Under Fire,Th Sisters, Criminal Kabbalah

Under Fire (The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi) by Fred Burton and Samuel m. Katz

“From The director’s Desk: To the diplomatic Security Service special agents who read this book: the courageous efforts of our brethren on 9/11 in Benghazi have in large part gone unheralded and unknown to the public.”

The above statement shows the sincerity intended when this story was written. The book contains maps of the grounds and area. It also contains pictures in the center of the book that give the reader a helpful way to relate to the otherwise passionate descriptions of the events as they unfolded.

When people listen to news coverage of events like the terrorist attack on Benghazi we often have no references in our minds as to the kind of society where these events actually took place. A book like Under fire tries to make the reality and the truth show through by reporting on the way events unfolded.

Under Fire, explains different terms that may not be familiar to the reader. It examines some of the organizations involved in the events and in situations often faced by Diplomats of the USA.

“It was hard for the GRS operators to count the number of tangos, or terrorists, who were positioned inside and outside the compound.” This one sentence examines the type of incident the book explains in detail. The authors are handing the reader in-depth information about this attack, terrorism and similar attacks in other places.

This is a reality based book.

2. The Sisters by Helen Bryan (a library epub. Book from Amazon)

Here is a different take on the inquisitions by the Medieval church in Spain. The story tracks a group of church sisters through a specific timeline. It draws a picture of how the sisters handled helping the public and fulfilling their vows to God. This story crosses birth lines. It builds your faith in God who sees all and knows all.

The story starts in 1552 with a prologue. “Since the earliest days of Christianity our order has born witness to a female tradition of spirituality that men of the church have suppressed and replaced with doctrines that refashioned god and religion in their own image.” Reading just the prologue will give you insight into the way women have been treated unjustly for many years.

Chapter one moves you to events in South America in1983. The story will move to the USA then on to
to Spain once again. The timeline runs from 1552 to 2013. The content is about several different families and of course the sisters and the community they share.

The Author Helen Bryan was once a barrister. She has written books about biographies, law and fiction.

The Sisters, is a moving story that will touch the hearts of men and women everywhere no matter what their church affiliation may be.

3. Criminal Kabbalah by Lawrence w. Raphael forward by Laurie R. King (an Amazon Ebook)
Kabbalah is a deep way to reach out to God. It teaches meanings within life that people yearn to understand. “Kabbalah is a system by which a person might attain union with God….” This statement is from the forward. In the forward King compares the kabbalah as a restoration of the link with God and Crime Fiction stories. She shows that when a wrong has been committed a detective will find the truth and try to restore the proper order by reconciling or resolving the situation in a proper way.

There are 12 stories about crimes that were committed and their resolutions. A special thing about the book is the information given about each author and reference to other works by each author. With the reference you can continue reading other works written by these authors. You may have met these authors in “The Washington Post” or teaching a university class or just from a Novel you have already read that impressed you.

A website has been created by Lawrence W. Raphael, www.jewishmysteries.com “…..where an annotated bibliography of contemporary American Jewish mysteries is listed.” You can find more about this is the book.

Each of the twelve stories has it’s own special twist. It is crime within communities that must reach out of their own space to find the answer to some wrongfully committed act. You will learn about Crime and forgiveness. One story opens with “Hey—Is your name really Dark? Just that line will draw the reader forward.

I enjoyed all these stories.