|
Book Review: Empire of Lies. Written by Andrew Klavan. Published by Harcourt, 2008. During the past month, I have read two recently published novels which have as their antagonists groups of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. These two novels are Brad Thor's The Last Patriot and the book which we now have under review, Empire of Lies. To be sure, the plots are drastically different, and the protagonists in the two books could not possibly be more different: the hardcore CIA operative, Scot Harvath, found in Thor's novel, and the real-estate investing Evangelical Christian father of three, Jason Harrow, found in Klavan's novel. But both novels deal with the subject matter of Islamic fundamentalists, demonstrating that their primary objective is to kill anyone who disagrees with them. We have already done a review of The Last Patriot which you can read, but I will note here that, while I have a generally positive opinion of Thor's writing, The Last Patriot tends to be a dry history lesson at times and there are some gaping holes in the plot. Apparently, not everyone shares my opinion of the book, for even as I write this current review, The Last Patriot is number five on the Times Best Seller List. Certainly, some portion of it's popularity is attributable to the fact that Thor's readers have come to know and love Scot Harvath, and they want to know what is going on in this latest episode of his life. We see this same dynamic at play in the newly published book, The Bourne Sanction. The popularity of that book can in no way be attributable to good writing – the writing is mediocre, at best – but can only be explained by the desire of Jason Bourne fans to read more about Jason Bourne. When we compare the popularity of Empire of Lies to that of The Last Patriot, we find that not only is Klavan's book absent from the top ten on the Times Best Seller List, my local Barnes & Noble store did not even have one copy when I checked recently. In addition to the difference in popularity in the two books, we should also note the difference in notoriety. Since the publication of The Last Patriot, Brad Thor has been forced to re-locate and pay for additional personal security because of the death threats that he has received from Islamo-fascists. Apparently Islamo-fascists do not care for fictional characters searching for a fictional last revelation of the Qur'an. We have no indication that Andrew Klavan has received any similar death threats for Empire of Lies, even though the protagonist in the book can be found talking about Islamo-fascist fundamentalists, describing them as “Crazy jihadists taking over the failed kingdoms of Islam, fanatic hordes of fundamentalist warriors who seem to have burst alive out of the mural of the Dark Ages, burst, complete with beards and turbans, frothing horses, scimitars upraised, to go galloping nutso through real life. They would brook no god but their god, their ferocious god, and no law but their sharia law. They would kill any one that might oppose or offend them, any Muslim who imagined a new future, any woman who wanted to be equal or free...They were murderers in Holland. Rioters in France. Bombers in England, Russia, Pakistan, and so on.” Apparently, a writer of fiction does not merit death threats if he merely tells the truth about the fascistic behavior of Islamic fundamentalists. Perhaps you have purchased The Last Patriot because you are a great fan of Thor's Scot Harvath, or perhaps you have purchased the book just to find out what is written there that merits the Salman Rushdie treatment for Brad Thor. But if you are a true fan of the spy thriller genre, I think that you will be doing yourself a great disservice if you choose to ignore the superior book of the two, Empire of Lies. The book is superior in it's character development, superior in it's believability, and superior in it's telling of action sequences.
To some extent, the lack of popularity of Empire of Lies probably can be attributed to the publicity surrounding the book's main character, Jason Harrow. In early press releases and interviews with the author, Harrow is described as “an Evangelical Christian.” If someone picks up the book to read the dust jacket, they will be hit with words that describe Harrow as being, “Sustained by a deep religious faith.” My initial reaction was to wonder who in the world wants to read a thriller about an Evangelical with a sustaining deep religious faith. Most people probably assume that Harrow is another milk-toast type of character such as those found in Joel Rosenberg's series of novels that began with The Last Jihad. Don't get me wrong. I admire Rosenberg's determination to write squeaky-clean novels that are fit for Christian consumption. But I just find that his characters are very boring and unreal because, even when they are confronted with the most dire of circumstances, they refuse to use profanity. If you are like I was, and you are under the impression that the main character in Empire of Lies is a squeaky-clean, boring, milktoast, always-do-the-right-thing Christian, then let me disabuse of that impression right now. Jason Harrow is a guy who struggles with temptations, attempts to rationalize sinful behavior, is strongly inclined to a very artful use of profanity when angered, and drinks a little bit too much at times. In short, he is a regular guy that is just trying to make his way through this world and to do it in a manner that is pleasing to God, but who is far from perfect. And it is the matter of his imperfection that takes up a great deal of the book. The book is written in the first person. It would have been impossible for the book to have been written were it not in the first person, for Jason Harrow tells us from the very beginning that he is going to tell us the whole story, being as honest as he can be. He says, “I won't leave out the things that I've done that I'm ashamed of, even the thoughts that I've had that I wish I hadn't, and there are plenty of them.” So, writing in the first person, Andrew Klavan allows us a glimpse into the heart and soul of Jason Harrow. In that glimpse, we find Jason doing things and thinking things of which we cannot approve, but we also see him doing things and we hear him thinking things for which we must admire and respect him. A caveat for Christians: Do not approach this book naively thinking that since it is about a Christian man, it must be okay for all Christians to read. Some of the sex scenarios that are described and some of the vocabulary that is used by a couple of the characters is shocking, if not downright disturbing. But there is something to be said for a book in which the main character can sink to the depths of depravity, can beg God's forgiveness, can except the changes that God effects in his life, and still realize and verbalize that he is tempted daily to go back to his depraved ways. I think that this type of character is instructive. In the strictest use of the word, Empire of Lies is not an allegory, and I would certainly never accuse Andrew Klavan of possessing the writing skill of John Bunyan, but Klavan has given us something of a modern day Pilgrim's Progress set in the backdrop of Islamic terrorism. Harrow even goes through a “slough of despondency” at the end of the book. Empire of Lies is a fantastic book and I strongly encourage fans of spy thrillers to purchase this book in hard cover. It is worth it.
Trackback(0)
Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.  |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
