review
Civil War novels tend to share certain common features. The majority tell the story of the war from the winning side. But those books with a Northern focus are more likely to be filled with tales of great battles won, brilliant generals leading the way, and patriotic citizens at home bravely carrying on in the face of dangers. Those with Confederate sympathies are more likely to be romantic in nature, with bell-skirted damsels waiting sadly but bravely for their heroes to come home, “bloody but unbowed.” Narrators and main characters tend to be men with relatively high military rank, so they are in a position to understand and explain the battles taking place. And the action usually takes place in easily recognizable places like Gettysburg or Appomattox.
 
Josh’s story features none of those characteristics. His letters from the western front come from places like Pumpkinville, Georgia, or Tullahoma, Tennessee. His comrades are still his good old friends from back home. And his main concerns include the sole of his boot that keeps falling off and the cookies he failed to share with his mates. This story is simple fare, too—the war through the eyes of an uneducated and inexperienced farm boy thrust into a cataclysm he cannot hope to understand. The story is therefore limited but also fascinating in the manner of a trainwreck one cannot help but watch.
 
Civil War buffs will learn nothing new here, but young readers who need characters with whom they can identify may enjoy the book.
Reviewed by Carolyn Schriber, MWSA Reviewer

Author's Synopsis:
Young Josh leaves his home in the hills of northern Mississippi to go and join the Confederate Army at Corinth, Mississippi in April, 1862 to help defend his home form the damn Yankees. Only he discovers that the war will test everything he believes in. As the months progress, he describes camp life and the battles of the western theater of the Civil War through letters home to his parents and family back home in Mississippi.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-9960148-8-5, 0-9960148-8-8 paper version
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 207
 

In the Company of Decent Men; by Andy Horne

MWSA Review

For combat veterans, wartime is more than just memories. In author Andy Horne’s book, In the Company of Decent Men, Bill Boston has fought his personal demons and survived. When revisiting the old family where he hid from society after the war, he remembers a particularly bad battle in 1969.

David Armstead, another veteran who now serves as Assistant Secretary of State for International Security Affairs, comes face-to-face with his memories when a former North Vietnamese enemy, Phan Tran Nguyen, reveals secret information dating back to that same battle in 1969.

Edward Stroud, an officer in the battle, is currently a US Senator and has set his sights on the upcoming presidential election.

The three menserved together on Swift Boats, patrolling the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta.Now, many years later, their fortunes are again intertwined as the past is brought to light.

In the first chapters of the book, the author sets the scene for a political thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Most readers love stories where good triumphs over evil and In the Company of Decent Menmost certainly delivers.

Review by Pat Avery, MWSA Reviewer

Author's Synopsis:
In the Company of Decent Men is a political action thriller with its share of true-to-life heroes; these are not superheroes or darkly flawed stick figures of extraordinarily violent and fantastic behavior. They are, instead, the good, decent and ordinary men and women always preponderant elements in the high drama of life, especially when compared to publicly adored heroes, deserved or not.

First presented, is a retrospective on a particular brown water raid in a hostile canal complex of Vietnam's Mekong Delta that ends in disaster. More than three decades later, perceptions and known facts are re-examined. With the backdrop of pending selection of candidates for U.S. President, clarity emerges from these distant shadows.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-945507-16-8
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Fiction, Historical Fiction
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 380

A Time For War; by Ronald Wheatley

MWSA Review
This is a collection of newspaper columns written for a local paper which captures the stories of veterans who have some connection to Scituate, Massachusetts.  The book is organized chronologically by conflict, dating back to the Revolutionary War through the recent war in Afghanistan.  Only World War I is missing. 

The author’s ancestor, who was born in 1765, represents that earliest war where he often served as a substitute for others.  Because this Wheatley lost his discharge papers, he had to wait until age 80 before he was finally granted a pension for his service.

The Civil War is represented by three letters from one of three brothers who was involved with the Siege of Petersburg, which lasted from June 9, 1864 until March 25, 1865.  All three letters were written in the summer of 1864.

The longest section is represented by World War II veterans.  The author recognized that veterans’ stories were being lost and were worth recording.  His stated goal is to “provide some insight into not only the veteran’s service but also the times when the veteran chose to serve.”  (page xii)
Reviewed by Nancy Kauffman, MWSA Reviewer

Author's Synopsis:
"This work, fashioned over 20 years, is a marvelous testament to the diversity of those who have participated in American conflicts and of their many and sundry expressions of patriotism...a valuable historical record of martial valor that’s well-researched, intelligently organized, and lovingly offered. An engaging journalistic account of American military and civilian service during wartime."
—Kirkus Reviews

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-55571-814-5
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History, Biography
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 370