Complex Female Characters in ‘Strait of Hormuz’
In these new reader reviews of Strait of Hormuz, the reviewers reflect on faith and friendship. You’ll hear from Mark Buzard, Audrey Sauble and Kim Martinez.
Making God Part of the Story
By Mark Buzard, Thoughts of Sojourner blog
As with the other two books, the very likable Marc Royce returned as the main character. He is thrown again into some major political suspense and intrigue. I really had a hard time putting the book down, and since I was reading it when I didn’t have to put it down, I let myself be pulled into the story, and through the book traveled all over Switzerland the Middle East. Although the book is fiction, the reality of how much the Arab nations hate Israel is not, and the book had a very scary scenario of what could happen if one of those countries decided to go after Israel.
Bunn is an author who isn’t afraid to write Christian fiction and make God part of the story. The Christian aspect of the book only added to the story, and was such a part of the story that it wouldn’t have been as great of a book without it. Through fiction, the author shows how God can always work for the good, and even when things look impossibly grim, He can save the day.
I was sad to see this series end, but this book wraps up an excellent series with a lot of suspense, drama, action, and some romance thrown in for good measure. I still say the first book was the best, but this third one is even more exciting and action filled, and left me with a great satisfied filling that comes from reading a great novel.
When Friends Need Help
By Audrey Sauble, The Lore Mistress blog
Everyone has a friend who needs help occasionally. Marc Royce’s friend just happens to be Ambassador Walton, a very old friend and a top intelligence official.
It also just happens that Marc’s friend needs help with a very serious problem. The US was tracking a shipment from North Korea to Pakistan when nine containers on the shipment disappeared. US officials believe the containers are headed to Iran, with the missile parts that could increase Iran’s firing range to reach the US. Within a week, the containers will have time to reach Iran, and meanwhile, the US’s best solution is also the worst—to stop ships entering the Strait of Hormuz and search them for the containers. Doing so may stop the attack, or it may give Iran an excuse to declare war.
Marc’s role is to find a way out—specifically, he’s supposed to track the money and find out what really is going on. Unfortunately, his first search effort uncovers a booby-trap instead.
And then Kitra, the Israeli nurse Marc met in Rare Earth, walks onto the scene.
In the background, waits a shadowy, but intriguing, cast. There’s the wealthy backers who can send agents anywhere in the world or to any five-star hotel at a moment’s notice, as well as the underground house-church with members from enemy cultures and a mission to protect believers in hostile countries.
Bunn started the series in 2011, introducing freelance intelligence operative Marc Royce in Lion of Babylon. The middle novel, Rare Earth (which I reviewed last summer), won the 2013 Christy Award for Suspense Fiction. And now, Strait of Hormuz marks the end of the series.
Even as the last book in the series, Strait of Hormuz stands on its own, telling Marc’s latest adventure separate from his previous missions. As with Rare Earth, I would have no problem picking up the action from the first few pages. At the same time, this being the second book I’ve read from the series, I noticed more that Bunn doesn’t spend a lot of time on character-development. I was able to connect fairly well with Marc and Kitra, but part of that was from having met them before.
I’m not sure whether I would classify Strait of Hormuz as a slow-paced spy story or a fast-paced romance. It has elements of both—Bunn balances a race to save the world fairly well against Marc and Kitra’s struggle to understand their emotions and their relationship.
Bunn does well at both, but I found the background characters with their range of motives and backstories to be the best part of the story. They were also, in some way, easier for me to connect to than the story from Rare Earth. So, while Strait of Hormuz ranks 4 out of 5, I liked it better overall than Rare Earth, and I’m not sure I was ready for the series to end.
Another fantastic Marc Royce action!
By Kim Martinez, Amazon
While a lot of our media shows us intrigue that disengages from personal purpose, Bunn shows us how the two intertwine to develop our future.
He doesn’t shy away from the hard questions that real people ask, nor does he give easy answers. Instead, he weaves terrific intrigue with honest human interaction to create a fantastic book that is well worth your time.
Strait of Hormuz is classic Davis Bunn – intricate character development and amazing plot work. In fact, one of the things I particularly like about Bunn is his ability to create very complex female characters. Many authors seem to create complex male characters in their action novels, but Bunn manages to do both.
Strait of Hormuz is a current-day, believable plot that took me inside communities that I hadn’t heard of. I learned a bit about Christianity in the Middle East while reading a great action novel. If you haven’t read Rare Earth yet, you might enjoy both books best if you read them together. Although each stands alone, the character development of Marc and Kitra spans the two, and is really well done.
