Steve Yohn

Review of Inside Threat: Blackout in no way prepared me for this. Do you ever read a book and go "What happened?" Well, Inside Threat did that for me.
(Some spoilers though I tried not to give away too many read with caution. ;) ) I am going to attempt to give this book the review it deserves but I fear it may end up to be hard for me to do, since (spoiler) I cried over it, CRIED. I rarely cry over books but WOW, I did not see this ending like it did, how could it, honestly? I have read many, show more many, maybe too many suspense, but this one? It shocked me. I thought the ending might happen though I didn't expect it since so few authors do what these two authors did. I respect them for the ending since it ended the series with a strong, fulling believing, rock solid faith in God, His love, His control, I just have to say this book is violent, it is hard, sad, painful, wonderful, and most of all filled with faith much like the first in the series, ending as it did is sad, it's truthful. There was a reason to end like it did, and I may disagree with the ending and that's my thought but the out come of the ending was perfect, there’s nothing better than this book's ending.
Yes, I cried some tears, and many readers I'm sure would sob at this book but I feel it is worth it. This book shows ultimate faith in God, and I just love it, suggest you read it, and ask you to consider the message inside.
No, Riley is not a real man but men can learn from this character.
My one complaint is that there was no closure for Scott, Skeeter, and Keith was in it so little.
And that's all I have to say one Inside Threat, the book that has broken my heart in a good and bad way.
P.S. Gatorade is AWESOME. show less

Tyndale Publishing sent me this book free for an honest review.

The first thing you might like to know is that this is not the first 'Riley Covington Thriller' that Jason Elam and Steve Yohn have written - in fact it is the fourth. I had never heard of Riley Covington before I started the book and didn't know this. That's OK. 'Inside Threat' reads just fine as a stand alone book. Having said that, I may just have to find some of the others. (oops - just gave away my stand on this book. My show more bad.) Here's what it's all about.

So - pulp fiction. Really good, fun, suspenseful, Christian, pulp fiction. Now, I know some of you have an aversion to the terms good/fun/Christian showing up in the same sentence but hear me out:

Good!
I was a little worried when I found out one of the authors used to be a football player (that's American/Canadian football for those of you who equate the word with soccer) (oh - Jason Elam) I'm not what you would call a big football fan (understatement of the year!) (sorry Jason) Add to that, one of the characters in the book, Riley Covington himself, is also a football player and you have the makings of my own, personal nuclear bomb. The bomb was a dud - the book wasn't. Well written, great flow, lots of 'had me chuckling' humour, NOT lots of football. (thanks for that!) I completely fell in love with the characters. They felt real and were very accessible.

Fun!
The banter between the characters was fast, smart and funny! The characters didn't take themselves too seriously, were able to laugh together and had me laughing with them. I especially loved the penalty jars in the analysts' office. The swear jar was labelled 'You kiss your Mama with that Mouth' and the penalty jar for using tired out cliches was 'Oh No You Di'int'. OK, maybe you had to be there but those jars got a real workout and it was funny!

Suspenseful!
Terrorist attacks happening all over the USA. Trying to figure out what is going on and how it all fit together was a stretch. I didn't get it until the authors were ready to let me get it - which I love. It is always such a bummer when I get it before the characters in the book do. And the hostage taking was truly frightening.

Christian!
I have to admit, I get seriously tired of the preachy aspects of a lot of Christian lit - and there was definitely some of that. I did like the comparisons between Christian, devoted Muslim and extreme 'Muslim'. In fact, if there was one area of the book that could have been better developed, it was the exploration of devout Muslim beliefs.

The Best Part of the Book ...
is the part I really can't tell you much about without dropping a honking big spoiler (mean, I know. Sorry.) Suffice it to say, the authors weren't afraid to take the story where it needed to go.

The Worst Part of the Book ...
was the effort that went into trying to convert devout Muslim characters to Christianity. I realize this is a big part of Christian literature but it seemed rather arrogant to me. Luckily this was a very small part of the book.

Overall
Probably the best Christian literature I've read in a long while. show less

I liked this book. I chose it because I thought the title was clever for a book about a football player who moonlights as a counter-terrorism specialist. It should be a ridiculous premise, but I had no trouble suspending belief.
This is the second book in a series. I never read Monday Night Jihad (another clever title) but I found the storyline easy to follow. It stood alone really well.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a Christian novel. I thought the author handled the subject show more matter very well, projecting the hero's religious views as just another part of his character.
I happily reccomend this book. In fact I have already passed the book along with high praise. It is an easy read, but not too lightweight. show less

A chilling scenario will have you gritting your teeth as you read this one. A former Army operative turned pro football player, Riley Covington, becomes involved in the hunt to take down a terrorist network after they target the very football stadium where his team was playing in the playoffs. So this book is filled with descriptions of the routines of professional athletes as well as the routines of anti-terror teams--and of the terrorists themselves. The scenes of the terror acts are very show more chilling and the body count is high, so don't read this one if violence bothers you. Otherwise for thriller readers it is a pretty decent read with an intriguing scenario, it gets a bit "busy" with all the characters and stuff going on but the action is not hard to follow. show less