REVIEW--JAMIE SHARPE AND THE PIRATES OF BARBARY

 

JAMIE SHARPE AND THE PIRATES OF BARBARY

By Gary R. Bush

2023 Release from

Three Oceans Press.

It’s 1803. The US and several other maritime nations are engaged in armed conflict over control of the oceans of the Western world and sea-borne commercial traffic, both legal and not.

Like the rest of the fledgling nation’s military services in 1803, the U.S. Navy exists more in name than in reality. Jamie Sharpe is a rising junior officer in the Navy who, along with other crew from the armed schooner Barbara Allen, is captured off the coast of Tripoli. The schooner sailed alone into range of the criminals then in control of the north coast of Africa. Even then, the U.S. Navy, known for its courage, faced a powerful aggressor alone.

This story follows young adventurous Jamie Sharpe on his journey across the oceans and his imprisonment in Tripoli by the evil Captain Kemal Rais, military leader for the Dictator of Tripoli. Sharpe’s attempts to subvert from the inside and to call in help from across the Atlantic is carefully and interestingly documented in this spirited and engaging novel that will interest readers, young and old. The novel reveals reveals an important part of American History that rarely receives much attention in school. It’s a good story, and this book is carefully researched and quite enjoyable. I look forward to the third in Jamie Sharpe’s odyssey in American Naval history.

Review-THE TERRORIST NEXT DOOR

 

The Terrorist Next Door         

By Sheldon Siegel

ISBN: 978-1-4642-0164-6

A 2013 hardcover release

From Poisoned Pen Press

 

A fascinating and important idea that could have benefited from better writing and better editing. Factual errors might call into question some of the more important elements of the story. Make no mistake, this is an exciting, sophisticated plot idea.. It is in the execution, the writing, that the book reveals unfortunate flaws that could easily have been corrected.

 

There is a lot of history here. One of the more interesting elements devolves from the meticulous and careful plotting that sends our hero, Chicago detective David Gold and his partner, detective A.C. Battles, from one end of Chicago to the other, in a frantic and sometimes predictable effort. They are chasing a clever, almost ephemeral perpetrator, clashing with their administration and trying to avoid the media. Readers will get that early on and don’t need too be reminded of it in  almost every chapter. The book does demonstrate how a careful, intelligent evil individual, might shut down a major city.

The author betrays an antipathy to politicians and law enforcement leadership which gets a little wearing. Thus the detectives have to battle both the diabolical mind of the evil near-genius and the perceived incompetence of their administration.

The pace is rapid which is a saving element and the question of satisfactory conclusion is in question until the very end. I just wish the author and his editors had fixed a few of the more obvious shortcomings, corrected factual errors and produced a better book..

Review--EMBASSY KID

 

Embassy Kid

By J.K. Amerson Lopez

ISBN: 9781637235973

2025 release from

Westphalia Press

 

It’s the 1950’s. Robert Amerson, who grew up in the Hidewood section of Eastern South Dakota, is married, living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and their two girl children. He has a good job, but opportunity comes calling. It’s the United States government, specifically the U.S. Information Agency with a two year gig. Thus begins a decades long career and life abroad for the author of this excellent memoir.

The girls were better at speaking Spanish than English in their earliest years. The memoir chronicles the highlights and trials of this family of four from the beginning in 1955 Caracas, with several pauses in assorted embassies, to a last homecoming from Madrid in 1973.

If you can recall your recent American history, you’ll remember that we lived in fraught times and while the author writes beautifully of her family and personal life, her story connects nicely to world events. This is a readable memoir that will illuminate world events in a different and personal way for any reader, and provides thoughtful understanding of our role and influence in global affairs.