Into the Fire

Without Sanction by Don Bentley is the first book in A Matt Drake Thriller Series.

If you're not prepared for ongoing horrific conflict, you might not want to read Without Sanction. However, thriller readers know that inherent in the genre is absolute conflict, and Don Bentley is a master of conflict. His hero Matt Drake is suffering the effects of a mission gone wrong to the enth degree and, as a result, he's doing his best to leave all his DIA work behind him. Accompanying him from that mission are tremors in his hands which spread up his arms and seeing the faces of two of the three victims who were his assets he couldn't get to before he and his best friend were blown up by an IED. These symptoms are the twisted beginnings of a sinister and diabolical plot that almost leads to his death.  

Just as anyone who has paid attention in recent (or all along the way) times can see, the arrogant and double-crossing habits of political gamesters who do and arrange the unthinkable are in full action in this story. Their power-hungry behind the scenes negotiations remind us that rarely is anything as it seems, and that these particular people who engage in these deceptions can fool nearly everyone around them without ever paying for the consequences of their actions. 

When Matt is engaged from his "sabbatical" because of the chemical weapons genius labeled "Einstein" supposedly wanting to defect to the good guys but only if it's Matt Drake, he returns for the solitary mission because Einstein, as his bargaining chip, claims to know where a captured US soldier (Shaw) is located. It's debatable whether or not Shaw is still alive at first, but Matt can't turn this down if there's any way to get Shaw out of Syria. This begins an impossible effort that results in the denying of Matt's permission to continue in Syria. He's officially "without sanction" but even more determined to countermand his orders because of the incompetence and illegitimate person in charge with whom he has a history. 

The journey to meet up with Einstein is an impossible, painful task. Is it a personal "suicide mission" for Matt Drake? Is he willing to die to complete it – the answer is always reluctantly "yes." But will he see it through when no one seems available to help him? He has one last hope. Will it work? 

Truly, this one will make you hold your breath, take a break, or possibly read it till the end in one jolting session. Me? I had to take multiple breaks because of the difficulties and the anger I felt toward the wicked men/women who lust for power in our government – never more prevalent or visible than it is today. I commend Don for handling it boldly and without apology.

There are characters to love and hate within this story, and I love the ones who will do whatever it takes to try to make things right. Takes a special breed apart, and Don captures this well. 

Thriller lovers, you can start this series now if you haven't already. 

Book 2 The Outside Man is reviewed here. 

(Profanity present.)

Father, you know hearts and minds. You are the giver of wonderful gifts and talents and clearly you have blessed Don with multiples. Please continue to encourage and uplift him as he tackles his new project. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

     Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazurus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

     But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected. "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 

     "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended, that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

     Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

John 12:1-11 (NIV)

I found this post written back in 2007. I've written about the topic since, but this is a fairly comprehensive article on the subject which was titled "The Effects of Self-Editing . . . on others." 

Oh the books we must read to learn to write . . . meaning the instruction manuals written by editors, authors, agents, publishers — who did I leave out? Critics, reviewers, readers? Let me see . . . Oh yes! The wannabes.

Wait. They haven’t actually written the manuals: they’ve memorized them. “The rules” have been committed to memory and applied to every piece of literature they’ve since read after the major chore of imprinting them upon their minds. So, they conclude, this author disobeyed this law of the publishing jungle, and THEY GOT PUBLISHED! Writers’ worlds all over the literary globe plummet in dismay. What is going on?!

I think it’s high time to point out that “rules” don’t a story make. In fact, observing these so-called rules doesn’t even necessarily make a piece of good writing. Since I’m prone to using horse analogies, let me make one here. At some of the most prestigious auctions in the Thoroughbred realm, yearling horses have sold for millions of dollars. Yes, millions. Some of them are not yet two years old. Now what do you suppose is responsible for such a ridiculous sum of money being spent on an individual young Thoroughbred? I can assure you it isn’t just their looks—in other words, their physical conformation or their shiny coat. No. It is their pedigree, their lineage. If they’re by a champion stud and out of a champion mare—meaning in racing lingo: multiple stakes winners of impressive, big purse races—their value is accentuated as bloodstock agents wager on if they’ll be able to replicate their sire’s or their dam’s fame and fortune. So with that in mind, you can imagine the disappointment when a multi-million-dollar youngster shows about as much ability as a Shetland Pony. Here you had this impeccable breeding and a gorgeous, perfectly conformed physical specimen who couldn’t “run a jump” as the racetrack expression goes (to indicate no talent).

And so it can become with a writer who puts rules ahead of story, ahead of passion, ahead of voice, and ahead of using the God-given gift of writing for anything besides replaying the story implanted in our psyches for retelling via chosen words. The “perfect” composition does not necessarily yield a “perfect” story. Especially because perfection is unattainable outside of God.

If you think “God-given” applied to the writing gift makes it “special”, keep in mind the only reason the gift is special is because God has given it for His pleasure and His glory. He has also gifted people in abundant other ways, and they are of equal importance to Him, unlike to many of us who somehow seem to elevate having a talent in “the arts” as something extra special.

It is valuable to communicate life within a story. But it’s even more valuable to receive the idea from the Holy Spirit and work through the revelation of the characters and plot, committed to telling it the best we can. And that “best” may appear flawed to some others—in fact we can pretty much count on it—but if it’s our best work and done in obedience to the Lord, He will receive it with pleasure and satisfaction.

However, if pleasing Him is secondary to pleasing publishers, then the world of writing stories will become a murky place where rules contract and expand according to whose manual you study or what professional you seek to please. If you’re a Dostoevsky-type writing to please a Hemingway-professional, what will you do?

The wannabes must be told to “just write”. Then to let their material be read by real readers outside the industry. People who normally and regularly read novels, have their favorites, and recognize a good story—even if it doesn’t jive with the writer’s favorites. Choose those readers wisely. Don’t ask them to “critique” the manuscript. Ask them to reveal what they think of the story. Period.

If you believe God has called you to write, be sure you paid attention to grammar in junior/middle/senior high school. Understand the basics of writing. If you don’t, you can count on remaining an amateur. Breaking the rules of good grammar only works when it’s intentional. If you do it without knowing it, it will look and sound ignorant. Pray about the call to write. Make sure it’s your gifting. Then ask the Lord to touch your skill and give you a dedication to making your craft acceptable and honorable to Him.

And please quit parroting the “show, don’t tell”, “never use adverbs”, “only use ‘said’ if you must use a dialogue tag”, “italics shouldn’t be used—hardly ever”, and on and on and on until the instructions have eliminated every creative way to write and express oneself in story.

And, finally, edit yourself. Don’t edit anyone else unless God has called you to be an editor. If you’re a writer: write. Wait. Go back. Edit. Use your writing ear before you lop off words based on “rules”. Editing those writers whose novel you’re holding in your hands makes you look envious and foolish. Their book is published. And yours is not. Your being able to point out broken rules on the pages proves only that you don’t get the fact that rules do not a story make and who in the world knows why someone really likes a book and thinks it will sell?

Father, for all of those you call to write, may we all put you first. May we write what you have given us to tell. May we seek after you with our whole hearts. May we desire to please you above all others. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

A rare barefoot time for me sittin' in the sunshine at Barn 4B, Longacres Racetrack, many, many years ago. 

Father, thank you for those years even though I needed you but didn't know it. Thank you for rescuing me years later. Always desperate for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Writers vary from introverts to extroverts and every personality in between. They are coffee drinkers or chocolate eaters or pick-a-favorite drink, food, or snack eaters. They are both disciplined and undisciplined in their writing practices. Some have rigid schedules and swear by them. Others take breaks from which they wonder if they'll ever return to their manuscript. Some write in multiple genres and others never vary from one. Some authors readily engage with their fans and others stay aloof within their writing domain. Some pour out novels as if the creative spicket is never off. Others labor over one – or less – a year. 

Some authors conduct writing courses online and/or at conferences. Others would rather not share information about publishing and the technical aspects of writing fiction. 

Writers must market and many are good at it. Others are definitely not and dread every moment of it. Some have a large fan base and others have a modest following or none at all. 

Every one of them started somewhere, sometime. Many continue, some quit, and others start over. 

And during it all, life happens. And authors write. 

Father, you know which one I am in all of this. Thank you for the inspiration, the characters, the stories, all of it. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

The astounding beauty of Brian Culbertson's work. This song "The Journey" is one of those songs. He's an artist. 

Father, thank you for the tremendous talent you've given Brian. Please keep him creating beautiful music and may he know you're the absolute source of it. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The Last Exchange by Charles Martin is his latest novel. 

Every now and then a reader needs to reconnect with a favorite author and go in that direction after immersing him/herself in another genre. At least I do. I need to remind myself why this author is a favorite, to embrace the character development – unique and otherwise – the acute moments of keen perception expressed perfectly. Truly good writing. And in that writing, sometimes the storyline doesn't really matter.

Sometimes readers forget that "there's nothing new under the sun" according to Solomon. Every topic has been covered by novelists past, present, and future. It's the way the story is communicated that often sets it apart and defines for readers why an author becomes one of their favorites.  

The Last Exchange is a story of how a former Spec Ops Scotsman meets a famous actress with the unusual history and name (Maybe Joe Sue) and her actor husband (Syd) onset and is hired by the actress to be her personal bodyguard. What he observes and learns about her and her husband will dictate how his life goes. While he maintains the space set by his definition of what his job entails, "Joe" and he ("Pockets") become friends of a kind where Pockets establishes the way he must conduct himself and refuses to veer from his job description. As the years progress, he's motivated to learn all he can in order to give his best to protecting her – mostly from her drug-addicted self. When he discovers what her no-count husband has done, Pockets' actions have punishing consequences. A letter she'd penned to him during the five years he'd been her bodyguard and what he'd learned she'd done with a young woman who she befriended and introduced to her lifestyle, causes a major act of upheaval in his, hers, and the young friend's lives. 

There are a few moments in the story which might bring to mind the film The Bodyguard starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, but only because of the stoic conduct of Pockets. 

The novel is written with the Before/After titles to chapters to give the history, the after-actions, the present-day occurrences and then more of the Before/After chapters. Toward the very end after the climactic revelations, the novel ends in the present time. There are multiple surprises revealed in the final chapters, perhaps not "surprises" to the readers but to the characters. 

Charles Martin has done his usual masterful job of creating characters that reach out to the reader for understanding, to point to pictures of their hearts or their ugly lack of decency, to make their marks – good or bad. There is always something original in Martin's work, something that makes his novels unique and meaningful. The Last Exchange is no different. 

Father, you know the great gifting you've given to Charles. May he continue to write the stories you have just for him to tell. Bless him, his writing, his family. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Go now, write it on a tablet for them,

   inscribe it on a scroll,

that for days to come

   it may be an everlasting witness.

These are rebellious people, deceitful children,

   children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction.

They say to the seers,

   "See no more visions!"

and to the prophets,

   "Give us no more visions of what is right!

Tell us pleasant things,

   prophesy illusions.

Leave this way,

   get off this path,

 and stop confronting us

   with the Holy One of Israel!"  

Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

 "Because you have rejected this message,

   relied on oppression

   and depended on deceit,

this sin will become for you

   like a high wall, cracked and bulging,

   that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

It will break in pieces like pottery,

   shattered so mercilessly

that among its pieces not a fragment will be found

  for taking coals from a hearth

  or scooping water out of a cistern." 

Isaiah 30:8-14 (NIV)

Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi is Book One in the Special Agent Alexandra Martel Series. 

FBI Special Agent "Alex" Martel is on loan to Interpol when she meets CIA man Caleb Copeland who winds up saving her life from a fierce attack while she's on her way to meet someone at a coffee house after learning of a past friend's (Krysten) death. This past friend's demise was suspicious, but it isn't until Alex explores Krysten's home that her death becomes a serious mystery. 

CIA man Caleb wants Alex on his new team he's been okayed to form. He knows things about her only a very few eyes have seen. She's been an Army sniper, a member of the ultra-secretive ISA, and has performed expertly in everything's she's done, having earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart during her career.  

Bad news and constant threats surround Alex on the latest mission which seems to revolve around a Russian contingent and their connection to her dead friend. Using an associate IT wizard to help her decipher a message left hidden for Alex, what she learns compels her to disobey a direct order and make her way to Paris.

I've left a great deal out of the storyline, but of course you can read the fuller account on Amazon or the book jacket, but I think it's important to let the tale be told to the reader within the pages of the actual book without too much information. Urszenyi's debut novel is indeed a thriller, and it's a well-done story of a hardcore operative who happens to be female. She's a take-no-prisoners kind of woman who has a heart for the pursuit and a nose for the problem, willing to defy not only the odds but to fiercely ignore all the higher-ups' objections to her determination to nail the solution. A courageous heroine similar but different from those of "Hatch" of L.T. Ryan's novels or "Ham" of Dustin Stevens' books.

It seems to be a trend in publishing recently – although not new – to do the back and forth, past and present, introduction to heroes and heroines, then on to the antagonists and/or enemies. At times this annoys me because I don't like the bouncing back and forth effect, the distraction from the present events. However, when setting the stage for a multi-layered problem in multiple locales, it seems to be the most logical formula to take.

Although both heroine Alex and co-protagonist Caleb can be somewhat unlikable at times, overall they triumph in engaging the reader and ultimately carrying the story to its fitting conclusion and warm-up to the next one in the series. 

I can definitely recommend this story to thriller readers. It's a good debut novel.

Father, only you are the inspiration for good things. May you bless Steve in his writing and continue to give him stories you have just for him to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Race is my one and only mystery/police procedural that was so hard for this love story writer to tackle. But I did it! Finally. After starting two other novels during the process of writing this one! After I finished this one, I completed the other two (Seeing . . . and . . . in a love song). 

Special thanks to my dear friend: 

"In this moving story of betrayal and redemption, Petrino-Salter breathes new life into a familiar character–the hard-bitten detective–and turns the genre's cliches on their heads. Race is what a mystery should be."

— Karin Kaufman, author of the bestselling Juniper Grove Cozy Mystery Series

Father, I can't thank you enough for words, stories, characters, inspiration. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.