The Book of Frank: ISIS and the Archangel Platoon

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

ISIS captured a town in Iraq, trapping Catholic children and their caregiving nuns. Western governments were unable or unwilling to help. The children’s enslavement or death was certain unless Frank and a band of ex-military warriors could bring them back.

Frank Martel, an ex-Marine, had finished his first year as a Jesuit novitiate. His path to the church was littered with doubt,...