Book Review: Damascus Countdown

Waaaay back in ancient history (the year 2000 to be exact), I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Israel. It is an amazing country wrapped in more history than we in the US could ever fathom. I strolled along the same dusty paths walked by Jesus. I gazed at ruins in the city of Jericho, stones that Joshua's men could very well have touched.

I hope to return to the Holy Land someday, but in the meantime I've enjoyed reading books that involve Israel and imagine myself there. So, I was very excited to have the chance to read Joel C. Rosenberg's latest thriller Damascus Countdown, the third book in the Twelfth Imam series. 

You know those books you start and can't seem to stop reading, even when it's late and you really should be sleeping because the baby will be up in 4 hours, and you keep promising yourself "just one more chapter", and fall asleep drooling into the book because you never put it down? That's how this book was for me. It was like the Left Behind series meets Tom Clancy.

The main character, David Shirazi, is a CIA plant in Iran and his team's mission is to find two nuclear warheads missing from the Iranian arsenal after Israel strikes Iran in a preemptive attack. Intelligence shows that the Iranians are going to launch both warheads at Israel, and it is up to David and his team to stop them. David is a likeable character who has recently become a Christian, and there are many references to Biblical prophecy that have already come true, as well as what prophecies have yet to be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ. The tale follows David and his team, as well as the entourage of the Twelfth Imam, the Islamic messiah who is hellbent on destroying the Jewish nation. Several other characters, such as David's childhood-friend/girl-next-door/potential-love-interest Marseille Harper and blind Islamic teacher turned Christian Dr. Birjandi play sizable roles.

Damascus Countdown has many action scenes, a lot of Biblical reference, scenes of political tension, some emotional scenes and it was eloquently written as such that I could imagine the faces and personalities of each character in each scene. It was riveting and I was actually kind of sad when I finished which, in my opinion, is the sign of a good book.


*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Damascus Countdown from Tyndale publishers. All opinions and comments regarding the book are my own, and have not been influenced in any way.