Guardian of Lies, by Steve Martini

This audio book was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 14 hours and 13 minutes long and was narrated by George Guidall.

This is 10th in a series of novels about Criminal Defense attorney Paul Madriani and his partner, Harry Hinds. The early novels were really good, but they fell off a bit in quality for awhile. So it was an act of hope that I downloaded this one and I am very glad I did.

This begins as a murder case and ends up as international espionage as Paul Madriani's client turns out to have ties to an old Russian nuke that is being recommissioned by Jihadists for a terrorist attack on America. This is only plausible in a world in which we are all connected by networks, but we do live in a world where we are all connected by networks. It's well-told, and the characters are believable and we have been set up for a sequel. I will get it. I give this one 4 stars.

America Alone, by Mark Steyn

This audiobook was a free download from Overdrive Audio, made available through the Alachua County Public Library web site. It is in MP3 format, is 6 hours and 15 minutes long, and was read by Brian Emerson.

In Mark Steyn's opinion, radical Islam is taking over western nations that are too timid to stop them. He also has some numbers that are difficult to deal with, as that timidity manifests itself in the form of birth rates that are too low to replace these western nations. Meanwhile, the Islamic immigrants to Europe are having babies at double the rate of the native populations, and that is not an opinion.

Meanwhile, America has a birth rate that is barely at the replacement rate, which leaves it as the world's last best hope to keep Islam from overrunning what has been a progressive, liberating, democratic civilization.

If you are a non-Muslim, and you are the least bit concerned about your children and your children's children living under Sharia Law, This is definitely worth the read. It is a subject that our politicians are not willing to campaign on or to which they might apply their leadership. It's a demographic challenge to Europe that may very well leave America alone as the sole free society in the 21st century.

This is very provocative, and difficult to talk to your friends about. But you might want to buy them this book. It's a four star page turner.

Against All Enemies, by Richard A. Clarke

This audio book was 11 hours and 54 minutes long, and was narrated by Alan Nebelthau.

I had heard all the detractors, my fellow conservatives, pick this book apart and speak of Richard Clarke as if he were the worst traitor. But I wanted to read this book for myself and draw my own conclusions. Now that I have done that, I will share with you my assessment of this book.

It is pretty fast moving and engrossing reading. Clarke begins with the horror of September 11, 2001, and then retraces his steps as he worked for 3 US Presidents before George W. Bush. He had a ringside seat to many decisions made about US policy on terrorism, and was a major player in some of the counter-terrorism efforts made under Bill Clinton's administration.

If I didn't pay any attention to the news at all since the early 1990s, I would have to believe that George W. Bush and his administration made every conceivable error leading up to 9-11, and that the justification of the Iraq War was a total fabrication by Bush, Cheney, and Condi Rice, who just wanted an excuse to go back and in and finish what George H.W. Bush did not. This book is a pretty tight argument for scorning both Bush Administrations for all time as a collection of bunglers unequaled in American history.

I truly did enjoy this book because I do believe that it will be instructive for generations to come, and because it shows us enough of the workings of counter-terrorism to actually give us hope that there is rhyme and reason to how terrorism is fought. However, there is just enough missing, and just enough that smells wrong to cost Clarke some credibility points. For instance, he makes a great deal of his information that demonstrates there was absolutely no reason for invading Iraq. Yet, it is completely ignored that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, was in violation of the UN's orders to comply with the dismantling of his nuclear and biological weapons program for 12 years. This was worth mentioning, even if he just wanted to discount it for some reason.

Read with a healthy dose of skepticism, but with the sobering realization that mistakes were made that led to 9-11, and that mistakes were certainly made afterward, this is a four star book.

Charlie Wilson's War, by George Crile

This audiobook was 20 hours and 27 minutes long, and was narrated by Christopher Lane.

I never saw the movie, so I have no idea how the book and the movie are different. I always trust the book.

This is the story of how a Democrat Congressman from Texas took up the cause of the Afghan people after discovering how the army of the Soviet Union was wiping out all resistance to their invasion. As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, he was able to move millions, and eventually, billions of dollars to aid the Afghan insurgents who were still fighting with WW1 Enfield Rifles against helicopter gunships and tanks.

Charlie Wilson was a liberal who voted for civil rights, abortion rights, and all manner of liberal causes, but who was also a rabid anti-communist who wanted America avenged for the Viet Nam War. The Soviets had helped the Vietnamese insurgents bleed America dry, and he wanted to give it right back to them through proxies in Afghanistan.

This is a very instructive tale about how politics actually works at the Federal level, showing how unholy alliances really work. Relationships really do seem to trump ideologies, as Charlie Wilson becomes friends with Fundamentalist Muslim leaders who look the other way at his womanizing, boozing lifestyle while he bankroles their Jihads. In Congress, those who want to fight communists in Central America with Iranian money are prosecuted while American taxpayer dollars are matched by Saudi contibutions to fight communists on the other side of the world with the blessing of the same Congress. It seems that if a liberal want so run a secret war, it's OK. But if conservatives want to do it, it's unconscienable.

Political skill transcends morality even as American politicians convince themselves that they are doing the right thing to fund a primiative militia that has no limits on the atrocities they are willing to perform on captured Soviet soldiers. Eventually, these same Afghan militias will come back to haunt us in ways the Latin American Contras never did.

This is a must read for anyone who cannot understand the holes in the news. 4 stars!

The Secret Servant, by Daniel Silva

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 10 hours and 47 minutes long, and was narrated by Phil Gigante.

This is the 7th novel by Silva to feature Gabriel Allon, an Israeli intelligence agent who wishes the world were a safer place so he can go back to work as an art restorer. But, once Allon is on the job, he is totally there, and it's bad guys beware.

In this novel, Allon is sent on a humdrum assignment to purge the papers of an Israeli intelligence asset after he is murdered by an Islamic nut job. While he is there, he finds that he is being shadowed by a man who turns out to be a former terrorist asset who is disillusioned and wants to make sure his name is not in any of the documents either. Through this chance encounter, Allon begins to unravel a plot to kidnap the daughter of the American Ambassador to the Court of Saint James in London. He is almost in time to stop it, but not quite.

Working with the CIA and MI5, Allon is now trying to rescue the woman, and his chance encounter with the former terrorist is indeed fortuitous: one of the kidnappers is his son.

If you are one of those people who is deeply ambivalent about offending radical Muslims or putting the squeeze on suspected terrorists, you will not like this. This is the kind of book Jack Bauer reads on vacation. And that is not the only reason I give it 4 stars. The writing is top notch for the genre and it is very thought provoking.

The Cell, by Stephen King

This audiobook was downloaded free from NetLibrary.com, was 12 hours and 27 minutes long, and was narrated by Campbell Scott.

This one takes off running as a man finds himself in the middle of the Cell Phone Zombie Apocalypse with no warning at all. Whether it is a terrorist plot or demons is never ascertained, but some devilish pulse through the cell phone networks is turning everyone into their most primitive and bloodthirsty selves quicker than you can say, "Can you hear me now?"

Our hero is Clayton Riddell, a struggling illustrator who has just made the big time just in time for it not to matter. He is able to team up with a small band of people who were lucky enough to have been off their phones when the terror struck, and now he just wants to get in touch with his estranged wife and his 11-year-old son. Are they dead, undead, or just fleeing for their lives? You don't dare pick up a phone to call them. Because you could also become one of them.

Both gory and philosophical, this book is not about reaching a conclusion. The phone zombies and the "normies" are all ruined people. One group has lost its minds, while the other has lost it's faith. It's a cliff-hanger that leaves you falling and falling...

It's worth 3 stars if you like this sort of thing!

Marwan, by Aram Schefrin

This audiobook came in 32 episodes from Podiobooks.com, was in mp3 format, and is narrated by several unidentified persons.

This is a novel about Marwan al Shehhi, one of the September 11 hijackers. It is a chilling story based on the documented investigation into the terror attacks. I was curious to see how the author, Aram Schefrin, managed to humanize such a monster. Could a complex individual full of misgivings have flown into the 2nd tower of the World Trade Center? Or would he have to be a complete sociopath?

This book was hard to put aside, and the time flew by. "Marwan" was both sad and riveting. Schefrin succeeds at keeping your pity for Marwan separated from your horror of what he has done. And you need to do that to see the next terror attack coming. Marwan was not a "bad seed", but he had many of them sown in his brain. Ideas matter, and you cannot fight them with mere law enforcement.

Act of Treason, by Vince Flynn

This novel was published in 2006, was downloaded from NetLibrary.com, and is 11:06:34 long. It is narrated by George Guidall.

If you are a left-wing zealot who has issues with the US military, take a pass on this one. Or upgrade your Prozac. The hero of this anti-terrorism novel is Mitch Rapp, a CIA undercover-opps assassin who burns through red tape and legal procedure when that's the only way to achieve a just result.

Our story begins when a Democratic Presidential candidate's motorcade is attacked with a bomb blast that kills 19 people, but misses the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. Although this was clearly the work of a professional, it seems like he got the wrong limo, the one that contained the wife of the Presidential candidate.

After the widowed Democrat is elected, Mitch Rapp manages to find the bomber, collect the evidence, get a confession (the hard way), and is then faced with new hurdles as the news leaks out and the new President-elect wants the man put on trial. Well, that's not gonna happen. But there is still another problem: finding out who really put this hit on the Liberal Democrat candidates.

I give it 3 stars for being fast-paced and well-written. I won't weigh in on the politics. :)