Holy War

by Mike Bond

Overview

The Battle of Beirut is worse than Hell, a maelstrom of implacable hatreds and frantic love affairs, of explosions, sniper battles and deadly ambushes. Neill, a journalist on a secret mission for Britain's MI6 intelligence agency, is trying to find Mohammed, a Hezbollah terrorist who could stop the slaughter. André, a French commando, is also hunting Mohammed, to kill him for the death of his brother, blown up with over 400 US Marines and French paratroopers by Hezbollah. For Rosa, a remorseless and passionate Palestinian guerrilla, Mohammed is one of few hopes for her people, and she will die to protect him. And for lovely Anne-Marie, André is the only one who can save her from Hell. Based on the author's own experiences in Lebanon, Syria and the Middle East, Holy War has been praised for its portrayal of civil war, and for its evocation of men and women caught in a deadly crossfire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949751161
Publisher:	Big City Press
Publication date:	03/06/2014
Pages:	402
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

M I K E B O N D is the author of nearly a dozen best-selling novels, a war and human rights journalist, ecologist, international energy expert and award-winning poet. He has been called "the master of the existential thriller" (BBC), "one of America's best thriller writers" (Culture Buzz), "a nature writer of the caliber of Matthiessen" (WordDreams), and "one of the 21st Century's most exciting authors" (Washington Times). He has covered wars, revolutions, terrorism, military dictatorships and death squads in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa, and environmental issues including elephant poaching, habitat loss, wilderness survival, whales, wolves and many other endangered species. His novels place the reader in intense experiences in the world's most perilous places, in dangerous liaisons, political and corporate conspiracies, wars and revolutions, making "readers sweat with [their] relentless pace" (Kirkus) "in that fatalistic margin where life and death are one and the existential reality leaves one caring only to survive." (Sunday Oregonian). He has climbed mountains on every continent and trekked more than 50,000 miles in the Himalayas, Mongolia, Russia, Europe, New Zealand, North and South America, and Africa. For film, translation or publication rights, or for interviews contact: Meryl Moss Media [e-mail] or 203-226-0199 www.MikeBondBooks.com

Interviews

Of Readers and Writers ...

We delight in stories, Aristotle says, because we learn from them. This search for awareness - gathering the meaning of things - is, he says, our greatest pleasure. Aeons ago we sat round the fire in our Paleolithic caves with the cold darkness and the great unknown at our backs, sharing stories about where the antelope herds were or how to escape the cave bear or the lion, stories about our ancestors and the meaning of this magical mystery of life.

None of that has changed: stories still portray and share our experiences, teach us of dangers and opportunities and of right and wrong ways of living, exchange our visions of existence. They give us multiple lives, and we gain awareness from each one.

Awareness is wisdom, and philosophy simply means a love of wisdom. Stories bring us this awareness, and awareness makes us free. Freedom allows us to live more deeply, and thus to deepen our awareness of life's many meanings. It is a great circle where our understanding is constantly growing.

We rarely sit now at campfires with danger at our backs, but it is important to remember those days, and to understand the dangers that stalk us today. Homer, Tolstoi, Gogol, Hugo, Némirovsky, Hemingway - what makes them great today is that their stories still help us gather the meaning of things, bring us the awareness tantamount to wisdom, make our lives freer and deeper through understanding.

To be a writer or a reader is a great gift, yin and yang, neither existing without the other. As Camus said, "to create is to live twice", and reading is creating just as is writing - and through it we can live and gather the meaning of many lives. Gathering the meaning of things is our greatest pleasure because it is the most important act of life, the act of understanding. And the moment we stop we cease to live.

www.mikebondbooks.com

Editorial Reviews

"Action-filled thriller." -Manchester Evening News (UK)

"A profound tale of war ... Impossible to stop reading."

-British Armed Forces Broadcasting

"A terrific book ... The smells, taste, noise, dust, and fear are communicated so clearly." -Great Book Escapes

"A supercharged thriller ... A story to chill and haunt you."

-Peterborough Evening Telegraph (UK)

"A tale of fear, hatred, revenge, and desire, flicking between bloody Beirut and the lesser battles of London and Paris."

-Evening Herald (UK)

"If you are looking to get a driver's seat look at the landscape of modern conflict, holy wars, and the Middle East then this is the perfect book to do so." -Masterful Book Reviews

A gripping tale of passion, hostage- taking and war, set against a war-ravaged Beirut." -Evening News (UK)

"A stunning novel of love and loss, good and evil, of real people who live in our hearts after the last page is done."

-Greater London Radio

From the Publisher

2014-10-01
In Bond's (House of Jaguar, 2013, etc.) latest thriller, two men—one seeking information, the other vengeance—enter war-torn Beirut to find a Muslim who may be behind the bombing of a Marine compound.Journalist Neill Dickson, an American who's made his life in England, heads to Beirut to interview Mohammed, a Hezbollah terrorist. Neill is writing a report for an organization, which he presumes is MI6, that believes Mohammed may have hatched an explosive attack on Marines and French paratroopers. This assault also brought French commando André to Beirut; one of the men killed in the blast was his younger brother, Yves. Just getting into Lebanon is a challenge for both men since the country is besieged by civil war and different religious and political groups are engaged in perpetual combat. Finding Mohammed, who has eluded various factions for years, seems nearly impossible. The suspense-laden novel has a never-ending sense of impending doom, as ambushes happen at a moment's notice, the skies rain shells, and mines are a constant threat. Even an injured Mohammed resting in a Christian hospital is in potential danger. The dual protagonists are laudable, not just for the missions they've undertaken, but for their emotional investments as well. But the book's most remarkable character is Rosa, a Palestinian guerilla fiercely loyal to Palestine—and by extension Mohammed, who she believes will help drive Israelis out of Lebanon. Rosa is an endlessly fascinating instrument of violence: Her faux pregnant belly hides a cache of grenades (she's delivering but not afraid to use them); she wears a nun's habit to bypass soldiers before and after blowing up part of a building; and her nude body can be a distraction or seduction. She represents the story's cogent theme of peace achieved through hostile means—summed up best when a nameless man, sifting through a structure's rubble, tells Neill, "Ten years of war, fifty of peace."An unyielding tension leaves a lasting impression, though Rosa could easily carry her own series.

Kirkus Reviews