Those Who Dwell Upon the Earth by James D. Sanderson A Must-Read Masterpiece...

My first encounter with a book by Hal Lindsey was quite exciting. I was young enough that I thought and looked forward to the time when Christ would come again. Since then, I've read a few more books on the topic and realized that it was not up to man to decide when that Second Coming would occur. Nor, was it necessarily to be associated with the end of the world. Yet time after time it is routinely brought up. During the present, one of the points made was related to Jerusalem. Yet, nothing happened... We didn't see a change just because America decided to relocate, or did we? 

The thing that I've come to question is whether or not the "good" would be taken before "that" occurred. Suppose, just suppose that's not what happens. What if a North Korea nuclear bomb destroyed much of the world. But, there were still Those Who Dwell Upon the Earth? 

One of the questions posed would then be, are we ready to dwell here on earth as a follower of Jesus?  There was another Jesus who is the main character in this book. He, too, found it hard to live within America as the future has left us. How would you do?

STRANGER ON THE SHORE

A stick of black helicopters skirted the far edge of the dawn.  No one knew change was coming, least of all the four brothers.  They made their way along the shoreline toward the north end of the lake.  All night a filthy rain had fallen and now the sun was trying to open its sticky eye.  

One of them, Thomas, waded out to his knees to retrieve a good-sized carp that had gone belly up.  He held it up triumphantly, his fingers jammed up into its gills, and said, “It doesn’t look too bad.”  Now he examined it in an animated way, as with a critical eye.  “Not bad at all.” 

“I can smell that thing from here,” one of the others said. In spite of that comment, Thomas brought the fish along with him back to the shore. 

They were trying to find a man others had told them about.  “A man who knows everything.” 

“No one knows everything,” another of the men, James, had said.  He was bookish, so he should know.  Bookish was a word that had been used before the advent of computers.  Now, whenever a book was found in the rubble and wreckage of a lost building, he would carefully dig it out.  

The others laughed and hooted.  “What are you going to do with that?” 

“Read it,” he’d say with a bemused smile. 

“What for?” 

“For a while.” 

“He’s found another cookbook.” 

“Not this time.”  He’d hold up his latest treasure – whether ‘Fathers and Sons’ or ‘Trout Fishing in the Rockies,’ carefully brush it off and place it in his carry bag.  He seemed to be physically afflicted when he was forced to discard one to make room for another.  A man can carry only so much weight. 

The third brother, Andrew, took the lead now.  “Let’s get going,” he said. “What’s your hurry?”  Thomas was considering gutting and cleaning the carp then and there. 

“We haven’t got all day.”  He set out. 

“Yeah, yeah.” The fourth among them, Matthew, was somewhat quieter than the others.  He had fine features and sandy hair.  

They were brothers, as different as they were from one another… 

Along here bushes and small trees had begun to sprout and grow.  Future replacements for those that had been charred in the unquenchable fires. 

They smelled breakfast smoke some minutes before they came upon a young man sitting on a rock warming his hands at a fire.  Several fine trout were laid out, prepared to join the two that were already popping and cooking on an improvised metal grate.

“Why don’t you join me,” the man said, looking up at them with gentle eyes. “We might do that,” Andrew said. 

“We could eat,” Thomas said. 

“Why don’t you go bury that carp?  It looks corrupted.” Thomas turned part way to his left and slung the fish back into the lake.  The splash it made was upsetting in the still of the morning. 

“Please…”  The young man motioned for them to sit on the fallen log and several rocks that were naturally arranged around the fire.  

They did not sit. “We’re looking for a man we’ve heard about,” James said. “What man?” 

“A man they say knows everything.” 

“No one knows everything,” their host said with a snicker. 

“That’s what I said.”  James seemed pleased to have said it. 

“Tell me,” Thomas pointed at the fish.  “Where’d you get these perfect trout?  Not in this lake.” 

The man pursed his lips and jerked his chin Native American style toward the top of the lake.  “A perfect stream feeds this lake.” 

“No one is stocking these streams.” 

“Native cutthroat and rainbow are making a comeback.” 

“Now that things are… recovering?” 

“That’s right.” Thomas grunted.  “That’s a miracle!” 

The stranger began to break off pieces of the hot fish and hand them around.  The brothers patted the hot pieces back and forth in their hands, blowing on them before they burned their fingers.  He picked up the other trout and placed them on the hot grill.  

The four brothers finished eating quickly and stood around waiting for the rest of the fish to be cooked. 

“Say,” the younger man said, “you all seem to be pretty easy around strangers… considering… everything.” 

James laughed shortly.  “You don’t seem very dangerous.” 

Thomas lifted his flannel shirt and undershirt, and proudly showed the 9mm Glock he was carrying in his belt. 

“Is it loaded?”

 “Of course,” he growled.  “This baby puts an end to a lot of foolishness.” 

“I can see that it would.” 

“Like he said,” he pointed at James.  “You don’t seem very dangerous.” 

“I’m not,” the other agreed amiably. 

“Where are your weapons?” 

“I get by without them.” 

The brothers looked askance of each other.  Finally Thomas said, “Bears are making a comeback too.” 

The young man smiled.  “I know.”  After a long pause he asked their names.  The oldest was James, bookman.  Then Thomas, the wild one.  Then Andrew, who seemed calculating somehow.  Then Matthew, the quiet. 

“What’s your name?” 

“My name is Jesus.” 

Again the brothers looked at each other, not quite believing what they had heard.  James asked the obvious question.  “You mean like… the real Jesus?” “I’m not him, of course.  But that’s what my parents named me.” 

“And your parents…” 

“Dead.” 

“Ours too. In the Great… whatever it was.” 

The moment passed.  The tension caused by the speaking of that name eased.  “I don’t know what was so great about it,” Thomas said at last.  An old joke, but it seemed to work now among strangers. 

“Sit down.  Sit down.” The brothers sat.  Jesus passed out the rest of the fish.  They ate in silence. 

Then, “Are you headed anywhere?” Andrew asked.  “Or is this your home?” “I’ve been here forty days.  You?” 

“As we said, we are looking for this man…  We’ve become curious about him.” Jesus nodded.  “You have made me curious too.  Perhaps we could look for him together.” 

The brothers conferred silently, looking back and forth at each other.  Then Andrew said, “Sure, why not?” 

~~~

The book begins by using familiar names of characters of the Bible. I thought about this more as I read. Do names really matter? Jesus, for the sake of acquiring attention, was used for the main character. But, other than that, wouldn't the same be happening if we are Christians of any name, maybe Glenda, or Harold, who have been and are now, because of "The Troubles" being even more persecuted by a lawless, powerful, and unmerciful world that includes, the government, the rich corporations...and the Certain Way of Truth Church, the official church of our country...

The average American was hungry, had no money, if working, may have had a job where they had no control over anything that happened there. Perhaps they were not even welcomed at the Certain Way of Truth Church...

Opening with a scene that could have appeared in the Bible...but in reverse...we come upon a group of brothers who were roaming through the country...One saw a large fish, which wasn't so much damaged from the radiation that... well, he carried it for awhile... Until the brothers came upon a stranger who was cooking fish over a fire, and had plenty more waiting. Not sitting down, they stood, gaping perhaps at the fish. The man asked if they would like to join him...

His name, he said, was Jesus. And at their surprise, quickly said he was not that one, but his mother thought he was destined for good things and so named him after the Savior... It is not hard to get into the use of Jesus as a main character. After all, we have read about Him often in the Bible... Yes, the Bible was extensively referred to, taught, and taken as to how to deal with what had happened to the world that God had made for all of us.

They had found an old building and claimed it in the Name of the Lord.

You may be familiar with WWJD (What would Jesus Do?) Jesus, the main character, answers the questions from his ever-growing followers...and government officials, based upon the teachings of Jesus. Jesus began, with his four new friends, by feeding them when they were hungry. Then he talked about everybody sharing what they had with everybody else and purchase what was available for distribution. They had found an old building and claimed it in the Name of the Lord. That was their first building where everybody's needs were met. At the same time, he began to spend time talking about Jesus and how his words and acts would respond to all their needs. Soon the town was flourishing, with nobody hungry. A bartering system was implemented...and more...

What was happening soon became a concern, however,...food was being grown and not purchased, for instance. Food merchants began losing money. A doctor had joined the group and soon was serving medical needs...

Then, one day, the doctor was stopped...by "The Fist of Christ," and worked to put fear into the doctor. He responded by asking what they wanted from him. They answered that they were displeased a shop had been set up as a church, when there's a perfectly good church already." And they did't have a license!

Gasping now, the doctor replied as best he could, “Illness and physical limitations are actually part and parcel with the cycle of poverty.  When a worker gets sick, he misses work.  He doesn’t get paid for the time he misses.  The people prefer their own bad system over the shiny but expensive, and thus unattainable, state system.”

Soon, empty housing that had been boarded up, were also claimed in the Name of Jesus... Housing was being provided through the work of others and sharing to those in need...

You may think that all of these are good things--yes, that this was what Jesus would do... But, Jesus and his followers were rejected, harassed, thrown in jail...building owners of those empty buildings sought their legal rights to have eviction of those now in their buildings...

Many of these things have happened already, the poor and homeless are not welcomed. Those seeking asylum are abused and threatened. Children are separated from their parents. Religion is being used to serve the needs of the rich and powerful and for political gain.

But WWJD if he were here...If we have already reached the point, after The Troubles" where America had totally changed to exclude the downtrodden, those yearning to be free. When we know, then, that the nuclear bomb is not the worst thing that could happen to America and the World...

Sanderson has written what I must call a masterpiece story where the apocalypse was not the result of the bomb...it was the result of power and greed and a loss of Love... where even then, a new, epic story arises, through those who are being led by the man who also was called Jesus...And the power of God's Son...

I would call this a must-read recommendation. More on the Study Guide Soon...

GABixlerReviews

I have been a writer nearly my entire life. Even at age twelve I was writing short stories, though I’m sure they would seem embarrassingly childish now. At times it seemed the only way I could express myself. 

I always read great literature as well. My friends made fun of me when I brought a large book with me to ball practice. In fact I read everything I could get my hands on – from adventure novels to the latest articles in Field and Stream or Outdoor magazines. 

Growing up in Michigan, I was a big fan of Hemingway, but I read Dickens and Pearl Buck and Conrad and Willa Cather and, later, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. My love for books has not diminished with age. 

I have written a short work of nonfiction – ‘Called To Love’ about the Christian love ethic – and a collection of short stories – ‘Sacred Are the Brave’ about the nonviolent revolutions of the 1980s, available on Amazon Kindle. 

I wanted to write a novel that would express everything I know about writing and faith and the Church – especially the New Testament Church. I hit upon a time in the near future when believers would face many trials – from an authoritarian government, terrorists, an ‘official’ church, and the wreckage of an apocalyptic event, in this case nuclear war. 

How will our faith hold up in such a time? My wife and I have been in a unique ministry for thirty years. In all that time we have ministered to the poor, the disenfranchised, the homeless, and the addicted. 

Ours has not been a ‘normal’ experience of church. Out of that experience, then, has grown my latest novel, ‘Those Who Dwell Upon the Earth’. It will be released on September 1st in Kindle and Trade Paperback. A Reader’s Guide will also be available on Kindle. An audio version will be available soon as well. 

For more about me and my work please see my blog: jamesdsanderson.blogspot.com

A. J. Tata Rips From the News What Could Happen Soon! Dark Winter Now Out!

It was December, 2008, when I announced a new book and author, A. J. Tata with the Threat Series...  It was April, 2015, when Jake Mahegan was introduced in Foreign and Domestic! Now ten years later, he is one of the top thriller writers in America... There's a reason! And all you have to do is read one of his books to understand why...

Jake Mahegan is a formidable character that is exciting, comfortable in command and brilliant in strategy... But, in this latest novel, we see another side of him. He has fallen in love... And love can make a difference during combat and urgent action... No problem for the world, but definitely a problem for our hero! And I loved every incident where he was forced to deal with both love demands as well as military urgent action... So, I thought, if you are interested, I would include this video about how Jack Mahegan was born...

Dark Winter:

A Jake Mahegan Thriller

By Anthony J. Tata

...Gorham didn’t want to focus solely on dominance of the social and commercial world; he wanted political power. He had read Von Clausewitz’ On War and knew that military action was simply politics by another means. 

Given the state of the world today, Gorham knew that the deep political divisions in the United States and around the globe made the world ripe for a hostile takeover. 

“Boss I’m talking to you,” Shayne said. 

“Yes?” 

“You’re sure you want to launch the nuke? It’s your one freebie,” Shayne said. 

“Yes. North Korea strikes Japan with a nuke. World’s third largest economy. An extension of the United States for all practical purposes. 

The digital trails we’ve left for Assange and his lackeys to sniff around show Russia and Iran in full support of the North Korean weapons program and the launch. And you’ve got the follow up congrats e-mails ready for AUTO SEND from Iran and Russia to the acting North Korean president, correct?” 

“Yes,” Shayne muttered. 

“Okay, then. For the third time, execute,” Gorham said in an even tone. 

Shayne eyed him a second and then said, “You’re the boss.” His fingers rattled across the keyboard sounding like a thousand beetles on concrete and he hit ENTER. He panned the ManaSat camera over the Sangnam-Ri underground missile base, the location of many ICBM test flights. Two silos opened. They were maybe one-half mile apart. The openings looked like black dots on the satellite feed...

“THAAD defenses?” 

“Should be mitigated. 

ManaWorm showing activated and effective against American THAAD.” Shayne had developed the remote access Trojan, ManaWorm, so that they could plant the virus on unsuspecting defense contractor weapons and equipment a year or two earlier, when Gorham had hatched his plan. “Shadow missile effective?”

“So far. Looks like one launch. If we’re lucky, the Americans will think it’s just another ICBM tested and not even try to deploy THAAD.”

...“And,” Gorham said with dramatic flair, “we have the third nuclear weapon ever dropped in wartime and it is once again on Japanese soil. How ironic.”

~~~

The book description and additional publicity on Dark Winter left me with feelings of trepidation... Knowing the experience and expertise of A. J. Tata, I knew that this book was going to be as realistic as it could be, essentially responding to the question, "What If?"

Considering the state of the world today, with the division within the United States, one man could conduct a world-wide hostile takeover...and Gorham had been preparing for it for years... The first attack had been the assassination of the ruler of North Korea...

Of course, the hostility had been sparked quickly when the United States had withdrawn from the Iran Deal. It was also placing pressure on North Korea to completely eliminate their nuclear arsenal...and, with up-and-down pressure on Russia, who was already using cyberwar to work against the United States,  the time to act was now! Gorham and his staff had been working deep in the Dark Web to contact countries with whom he was negotiating... Responding to each of their known hatred and desires, the three countries with whom the U.S. had played with, had formed together into RINK... The target was to totally destroy America...

Each of the countries would be targeting nearby areas and moving into offensive position to overcome and destroy... Russia was also aiming for the total destruction of the United States, with their large arsenal of nuclear armaments.

It was to be a war of cyber action in the beginning. Through various contracts with the government across the world, weapons had been "changed" slightly from specifications, so that when put into action they would not make contact with proposed targets! It had begun with the bomb strike on Japan by the North Koreans and then ground military action by all three countries all at once. The ComWar had control of all types of equipment that was computer controlled and had weighted the three countries, Russia, Iran, and North Korea so that their military equipment were all efficiently working!

World War III was in its early stages...

If only Jake Mahegan was Real! But, of course, he is, in many ways. Tata writes based upon having seen the bravery, the expertise, and the patriotism of many American soldiers and he has forged their skills in our hero Jake...

But, something has changed in Jake's life...Cassie, a member of his team, who has the credentials, experience and expertise to have earned the Captain rank and who works at the side of Jake, had found her way into Jake's heart and, after never being in love before, has fallen deeply. It is somewhat of a burden, because he can no longer see her as a teammate...rather Jake needs to protect her...

Cassie is perfect for Jake! She's not willing to have Jake move her out of her team position, does not want to be protected, rather to allow her to act as normal in doing what she needs to do. But, the link between the two adds an extra dimension to the thriller that represents the love each soldier has for their loved ones and for their country. They love both, but will do anything to protect and serve those loved ones.

The lack of attention to cyber security for the last few years, as elections and social networks have been hacked with false information or used to hack election machines, while little has been done to lead and prepare for the use of computer manipulation, has been, illustratively, shown just how vulnerable the United States has become related to security...security of the infrastructure, not just on bigger and better ground and air equipment. Having worked with computer systems throughout my professional career, I am constantly alert to just how bad things can get if computer systems are affected in even small ways. The technological aspects of this book are beyond my expertise to actually do, but certainly the book is brilliantly done to show exactly how bad it can get! And a bit of coordinated criminal intent cannot easily be thwarted.

Tata presents us with an awesome, and, yes, terrifying, option of what can occur when criminal intent is allowed to take control. This is well beyond twists and turns...it is upfront action-packed, minute-by-minute intense waiting and moving. Picking up detail after detail to determine what may occur next. The characters are unbelievably able to get under our skin. I envisioned the villain as a evil genius whose ego has surmounted his ability to apply any level of common sense... While Jake Mahegan, our hero, seems to magically know who to trust, and not trust, and still make things happen to slow down and/or stop what is happening. It's a deadly time frame, and readers feel the tension, the sweat, the fear, as characters make things happen "just in time." Edgy, nail-biting, and hope and prayers are part of the move toward the climatic ending...

When I read this latest book of General Tata, and knowing he is already involved to some extent in government issues, I can't help but hope that he will enter the political realm and use his expertise to actually stop that potential WWIII that he has written about in Dark Winter. We have to deal with the violent terrorism that is rampant, as another mass shooting took place this very morning... Readers, if you don't understand about computer usage in relation to military safety and security, you must read this book! Learn what you need to know about cyber acts that can take us into a war like no other.

Sure it's exciting and those who like military thrillers are bound to enjoy the book. I loved it for putting the newspaper headlines directly into a book like no other could to describe the turmoil and world-wide concerns we already know exists today... Has RINK already been formed???

GABixlerReviews

BRIGADIER GENERAL (U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)

ANTHONY J. TATA

General Anthony J. Tata has more than three decades of public service as a military officer and in leadership roles at the county and state level. His last combat tour was as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and the Joint Task Force in Afghanistan, commanding nearly 25,000 troops. He is also an acclaimed novelist with nine fiction novels, including national bestsellers Foreign and Domestic, Three Minutes to Midnight, and Besieged. Kensington Books will release Direct Fire December 2017.

General Tata is president of defense, transportation and energy services company, KaylaTek, LLC. He also frequently speaks on matters of foreign policy to companies such as Google, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, MetLife, Bank of America, Glaxo Smith Kline and other major corporations. Previously, General Tata served as the North Carolina Secretary of Transportation, leading the state’s 12,000 NCDOT employees and serving as a member of the Governor’s cabinet. Immediately prior to that, he served as the Superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, leading the state’s largest school district of 18,000 employees and 150,000 students to record academic heights. 

General Tata served two tours of duty in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He also served as a brigade commander in the 101st Airborne Division and as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division. Among his military decorations, he has been awarded the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star, served as a Master Parachutist and graduated from the U.S. Army’s Ranger School. He is listed as a distinguished member of the 502nd, 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments.

Tony received a Bachelor of Science at the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Master of Arts in International Relations at the Catholic University of America, a Master of Military Art and Science in Strategic Planning at the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, and was a National Security Senior Fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Tony is the National Security Expert for One America News Network and reliably comments on foreign policy matters on dozens of programs and networks, including Fox News (Hannity, Bill O’Reilly Show, Megyn Kelly, Fox and Friends Weekday and Weekend, Geraldo Rivera Show, Fox Weekend News, America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer, and others), CNN New Day and with Brooke Baldwin, CBS News with Harry Smith, The Glenn Beck Show on The Blaze, and The Daily Buzz.

General Tata has two children, Brooke and Zachary....and more

Even James Becker Needed Lots of Help on This One! Fun Mystery Thriller! Check out John Betcher's Latest!

All that remained was for the agent
 to package the biologic for maximum
 dispersal and to add the explosive –
 Chinese fireworks known as M-80s
 would work just fine.

Rodney had no idea that, as a point of law, the dollar was neither necessary, nor in and of itself, sufficient, to establish a confidential relationship between us. That required a combination of expectation and intent. I leaned forward and flattened the wrinkled dollar on my desk blotter, taking time to repair each dog-eared corner. If I agreed to listen to Rodney, and maybe to help him with his concerns, it was unlikely I would be paid for my trouble. Then again, how often does a client pop into a lawyer’s office with a “big discovery?” He had captured my interest. After fixing the bill to my satisfaction, I folded it in half and tucked it in a shirt pocket. 
“You just hired yourself a lawyer,” I said. “You’ve got your confidentiality. But all I’m agreeing to do at this point is hear you out. I can’t guarantee I can be of any help until I know more. Understand?” 
“Yeah.” 
“Good,” I said. 
“Then let’s hear all about it, starting at the beginning if you don’t mind.” Rodney slid back in the chair, his hands gripping the armrests. He cracked his neck to both sides before beginning his tale. “It was yesterday afternoon,” he said. “Sunday . . . and I was out on the John Deere checking my fields, you know . . . and all of a sudden I hear this sound. It was a kinda weird sound, you know?” 
“Not really. Can you be more specific?” I had heard a lot of weird sounds in my day. Rodney thought for a moment. “It was kinda like whoosh-thud . . . tumble, tumble, tumble,” he said. He could have stuck with “weird” if that was the best he could do.

Bear Wave (Photo credits: Giphy)

 “Go on,” I said. “So I stood up and looked toward the sound.” He raised a hand to his brow and craned his neck, as though searching the horizon. “And something was knocking down my corn, like a big animal or something . . . not like a deer, more clumsy than that . . . maybe like a bear.” He looked to me for understanding. 
“A bear,” I said, nodding. It wasn’t a total impossibility that Rodney had encountered a bear in Ottawa County. There had been two or three confirmed sightings of black bear in the area over the past ten years. But his hypothesis wasn’t particularly likely either. I don’t remember anyone saying the other bears made a whoosh-thud, tumble sound. Then again, many interpretations are possible in the mind of an eyewitness . . . or in this case, ear-witness.
 “This thing, whatever it was, knocked down maybe thirty or forty feet of head-high corn stalks, in a straight line,” he continued. “I saw the last ones go down.” He clapped one flattened hand downward onto the other. “Then all was quiet,” he said, passing a benediction over the serenity in my office. He checked to make sure I was tracking. I gave him two thumbs up. “Anyway,” he went on, “this thing’s trail was pretty obvious in the corn. But not knowing what in the heck it was, I was a little . . . you know . . . reluctant to investigate.” Yeah. He was afraid it was a bear. “But I found a good size wrench in a fender box and decided to take a chance.” He made a hammering motion as he wielded the imaginary wrench. “So I got off the tractor and slipped into the corn field, nice and quiet like.” Rodney’s story-telling momentum was gaining steam as he worked his way along. This was probably a first rendition of the “big discovery” story. He would no doubt smooth out earlier scenes on future iterations. I stroked my chin as if contemplating the implications of Rodney’s tale thus far.
In truth, he hadn’t said much of consequence yet, at least as far as I was concerned.

~~~

 The largest FMD epidemic in U.S. history occurred in 1914 when diseased animals were transported to the stock yards in Chicago. Stock yards. 

Of course, we have no idea how many have tried to "create" it...

The Critical Element

Book 5: James Beck Series

John L. Betcher

If you've read the James Beck Series you already know what this latest exudes... His back-handed witty and/or facetious comments that may or may not be received well by the police officials with whom he gets involved! I enjoy them in the books--I don't know how I would accept them if I were the receiver of this wit...LOL 

James Beck has a high security clearance, higher than most of us even understand--and his wife's may be just as high... And they are both definitely higher than any local police have, much to their irritation. Intelligence for each? Different but generally, they communicate quite effectively and work so well together than it is almost like they are making love... In other words, I very much enjoy this couple...They are both loving, trustworthy, and dedicated to keeping America safe and secure. In this story, James is on the frontline, his wife in the background and he doesn't even share her name or reference her when she gets more information faster that any of the FBI specialists... Most of you will easily guess why...

Now you may quickly wonder what the opening excerpts are today--cows, a bear, and what looks like a bowling ball... Well, that's exactly right...That's what James was faced with as he began his $1 dollar discussion with Rodney Holton. (BTW, did you know that you weren't buying confidentiality with $1? I always did believe that, so we learned something from our lawyer series!)

Now Holton was a bit of a shyster and everybody knew it, but he would tell such stories, that some people would always listen... Beck did for a dollar's worth... But the story made him curious enough that he later went out to the farm to see it himself--and paid $39 more than he'd been paid! Boy, this guy is good!

Or Was...

Because Rodney wasn't far wrong in describing what he'd found on his farm as a meteorite. But when Beck saw it, he decided while it might have come out of the air, that it was probably man-made--and looked like a burnt bowling ball, maybe. Rodney had it all rigged out in his yard, even though it had not landed there and was selling views for $20/head...

Wonder how that compared to the money he lost on all the heads of cows he lost...

Confused? Everybody was! Because before long, Rodney's discovery had been stolen!

And his cattle became ill about the same time...

Soon many were concluding that the cattle had become ill from the meteorite, and it wasn't very long before the government had come, killed all his cattle and burned down his barn. That was bad enough, but it didn't seem that they were concerned about the theft of his, hopefully, very valuable prize from the sky! Now, the book doesn't say, but I can just imagine that Rodney immediately started negotiating with the loss of his cattle, his livelihood and his valuable meteorite and was soon somewhere in a very warm climate, living in luxury for the rest of his life...

In the meantime, Beck had been the only one who listened to a neighbor of Rodney. Blastus looked bad, smelled terribly and seemed a little "off" but really had PTSD from his horrible time in Vietnam and no help since then. Beck immediately realized what shape he was in and started to wade through what he was telling that he'd seen. He'd gone to the Sheriff to explain that he thought that his neighbor was selling drugs because of the activity he'd seen at off hours... But working with him, Beck soon was picking up clues that only he was using... and, in essence, he had concluded that there were two different events--possibly terrorist attacks--from two different sources. But nobody was really willing to accept what he was suggesting.

So, like Beck is prone to do, he called in his own help--Bull! And if you don't know this character, then it's worth reading at least one of the books to meet him! So with Beth and Bull's help, Beck soon had a handle on what and who was doing what. Beth was getting worried, but she continued to feed both Beck and Bull additional information even while they were separately trying to tackle what they believed was taking place--at exactly the same time. Fortunately, they got help just "in the nick of time..." LOL but it certainly made for an exciting, fascinating ending! I loved it!

Each of the books is free-standing, even though the series characters are basically the same for each book. So, this is a perfect time to discover why Betcher's series has steadily gained a following that moved this relatively new author quickly into a best-selling status... Adding an Epilogue to spotlight what had later happened to Blastus is a perfect illustration why this writer brings in more and more readers (See Below!)

If you don't like this series, I will be totally amazed... If you enjoy mystery, thrills, and humorous main characters...hey, this is an unusual group of wonderfully heart-warming characters! Highly recommended.


GABixlerReviews

When I told the receptionist I was there to meet Benny Volnscheid, she recognized the name immediately. “You mean Blastus,” she said with a smile. “He’s in the PT area right now. Just follow the signs.” She pointed me in the right direction. “And keep your ears peeled.” 
I had no idea what that meant, but took her advice concerning the signs. As I approached the doorway labeled “Physical Therapy,” I could hear the sounds of an acoustic guitar strumming and a ragged chorus of male voices belting out the chorus to Old Stewball Was a Race Horse emanating from within. I opened the door and stepped inside. On the far side of the room, adjacent to a wall of cloudy windows, a guitarist sat astride a black vinyl exercise bench, one hand banging the guitar strings, and singing for all he was worth – the obvious leader of this tone deaf glee club. A group of maybe twenty young men, mostly amputees, sat gathered around him and were obviously responsible for a majority of the racket. My eyes left the musician momentarily then darted back for a second look. He was almost unrecognizable owing to the short haircut, the clean shaven face, and the bright plaid flannel shirt. But I had no doubt, the guitarist was my formerly reeking and dissolute buddy, Benny Volnscheid. 
When Benny noticed my presence, he lifted his chin in acknowledgment, but didn’t interrupt the song. I leaned on the wall and listened, a smile glued to my face. . . . 

Oh the fairgrounds were crowded, and Stewball was thereBut the betting was heavy on the bay and the mare. And a-way up yonder, ahead of them all, Came a-prancin' and a-dancin' my noble Stewball.I bet on the grey mare, I bet on the bay. If I'd have bet on ol' Stewball, I'd be a free man today. Oh the hoot owl, she hollers, and the turtle dove moans. I'm a poor boy in trouble, and I'm a long way from home. Ol’ Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine. He never drank water, he always drank wine.

When the song was over, the singers erupted in cheers and applause for ol’ Blastus.

~~~

Amazon TOP 100 Bestselling Author, John L. Betcher, holds a Bachelor's Degree, cum laude, in English from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. He has practiced law for more than twenty-five years in the Mississippi River community of Red Wing, Minnesota. Mr. Betcher has published an award-winning series of "Becker" suspense/thriller novels. The first five are THE 19TH ELEMENT, THE MISSING ELEMENT, THE COVERT ELEMENT, THE EXILED ELEMENT and THE CRITICAL ELEMENT. He has also authored the award-winning spiritual phenomenon, A HIGHER COURT.