T. Davis Bunn

Lion of Babylon by Davis Bunn is filled with intensity from the first page to the last. Each page carries a sincerity and a depth of meaning that draws you further into the world of these characters.

Marc Royce is a former U.S. Intelligence Operative who was pulled away from his job to care for his dying wife. Without her or his old job his life has been at a standstill. Marc is called upon by the boss who fired him to go into Iraq and locate an old friend of Marc’s who has gone missing show more along with two other Americans and an Iraqi. People that governments in both countries are not sure that they want found. In Iraq, he meets Sameh el-Jacobi, the most honest man in Iraq. The men form a friendship through mutual assistance and respect. They must work together to find the missing persons with the direction of the country and the Middle East hanging in the balance.

Davis Bunn creates a convincing portrait of a present-day Iraq. His descriptions are vivid enough that you feel the sun beating down on you and taste the dust in your throat. It is a picture of an Iraq searching for its own way forward and a people trying to live their lives with danger and uncertainty around every corner, and the reminders of their tragic past everywhere they look.

The main characters are fleshed out with fully-examined motivations. They are in many ways impossibly good people, but they still manage to be believable and you come to care about them and what happens to them. The descriptions of the characters are vivid and poetic: “Up close the man revealed an odd aura, like bullets not yet fired.” An author with a less deft touch could make these descriptions seem corny, but there is a sincerity that comes through the writing that avoids that here.

The plot moves along at a steady pace and the action segments are well-written and exciting. The plot and its characters rely heavily on Christian faith. This may work at odds with the middle-eastern setting, but the characters and the writing are so well done that the book stands as an outstanding thriller. Highly recommended. show less

Wow wow wow and wow! Flash Point definitely qualifies as a five star technothriller. Brilliant! It is filled with mind-blowing science combined with fast paced action. Flash Point is a book that you won’t want to put down.

Thomas Locke is a master at creating characters that are completely fleshed out. He has a way of bringing out genuine emotions and responses towards his characters. One of the primary characters named Reese Clawson is my favorite. You will also find her in Trial Run, book show more one of the Fault Lines series. Reese is most definitely not good but I can’t help myself. I like her. I want her to want to change and stop fighting that which is good and use her incredible mind and skills to help annihilate those that she has been basically forced to serve. Maybe that will happen in book three. I would love that!

The science that is Flash Point is neurobiology meets quantum physics. Cranial mapping and deep-brain stimulation. At it’s very best, the elimination of pain. I'll take the migraine cure please (they are the bane of my existence). The science is well presented and understandable.

Unfortunately the incredible gains that can be achieved through scientific and medical advancement are often exploited.

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” Albert Einstein

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” Isaac Asimov

Locke shares the gains but the tension and thrill of the story is based upon the exploitation of those breakthroughs. In many ways Locke is applying Newton’s Third Law to motivation as opposed to motion.

Why do I love Flash Point and why do I recommend that you read it and for that matter any and all of the books written by Davis Bunn under his own name or under his pseudonym Thomas Locke? Because…

1. His books are so very very good in so many many ways. He is brilliant, a master. Not many authors can write authoritatively, with such tension, beautifully, (insert any positive adjective here) in so many different genres.
2. There is absolutely no moral compromise required.

Hopefully I have intrigued you and that you will be heading off to your nearest library or bookstore to pick up a copy. If so, be sure and read the free prequel Double Edge and the first book in the series Trial Run before picking up Flash Point. You could read Flash Point as a stand-alone but you would miss so much. Things that shouldn’t be missed because they are just that good! Enjoy!

I received a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. My thanks to the author and publisher.

For all of my reviews visit my blog at http://www.blessedandbewildered.com show less

An oldie novella from one of the most versatile authors to ever write ChristFic.

This isn't a story with a sermon or a come-to-Jesus moment stuffed into it to make it "Christian." Rather, one woman's soul-deep task of faith is the story here, along with the way she gently impacts the lives around her.

It's a simple tale but not a shallow one. Heartwarming but not corny or oversweet. The style is almost rambling, but it's an intentional ramble, taking its time to show the intricate nature of show more some imperfect, loving relationships between compellingly human characters.

Really, Mary's relationship with her younger, middle-aged son, a bond that isn't particularly sentimental but that's still deeply felt on both sides... I could have read this book just for that.

It's a poignant story—not the kind to reach for when you're looking for an upbeat, happy ending for everyone. Rather, it's for those contemplative moments when you feel like pausing to appreciate the blend of joys and sorrows that make up this priceless thing we call life. show less

This story is so horrible I don't know if I should even waste my time writing about all the ways it fails.
-the main characters, all heroes, are all men (likely caucasian, because there are references to others as African-American, Hispanic, Latino)
-yes, there are a few female characters but they feel like tokens
-all the "good people" are generally attractive, speak proper English, and are "liked" by the other characters (I'm not sure why it is so important, but incidental characters who are show more helpful and on the side of the good guys are "liked" by the main characters -- seriously, the author uses the word like, as in "Kevin liked this guy". Terrible writing)
-all the "bad guys" (and they're generally all male except for a few token females) are ugly, badly dressed, and/or speak uneducated English as though they were raised in a rural, non-schooled environment. Oh I wish the world was so neatly divided and it was so simple to distinguish the good people from the bad people.
-speaking of neat divisions, while this book would officially fit in a "dystopia" category, as it takes place 300 years in the future, it is more of a utopia. If your perfect world is Wild West meets the Incredibles/X-men. The guns are all rifles and pistols, they use horse & buggy (eventually trucks that never run out of fuel or breakdown), the heroes have literally struck gold, and when they get to their destination (Atlanta...a reference to the city of Atlantis or just Southern pride, I can't tell) it is like they enter the Emerald City of Oz because suddenly there are all of our modern conveniences. --Which is leads to my next critique, for a civilization 300 years in the future NOTHING HAS CHANGED. There is no new technology, they use the one remaining satellite for a GPS phone, but otherwise it is today's stuff or 150 years ago tech. Yes, there is some unexplained "Great Crash" but 300 years gives them a lot of time to re-invent or invent new stuff. No imagination for what this world would look like other than what currently exists (even in the Emerald City/Atlanta. And the racial divisions that exist today still exist in this story. I'm hoping 300 years of procreation blends the population to greatly diminish these lines or at least change the terminology. But not in this world.
-the premise of the book is to rescue a main character's love. Groan. The men actually say they feel like warriors, and the girl just knew he'd find her. All the male characters want to get married and have a family and it's so Little House on the Prairie in terms of family values. (Yes, I know this is a Christian publisher but it's very conservative right). The treatment and attitude towards women is enough to make this book terrible. it's not overt, but it is blatant when you open your eyes.
-the super powers of the "extras" (my term for the characters who have genetic modifications; they are called specials or mentats in the book, but they get no personalities and many would barely get a credit line beyond "Special #1" if this was a movie), anyways, the superpowers are pulled out so perfectly at the end and so neatly conquer the enemy that it isn't interesting. "it would be helpful to scramble the brains of the guards so they just let us in" "oh, we have someone who can do that" etc. They talk about needing a leader (our heroes) but these people have such great powers, why are they treated like minions who have no brains of their own and couldn't organize themselves without some man who feels specially called to lead them?
That's enough. I think this book goes straight to the blue bin.

I got it through LibraryThing early reviewers...a few years ago. It took a pandemic for me to actually read it. That in itself is telling. show less