Wrapping up the adventure title...

Where have I been?  The weather took me outside.  Fall is so beautiful with all the colors on the trees.  And the garden is giving up the last of its treasures.  So writing took a back seat to observation. But back to the last three books I mentioned for adventure.  I left them for last for a reason.  They were  interesting,  but not all that great.  THE MULLAH'S STORM is timely and uses the Afghan conflict as a back drop and has a fast moving and gritty plot involving a transport plane that is shot  down in a remote area of Afghanistan during a blizzard.  Three people begin a battle of survival against the enemy as well as the enemy.  These people are the plane's navigator, a woman army interpreter and the prisoner - a high ranking Taliban detainee.   The action is bloody and the people are rather stereotypical. It has its moments.  The author Thomas Young should know of what he writes as he served in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Air National Guard.  THE HOLY THIEF is OK, but I have read better.  It is set in Russia during the early Stalin era and paranoia is rampant.  Religion and politics are in conflict as are political parties vying for supremacy.  Purges are beginning and people are dying all over.  The book portrays a lot of the people as alcoholics as well, so some characters seem stock portrayals.The portrayal of the scene in Moscow in this era is good.  The people I have met many times by other names in other books.  I think the author has promise, but this story  leaves me a bit disappointed.  Lots of blood and gore.Churches are the scene of murders, as well as a lot of other places.  Really a large cast to keep up with.  Actually. some of them I would like to have known better.  For people who like to read about Russia. And for WARLORD?   Not exactly my cup of tea.  A British counterspy ( who makes Bond look like a piker) is called back to stop a killer from assassinating the royal family of Britain.  Fortunately the agent is a personal friend of the Prince, so he has easy access to the family.  From there on it is a lot of one dimensional people with lots of macho derring do.  Reads like a co0mputer game plays.  Fast, furious, bloody and with a high body count.  Enjoy.