Losing Sleep Over 'Lion of Babylon'
By Mark Young
Guest Reviewer
Author Davis Bunn has written another edge-of-your-seat thriller guaranteed to make readers lose sleep. In this unique page-turner, Bunn's well-written and fast-paced Lion Of Babylon novel takes readers by the scruff of the neck, never letting go until the last chapter.
Ex-intelligence officer Marc Royce's life—once filled with excitement and adrenaline—drifted into sadness, lethargy and boredom since his wife passed away at the age of twenty-nine. Grieving over her death, he prays life might change. Royce soon finds out that one must be careful about what one prays for.
His former boss, an ambassador living in the shadows of powerful government, emerges to report that Marc's best friend—an assistant chief of security in Baghdad's Green Zone—has disappeared along with two young women. The ambassador wants Marc to ferret out the truth. Were these disappearances just part of a romantic tryst at a Red Sea resort for a few days, or did this CIA operative and two women get caught up in political espionage, kidnapping, or are they lying in a sandy grave?
Thrust into a war-torn country, Marc joins forces with Sameh el-Jacobi, a lawyer and member of an Iraqi Christian Church, who specializes in returning kidnapped children to their families. Cultural and religious conflict makes the job harder to find Marc's friend and to learn of the real reasons behind the disappearance of these three Americans.
As the plot deepens, nothing can be accepted at face value. Everything has consequences. Religion. Politics. Even the release of nearly 100,000 criminals by Saddam Hussein prior to liberation may play into the problems Marc and Sameh face regarding the ugly trade in human bodies.
This novel explores some of the contemporary issues inside Iraq today, including the persecution and kidnapping of Christians and others in that country.
In a recent article posted in American, the national catholic weekly, figures show that of all the persecuted Christian communities in the Middle East, those in Iraq have suffered the worst. At beginning of the occupation there were more than 800,000 Christians in Iraq, now there are about 450,000.
It is within this political and cultural backdrop that the Lion Of Babylon is born.
Tomorrow, join me on my blog for an interview Mark Young did with me.
About Mark Young: Writer, husband and father. Write mystery, suspense, thriller novels. Life experiences include three decades in law enforcement, six years working on newspapers. A Vietnam survivor serving with Fox 2/5, 1st. Marine Div. USMC. Visit Mark at the Hook 'em and Book 'em blog. http://hookembookem.blogspot.com/
