Friday, June 5, 2015

Detained by Don Brown



Are you a fan of military suspense stories? Police-legal action? This newest book by Don Brown (as well as his older ones!) will be a winner with you!

The book Detained, by Don Brown, is a suspenseful military-action/JAG Law type book. It's deep and a bit disturbing, full of action, and packed with multiple main characters who enter the story at different points and merge to come to the end of the story.

The book begins with Hasan Makari and his son Najib--Lebanese men who love Christ and the US. Najib has emigrated to the US, become a citizen, and enlisted in the Navy. In the beginning of the book Hasan is flying to the US to visit his son. Najib is on board ship, excited to see his father when they reach port.

Hasan is seized by members of a branch of the TSA without knowing why. He is transported to Guantanamo Bay Detention on false charges and is tortured as his captors seek to beat a confession (albeit false) out of him. His son is whisked off ship and brought to Guantanamo and also endures horrific treatment in an attempt to have him confess to false charges against him as well.

Navy JAG lawyer Matt Davis is (as a seemingly disciplinary measure) assigned to the case of Hasan and Najib. As he travels to the base, he becomes suspicious about the "rules" that the legal system at Guantanamo Bay seem to run under, as well as his role there. He becomes aware of a questionable death of one of his predacessors, and receives some threats to himself.

Another character, Emily Gardner, has received a huge promotion in her legal career, but uncovers some information that seems traitorous -- information that was "planted" to "test" her loyalty. I will not give you much more info than this :) because you'll want to read that yourself!

All the characters come together in the end to provide a slam-bang finish :)

All in all I liked the book. It was very tense, dramatic, and elicited strong emotions about injustice. I guess that what I didn't love was that it seemed that most of the book was these seemingly independent stories unfolding kind of slowly and deliberately and then--WHOOSH!-- it was resolved very quickly. It was an enjoyable book, not an easy fluffy read, by any means.

I would recommend this book for sure. My husband is reading it next and my dad after that. If you like this type of book (like Tom Clancy-type books) then you will like this one. It is not filled with swearing and sex, so that is a plus.

I received this book for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

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