Review: A rose in the desert
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 13, 2012
Matt Slater is the protagonist in this thriller. And let me tell you the book did provide a lot of thrills! An FBI specialist who can study and analyse criminals, and a writer, Matt faces quite a challenge in the story. Bored with his work within the US, he is looking to get to the roots of the fanaticism and terrorism in the Middle East and Asia. Almost ready to quit his job because it confines him, he gets an opportunity to do what he longed for, to go where he wanted to. Criminals back home have an agenda - be it money or vanity - but the people Matt was going to deal with here had a completely different agenda, one that would not be well understood without going to and knowing about the place and culture of the place they were from. He takes up the new assignment excitedly, but this challenge that he takes up this time is not an easy one.The book combines the true events of New York 9/11 and fiction with a string of murders and kidnappings along with the hidden agenda of the perpetrators. This blend of reality and fiction is depicted extremely well in the book, be it the reasons for the acts of the perpetrators or the hurdles that Matt faces in his investigation in the Middle East.  From there, Matt gets to what he is looking for, but not without his share of dangerous encounters and the many challenges in a foreign land that works in a way very different than what he is used to.The author is widely traveled and understands cultures and is able to use it well in the book. The scenes almost seemed like they were drawn right before me and it was extremely easy to step into them and it certainly gave me a feeling of the story coming alive.As I understand, this will be a trilogy and I am certainly looking forward to the next two books. Not just for the study or the protagonist but also because I have thoroughly enjoyed reading from this author.