Epic Novel, The Jade Owl, by Edward C. Patterson, begins Series!

From ancient times, in folklore, the owl has been noted in various ways. For most of us we have learned that the owl is wise, although the facts may not support that assumption...

 

But only Edward C. Paterson tells us the tale of a unique, powerful and deadly symbol--The Jade Owl!

In fact, the first book begins an epic series that is bound to be of interest to lovers of historical fiction, those who study the Chinese culture... as well as those who enjoy fantasy/scifi centered on cultural issues... My own interest started when I was working on campus and attended a student Chinese cultural dance program... I loved the traditional dress for women in particular, as well as, since then, the architectural beauty of their buildings.  So much so, that I went on to use oriental decor for my bedroom for many years...and now have it spread throughout my cabin and into my garden landscape.

While never digging into much

actual history, I found Patterson's first novel, epic, at just under 600 pages,  a wonderful learning experience, quite intriguing and delightful... A fantasy based upon folklore regarding owls, with a strong scifi horror emphasis... I loved it! It's added to my personal favorites for 2018!

"The old grandmother?" Rowden asked.

"Ao-ling--the matriarch." Nick must have expected Rowden to react, maybe a jaw drop, but Rowden just looked across Simone with the pale glance of a man suffering from too much motion over too many potholes. "You've never heard of her? Nick asked.

"No. But she must be important to be honored in the pronoun mystical."

Nick laughed. His bright smile reckoned him like his old self...

Nick approached the old woman. He bowed.

"Xiao Ao-ling, you have called and I have come. My friends are here, This is my partner, Simon and..."

"Please Nicholas Battle," Ao-ling said. Her hand raised like a leaf in a breeze. "I know who you take to your bed." She smiled at simon, a dim smile filled with many broken teeth, but teeth as white as ice, evidence of the many years they drew rice and noodles past the sums. "I also know the pupils of your father. I know of this Professor Gray. I am glad you have an escort of friends and lovers in this world of mistrust and shadows, but I called you because you have found it, and keep it safe, from Win-t'o's clutches. That gladdens me." 
She flexed her shoulders, sighing with a hollow wind that washed the room with her ancient breath. "Bird and Box will be joined again. John Battle's son shall do it. He shall. Hao. Hen hao.

Nick kissed Ao-ling's hand as it stretched above the cane. Rowden, fully taken by her regal demeanor, fell in line to do the same, but it was not expected. She stopped the ceremonial, waving her hands to either side of the ke-ting.

"Please all. Sit. Be comfortable." She touched Audrey's hand. "Ao-ti, call for tea and some sesame cake. I do appreciate the filial piety, but be comfortable all. Sit.

Rowden found a floor cushion, while Simone and Nick tucked into the love seat. Ao-ling adjusted her petite bottom on her throne. She regarded Rowden, her deeply lined face, a billboard to five score in years at least, reflected more events than a history book.

"So, Professor Gray," she said. "I have heard your name on John Battle's lips many times. He hoped one day you would enjoin his work."

Rowden balanced himself on the cushion. "I'm afraid I disappointed him," he said. "I sometimes wish I had pursued his work."

"You pursue it now." It was a pronouncement Rowden hadn't considered. "The Jade Owl is his work. It is found and now to be restored. It will reveal her greatest secret."

~~~

I took about a week to read this book--there was so much to follow and absorb, that I didn't want to miss anything. While Professor Rowden Gray would be considered the main character, he was not intended to be the hero, per se. Professor Gray had gone for an important curator interview which seemed to be fairly secure. He had resigned his teaching job and packed up... Only to be told that the position had not been funded and there was no job!

Professor Gray had once sat at the feet of John Battle, known to be a great expert in Chinese history. Not so coincidentally, it seemed, the Professor had stumbled into meeting a young man, Nick, when he was still highly agitated on what had been done to him--he didn't really want to go back to teaching, but he did need to have some type of position.

Rowden later learned that Nick was one of the sons of John Battle... In fact, most of the intrigue evolves out of the seeming coincidences that came one after the other...The "treasure hunt" effect of, say, The Da Vinci Code, et.al., where clues are found...is replaced with what seems to be previously ordained. People have been waiting for the Owl to be found, both villains who want it for their own purposes, and those knowing the power must be restrained in only one way. Readers travel along with the small group who have been selected to fulfill the destiny of, specifically, Nick, John Battle's son...and take the owl to be once again joined with the Empress... I'll not go into that thread of the story. because it is so entwined. not to reveal the primary focus.

A minor topic includes the lives of those gay men who both travel with the group and meet along the way. It is a heartwarming tale that allows readers to intimately see and empathize with the bias still faced by many with a different sexual orientation. Simon/Simone is an adorable character that I found fascinating in her/his reactions to traveling with his partner, Nick. 

Rowden has two different types of encounters with women, as a result of being who he was and where he was in particular. All of the characters, in fact, add a special flair to what is definitely not an adventure story. The cultural implications of the desires, long-dead empress, have long been felt as her power continues to live after her death...or is she dead? 

The scenes when the Owl is "more than" a statue are thrilling in their creativity as well as placed within the various cultural buildings that are explored as they travel on their journey. I checked a few of the site locations named and found they were fictional, so I have not spent too much time on specific locations--let's just say that I thoroughly enjoyed how each step was guided from one point to another...

She kissed him on the cheek. He hugged her and took a larger liberty beneath her nose, which she apparently did not discourage as she let his lips repose there twice. "Will you be okay?" she asked.
Rowden smiled. "I'm in freaking John Battle Memorial Hall, standing beside the Joy of Finches. Now, that's a restorative."
...A wave of sadness engulfed him despite his restoration declaration. He returned his attention to the Joy of Finches, his eyes studying the contour of every beak, eye, and swirl. How he wished he could don latex and explore each contour of his lovely object with his scientific hand. It beckoned him, a power within, calling from an ancient, withered Imperial heart. As he stared, his imagination played a game. A outline of that haunting bird--a deep velveteen green wavering in a fluorescent glow. He blinked. It was gone...
Rowden abruptly turned, but there was no one. Nothing. Just the lingering scene of lavender. He cocked his head, looking for reflections in the black marble floor.
...He took another longing glance at the Joy of Finches--the Empress Wu's great treasure. "You all lose!" he muttered. He turned away wondering why he could think of nothing now but the aroma of lavender...

...Suddenly, the Jade Owl hooted.
"Holy shit." Rowden gazed at the emerald glow. He thought he saw wing movement. Ears twitching. He also felt a tremor in the floor, a foot massage vibration, or some amusement part fun house effect. He held Nick's shoulder. The display case rumbled.
"Earthquake?" He winced. It would just be his luck to travel to California in time for the Big One.
"No. It's the Box," Nick said. Nick's face blossomed. No terror here...

~~~  

"The bird was stolen, but now is returned to its place in the Wind Cave guarding our great ancestor's tomb, watched over by the spirits and the winds of Huai-ya. Such a journey do I tell sourced from Ch'en Po-yen's notebooks--the journey of the tiger in the dragon garden, Ch-un-ch'eng's madness, the Bell echoer, Mao Sheng's bane."
--from The Diary of The Jade Owl--Xiao Ch'eng

The book is long...take your time and sink into the past when a famed Empress wanted only one thing...to never die... Highly recommended!

GABixlerReviews

Author Edward C. Patterson has been writing novels, short fiction, poetry and drama his entire life, always seeking the emotional core of any story he tells. He has currently 38 published books. He is known for spinning magical and fantasy yarns grounded in history and favors epic tales revealed in books series. His flagship works are The Jade Owl Legacy Series, The Southern Swallow Series, The Farn Trilogy and the Nick Firestone Mysteries. 

In many of Patterson's novels, he combines an imaginative touch with his life long devotion to China and its history, having earned an MA in Chinese History from Brooklyn College with further postgraduate work at Columbia University. This background is the cornerstone for The Jade Owl Legacy, The Southern Swallow Series and Master Wu's Bride, works drawing on Sung and Ming Dynasty History and Culture. History has played a major part in the coming of age tale Little Vin at Dreamland.

Patterson's military experience is reflected in such works as Surviving an American Gulag, The Road to Grafenwoehr and Pacific Crimson - Forget Me Not. His gay life-way and work in diversity is reflected in his novellas No Irish Need Apply, Cutting the Cheese, Bobby's Trace and Mother Asphodel; and in larger works - Turning Idolater and Look Away Silence.

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Patterson has spent over five decades as a soldier in the corporate world gaining insight into the human condition. He won the Year 2000 New Jersey Minority Achiever Award for his work in corporate diversity and is a proud U S Army Veteran of the Vietnam Era. Blending world travel experiences with a passion for story telling, Patterson's adventures continue as he works to permeate his reader's souls from an indelible wellspring. 

His novel No Irish Need Apply was named Book of the Month for June 2009 by Booz Allen Hamilton's Diversity Reading Organization. His Novel The Jade Owl was a finalist for The 2009 Rainbow Awards.

He is the proud founder of Operation eBook Drop which, in its heyday, distributed over a million eBooks to deployed Armed Forces members from over 2,000 independent authors. He has guest blogged extensively and has appeared on the Bobby Ozuna - Soul of Humanity Show. He is also proud of his Cherokee heritage, knows seven languages (including Cherokee) and is a contributing member of the ACLU.

"The little voice from between the lines can become a lion's roar, one listener at a time."

Guest Blogger Lin Wilder spotlights Importance of Book Covers

The Cover: 
   Why it matters.

Hi Everybody... It's great to be back at Book Readers Heaven--this time to share a little about my new book! I, Claudia!


I’ve been waiting for the new cover of I, Claudia eagerly. Even breathlessly. That’s always the case for me as I begin writing anew story. After writing the first few chapters, 3500 words or so, I need to see the characters- the entire story.  

And Nancy Cleary never disappoints. In fact, she--or maybe we--keep getting better!

Before I move into why I’m calling this post, “The Cover: Why It Matters,” a little background.

Our partnership began five books ago-just four years ago through a chance email conversation with a friend of a friend. Odd how those ‘accidents’ can change everything, right?

Nancy listened patiently while I described an altogether horrid experience with the publisher of the first book in the Lindsey McCall medical mystery series. And brushed aside all the ‘I should have known's’, kindly but firmly. I wanted to do a second edition but had signed a contract with this company-- my list of ‘what if’s’ was endless. 

Nancy’s advice was direct and practical. I had no doubt that I was working with someone who ‘got’ this chaotic, confusing business of 21st century publishing.

In reflecting about the colossal amount of learning I’ve done in this new career, it seems unimaginable that it’s been only four years. To my surprise, I realize I’ve no regrets. Even about that first decision to go with Tate. It’s true, that adage of GK Chesterton:

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly for the first time.

Four years ago, the vastness of the errors in the first edition overwhelmed me. As did my naivete about the ease of moving from the universe of writing and publishing non-fiction to that of fiction. And about the depth of the black hole of marketing.

Wow. Worth a few repeats when I ponder how differently the writing of this 6th book feels from the first one. Wowza!

Okay, now to my main point. Or more precisely, The Cover: Why It Matters. There are three quite simple reasons why.

• The adage, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover is mostly wrong.’
• Covers are hugely persuasive in the decision to buy a book-- for me and I’d wager--for you. They attract or repel, evoke interest or not, almost subliminally.
• Nancy’s mock-up cover for I, Claudia provides just the right combination of intrigue, timelessness and mystery needed for this story.

Why?

For a couple of months, I’ve been immersed in a number of books about this infamous couple, Pontius Pilate and his wife, Claudia. The research needed for this book has of course, been extensive. But then that’s the case for everything I’ve done. And is the case for all writers, if we want to create something excellent.

The woman in the red is precisely how I see this woman. Alone, overpowered by the weight of a wisdom for which there are no words, and yet erect, undaunted, this is Claudia Procula. The confluence of ancient Greece, Rome and Israel in the background with a reddish hue of portent. Yes! Perfect, Nancy, another consummate cover!

As always, thank you for reading.

Lin, Talk about Wow! BRH readers Alert! This article is far more than one page...Check out each spotlighted link and you will find article after article! What a wonderful way to keep your important knowledge gained through experience and provided to readers who may have missed it in other locations. I certainly enjoyed sharing this "total package" with even a recommendation for an independent publisher provided! By the way, this was important to me because I had known about the bad reviews for Tate Publishing well over 10 years! It just shows that it is hard to find out good advice in this still-emerging, expanded publishing world!

Lin, like me, I am sure many of us never have even thought of Claudia, even though well we remember Pontius Pilate...

Seeing your beautiful cover, it entices us to learn of the story from Claudia's perspective... I admit I am quite curious!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Predatory Kill by Kenneth Eade - Second in Book Set...Spotlights Bank Fraud...

He had made it to his State Street office just in time to check messages and make sure everything was in order for the big weekend.  No work, only play and relaxation for the next 48 hours.  

As he entered the office, Melinda Powers, his secretary, looked worried.  It was unusual for her to be there past quitting time on a Friday. “Hey Mimi, what’s wrong?” Brent asked her.

“You’ve got a call waiting.  I told him you weren’t in, but he said he’d wait.” 

“Who is it?” 

“I don’t know, he won’t say.  He’s really weird, Mr. Marks.” 

“Why don’t we let him just die on hold then?”

“I think you should answer.” 

Brent entered his office, sat down behind his plush mahogany desk, and picked up the phone. 

“Hello, this is Brent Marks.” 

The eerie voice on the other end was cold and inhuman.  “Do you know how fast a bullet goes, Counselor?” it asked.

“Who is this?” 

“Seventeen hundred feet per second.  At that velocity, it will crack open your skull and splatter your brains all over your wall like a watermelon being hit by a sledge hammer.”  The caller cackled like a wounded chicken. 

Brent quickly switched on the recording device to the receiver.  He had bought that baby to record threats from ex-husbands whose wives had obtained restraining orders against them, but which Brent had always refused to dismiss, even in cases of so called “reconciliation.”  

“I don’t think I got your name, mister?”      

The voice responded with a maniacal chuckle, which turned into a full blown belly laugh, like Vincent Price in the final stanza of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. 

“No judge in the world can stop a bullet, Counselor.  No piece of paper can do that.”

“This conversation is really interesting, but if I don’t have your name, I…” 

“Think hard.” 

“I’m not going to play games with you.” 

“Oh, this is not a game.  I assure you.  I’m just giving you a little preview.  Wherever you go, I’ll be there.  When you’re at the corner at Starbucks, having your mocha grande in the morning before going to court, I’ll be there.  You won’t see me, but I’ll be there.  All it takes is one shot – one shot in the head.”  The phone vibrated from the eerie laughter. 

“And why would you want to shoot me?” 

“I am a servant of the Lord, Counselor.  I do His work.” 

“You’re saying that you’re going to kill me, because God told you so?”  

Without answering, the caller went into a sermon, like an evangelist preacher trying to convert a world full of infidels. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord!  When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.  I am your terror, Counselor.  I am the hand of the Lord and I will strike you down!” 

Suddenly, Brent realized who this character could be.  Last year, he took on a case for Felipe Sanchez, who had rented a house from a crazy religious fanatic named Joshua Banks.  When Banks found out that Sanchez had moved in his girlfriend, all hell broke loose.   “I won’t have fornication in my house!” Banks decreed.  

Sanchez ignored him and three days later, came home to find himself locked out of his house and all his furniture thrown out on the street.  When Brent succeeded in getting the police to open the house, Banks turned off the utilities, and Sanchez sued.  

Thanks to a little known provision in the Civil Code, daily damages were awarded to Sanchez at trial which allowed him to take his judgment, levy it against the house, and become the owner of it.  Justice can be hell for some people.  

Threatening my life is a felony, Mr. Banks,” said Brent, “Do you really want to go to prison?” 

“Do you think I care about your court?  Your prison?  There is only one lawgiver and judge, and that is the Lord God!  Judge not, that you not be judged, saith the Lord.  Man does not have the right to sit in judgment of his fellow man.” 

“You’re not God, Mr. Banks.”  Ignoring him, Banks pressed on. “Your judgment has been pronounced, Counselor.  And I’m afraid there is no chance for a pardon.  The punishment is death.”

~~~

The upcoming client had Brent intrigued.  Her matter was a potential wrongful predatory lending case against one of the largest New York banks, which had taken over one of the nation’s largest mortgage banks, rumored to have committed more fraud than Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff put together...

“I looked at the materials you sent over to me.  Of course, I would have to review all of the files, but its looks like when the bank bought the assets of Tentane Mutual after the FDIC seizure, your father’s mortgage was not properly assigned to the mortgage backed securities trust that was supposed to be one of the assets.”

Before the 2008 mortgage crisis, thousands of subprime real estate loans on over-appraised real estate were assigned to mortgage pools and then resold to investors as mortgage backed securities.  When U.S. home prices declined sharply after peaking in 2006, it became difficult for borrowers to refinance their loans.  As adjustable rate mortgages began to increase in monthly payments, mortgage delinquencies soared, causing mortgage backed securities to lose most of their value.  This, in turn, led to what is known as the financial crisis of 2008; the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. “Yes, they tried to slip it in with a forged assignment three years after the closing date of the Trust...”

~~~

It was interesting to go back and pick up the earlier books by Kenneth Eade, who has become my favorite legal author. Of course, there are the thrills of the "kill" where murder provides tension and suspense--in this book, Brent Marks, the main character even has a stalker to deal with while he works on his main case...

The reason for the stalker, as an aside, is one of those issues that really irks me--when an individual quotes God in explaining why he is going to kill somebody. The sad truth, however, is that there really are some who become fanatics in their religion...

But the main case covers fraud by major powerful, banks, using a sample to explore the 2008 crash that resulted in many banks being bailed out by the government. When I found a video where Bernie Sanders in 1998 expressed concern about what proved to later happen, I was gratified that Eade had also taken the opportunity to use his novel to help his readers understand what might (probably?) had happened! And could very well happen again...

It is scary to consider that banking institutions, especially large ones, could, and possibly already has, become the predator who turns to murder to cover-up their crimes...Eade presents an intriguing fictional account, which is, of course, as always backed up with research of real-time events... which is why he rose to my top legal writer...

April Marsh had found her mother murdered, and her father close to death... She was already named to legally act on their behalf and after her research had come to Marks, believing he was the lawyer she needed, even though he was a single-lawyer office and with no experience in this area. She cited a case from Marks' experience and had used it to explain why she had selected him. She was fairly certain who was behind what had happened...

She provided all documentation to illustrate how her parents had been swindled. Essentially because of a buy-out, the larger bank had taken over, and falsified information to show that it was not their fault... Her parents had already lost much and now they were coming after their home...

Although not versed in financial law, per se, I was easily able to follow the case put together by Marks  and his investigator. He began to worry, however, when he was personally attacked and his investigator disappeared, later presumably dead!

I had my small local bank bought out by a larger one...and I have been unhappy ever since. A large bank will soon use bureaucracy as the primary power control for their business. This was certainly the case in this situation. But can one lawyer succeed in a fight with the power of a company with all the legal advisers they could ever need? I think Eade did an exceptional job in allowing readers to learn as well as enjoy the reality of a story that all of us wish we will never face. Highly recommended...


GABixlerReviews

Described by critics as "one of our strongest thriller writers on the scene," author Kenneth Eade, best known for his legal and political thrillers, practiced International law, Intellectual Property law and E-Commerce law for 30 years before publishing his first novel, "An Involuntary Spy." Eade, an award-winning, best-selling Top 100 thriller author, has been described by his peers as "one of the up-and-coming legal thriller writers of this generation." He is the 2015 winner of Best Legal Thriller from Beverly Hills Book Awards and the 2016 winner of a bronze medal in the category of Fiction, Mystery and Murder from the Reader's Favorite International Book Awards. His latest novel, "Paladine," a quarter-finalist in Publisher's Weekly's 2016 BookLife Prize for Fiction and finalist in the 2017 RONE Awards. Eade has authored three fiction series: The "Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series", the "Involuntary Spy Espionage Series" and the "Paladine Anti-Terrorism Series." He has written eighteen novels which have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. 

"I've been writing all my life, but began publishing my work out of a passion for the environment. My wife, Valentina, is a professional photographer, who worked for two years on an environmental exhibition called, "Bee Cause I Care" which was exhibited by the Prince Albert II Foundation and is now touring cities in France to bring awareness to the importance of pollinators and the dangers facing them. I penned a few articles on the subject for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and turned my research into my first book, "Bless the Bees." That passion continued with the publication of my novel, "An Involuntary Spy," which is an action thriller that also points to the dangers of genetically engineered food. Then I began publishing the "Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series," which, in part, is based on actual experiences during my long career in law.

"Now I divide most of my time between France, where I have resided for the better part of 10 years, and Russia. I try to put as much realism in my novels as possible, and they all revolve around important social issues. I treasure all of my readers and love to hear from them, whether it's good or bad. Sometimes I make changes based on their suggestions and one reader has inspired a character that has appeared in my latest three novels. Everyone who signs up on my mailing list at www.kennetheade.com gets a free ebook and I give away a Kindle Fire every month to a lucky winner on the list. I love this new adventure and hope you enjoy taking it with me."

Email: info@kennetheade.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KennethGEadeBestsellingauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KennethEade1
ECommerce site: http://www.amazonsellers.attorney

Note: The last book in this set, I had already reviewed...

Kenneth Eade Presents A Patriot's Act - An American Citizen at Guantanamo...

Lawyer Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series Books 1-3: A legal thriller and courtroom drama collection (Brent Marks Legal Thrillers Series Book 10)Kindle Edition

Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. -Guy de Maupassant 

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.  – Hermann Goering

  Democracy is not freedom.  Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.  Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights, which may not be taken, even by a 99% vote. - Marvin Simkin

~~~

After reading A Higher Loyalty by James Comey, I decided to continue my legal reading via my favorite fiction legal author, Kenneth Eade. While reading from a book set, I will be doing an individual review for each of the books as I normally do...

A Patriot's Act is the first book in the set.

Patriotism is a kind of religion;
it is the egg from which wars
are hatched.
~~~

Exploring the Patriot's Act within a legal thriller would be difficult, I am sure. The author chose to formulate a fictional case which spotlighted Guantanamo, with the capture of an American citizen who was jailed as a terrorist and immediately placed in prison in that secret location outside of the United States.

This is an historical book to some extent but there are still prisoners being kept at Guantanamo. Included in the book's extra materials is a list of the congressional and presidential actions which support what was happening...

I was immediately struck by the quotes that were included on the first page, the first of which struck me the most--noting that patriotism is a kind of religion and that wars are the result. This quote caught me and my first thought was an internal question--how did patriotism come to be before God? And yet this quote provided what could be an explanation to what I have wondered about all my life. Why was patriotism spoken of and responded to more than God in our lives? I've always given God the glory for my life and and the country in which I lived was the luck of the draw...I happened to be in America, which was called the land of the Free...

And then 9/11 happened...

“What do we do?”  Catherine started to cry.  “It seems to be impossible.” “Of course, you have no obligation to hire me, but what you could do is file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal Court here in the States.  If that’s granted, he will have a hearing in a U.S. Court on U.S. soil instead of being held indefinitely in Cuba.” 
“Indefinitely?”
“Yes, some suspected terrorists have been there since 2003.  If they are accused of being ‘enemy combatants’ they can be held as long as it is deemed fit, without a trial.  But they do have a right to challenge whether they are enemy combatants or not.” 
“Ahmed is not an enemy of the United States.  He loves America.  And he’s not a terrorist!” 
“The Government thinks he is, and they
think that gives them the ability to foreclose all his rights.” 
“Is this expensive, this habeas corpus?” 
“Yes, it is.  I can give you a very good hourly rate, but I can’t work for free.  We’ll be fighting the Government, and they’ll throw everything at us to crush our petition.  It’s going to take a lot of hours.” 
“I’ll do whatever it takes to save Ahmed. I’ve got some savings, and I’ll borrow money if I have to.” 
“I’ll see if I can get the Government to admit they have him, and the next step will be to go down there to talk to him.” 
“I’ll go with you.” 
“Let me see what I can do first, then we’ll try to set up visitation for you, okay?” 
“You’re my last hope, Mr. Marks.  I’ve tried everything and every door closes in my face.  The only ones who even tried to help me were that FBI agent and Mr. Penn. 
Brent was accustomed to the way tribal bias and prejudice gave way to mistreatment in his native America, his Hispanic looks being mistaken for Mexican more than once. 
Brent left Catherine with the assignment of digging up every piece of paper she could on Ahmed: a copy of his passport, his naturalization papers, his work history, even his banking records.  Brent would have to present on paper the picture of a good American citizen.  
George W. Bush said, “It will take time to restore chaos.”  Brent was about to confront Bush’s creation head on.

~~~

President Bush and apparently many who lived in America seemed to think that an attack on America was totally unexpected and unwarranted, yet we had traveled all over the world, fighting many wars in other countries. I was not even surprised when 9/11, a most horrible event, occurred. Thereafter I watched as the Patriot's Act almost immediately was put into effect and "potential" terrorists were arrested and acted on under a special military court rather than through our standard system. Torture was implemented, although nothing they were doing was placed under the definition, which was created for torture... Water Boarding, Dry Boarding, physical abuse of all kinds, mental abuse of various kinds were implemented routinely and handled by the officers at Guantanamo with oversight only by the military.

Ahmed, an American citizen, had gone to his home country when his brother called him and told him he needed help. He knew nothing about his brother's involvement in terrorism, if indeed he had been... Ahmed never knew what happened to him. Ahmed was stripped naked and taken to Guantanamo and immediately placed in isolation for weeks...then moved to another location where he was in bright lights all the time and rock music blared 24/7... and much more. This book is not easy to read for those who care about God's people... The video below is an illustration, but it was during this process that Ahmed was most affected...

Catherine, Ahmed's wife, had found Brent Marks after going to many different offices to seek help in finding her husband. Brent Marks is a wonderful fictional lawyer that you would want to have if you needed help. Readers will watch as each legal process was handled, together with much investigation by a private investigator, who was also a personal friend of Brent. What happens is unbelievable, and extremely upsetting since this American citizen had had nobody to act on his behalf until Marks took his case. How, I thought, can Americans talk about other countries who are routinely doing acts against humanity, yet, do the same, in secret, by direction of the President.

Was it at that point when things started to get really bad, and the division started? For those who seek peace versus those who follow leaders into immoral acts have surely initiated actions that by now are beyond secrecy and out in the open... While a disgusting book, if you care about what is happening in America, I recommend this as a must-read...Each of us need to "feel" emotionally what happens to the individual who is caught in acts of our government that have been authorized--but never explained to us what would really be happening.


GABixlerReviews

Now Reading Predatory Kill, the Second in Set

Review Coming

A Higher Loyalty by James Comey - NOW Is the Time...

James Comey coordinated an updated, easy-to-remember Mission Statement for the FBI soon after he took office...exists to “protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States."
~~~

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

WHO AM I TO TELL others what ethical leadership is? Anyone claiming to write a book about ethical leadership can come across as presumptuous, even sanctimonious. All the more so if that author happens to be someone who was quite memorably and publicly fired from his last job.

I understand the impulse to think that any book written about one’s life experience can be an exercise in vanity, which is why I long resisted the idea of writing a book of my own. But I changed my mind for an important reason. We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country, with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized, and unethical behavior is ignored, excused, or rewarded. 

This is not just happening in our nation’s capital, and not just in the United States. It is a troubling trend that has touched institutions across America and around the world—boardrooms of major companies, newsrooms, university campuses, the entertainment industry, and professional and Olympic sports. For some of the crooks, liars, and abusers, there has been a reckoning. For others, there remain excuses, justifications, and a stubborn willingness by those around them to look the other way or even enable the bad behavior. So if there ever was a time when an examination of ethical leadership would be useful, it is now. 

Although I am no expert, I have studied, read, and thought about ethical leadership since I was a college student and struggled for decades with how to practice it. No perfect leader is available to offer those lessons, so it falls to the rest of us who care about such things to drive the conversation and challenge ourselves and our leaders to do better. 

Ethical leaders do not run from criticism, especially self-criticism, and they don’t hide from uncomfortable questions. They welcome them. All people have flaws and I have many. Some of mine, as you’ll discover in this book, are that I can be stubborn, prideful, overconfident, and driven by ego. I’ve struggled with those my whole life. There are plenty of moments I look back on and wish I had done things differently, and a few that I am downright embarrassed by. Most of us have those moments. The important thing is that we learn from them and hopefully do better. I don’t love criticism, but I know I can be wrong, even when I am certain I am right. 

Listening to others who disagree with me and are willing to criticize me is essential to piercing the seduction of certainty. Doubt, I’ve learned, is wisdom. And the older I get, the less I know for certain. Those leaders who never think they are wrong, who never question their judgments or perspectives, are a danger to the organizations and people they lead. In some cases, they are a danger to the nation and the world. 

I have learned that ethical leaders lead by seeing beyond the short-term, beyond the urgent, and take every action with a view toward lasting values. They might find their values in a religious tradition or a moral worldview or even an appreciation of history. But those values—like truth, integrity, and respect for others, to name just a few—serve as external reference points for ethical leaders to make decisions, especially hard decisions in which there is no easy or good option. Those values are more important than what may pass for prevailing wisdom or the group think of a tribe. 

Those values are more important than the impulses of the bosses above them and the passions of the employees below them. They are more important than the organization’s profitability and bottom line. 

Ethical leaders choose a higher loyalty to those core values over their own personal gain. Ethical leadership is also about understanding the truth about humans and our need for meaning. It is about building workplaces where standards are high and fear is low. Those are the kinds of cultures where people will feel comfortable speaking the truth to others as they seek excellence in themselves and the people around them. Without a fundamental commitment to the truth—especially in our public institutions and those who lead them—we are lost.

As a legal principle, if people don’t tell the truth, our justice system cannot function and a society based on the rule of law begins to dissolve. As a leadership principle, if leaders don’t tell the truth, or won’t hear the truth from others, they cannot make good decisions, they cannot themselves improve, and they cannot inspire trust among those who follow them. 

The good news is that integrity and truth-telling can be modeled in powerful ways, shaping cultures of honesty, openness, and transparency. Ethical leaders can mold a culture by their words and, more important, by their actions, because they are always being watched. Unfortunately, the inverse is also true. Dishonest leaders have the same ability to shape a culture, by showing their people dishonesty, corruption, and deception. A commitment to integrity and a higher loyalty to truth are what separate the ethical leader from those who just happen to occupy leadership roles. We cannot ignore the difference. 

I spent a lot of time thinking about the title of this book. In one sense, it came out of a bizarre dinner meeting at the White House, where a new president of the United States demanded my loyalty—to him, personally—over my duties as FBI director to the American people. But in another, deeper sense, the title is the culmination of four decades in law, as a federal prosecutor, business lawyer, and working closely with three U.S. presidents. In all those jobs, I learned from those around me and tried to pass on to those I worked with that there is a higher loyalty in all of our lives—not to a person, not to a party, not to a group. 

The higher loyalty is to lasting values, most important the truth. I hope this book is useful in stimulating all of us to think about the values that sustain us, and to search for leadership that embodies those values.

~~~

A Higher Loyalty:

Truth, Lies, and Leadership

By James Comey

In my opinion, the Author's Note that begins this excellent book is one of the most important statements. For me, it was mostly a regurgitation of my own thoughts, concerns, and experience after over 50 years in working in higher education and/or while working for a publisher and then as a book reviewer... I have not only sympathy, but empathy, for James Comey, as I, too, was fired without cause. I found much in the book that paralleled my life as Associate Director and Acting Direction of a major administrative unit on a university campus. 

When I was first working at the university, the Chairman of Political Science was talking about the ethics and honesty of a government official--I don't remember who at this point--but what he said stuck with me... "An individual who decides to take public office must be above the norm in ethics..." Since then I have watched and seen much that has bothered me about the personal truth, ethics and leadership of those who hold our public offices, especially those who are elected...

One of the first things I thought when I finished the book was that it should be required reading for Business and Public Administration and Political Science students. The facts behind the firing of the FBI Director is a lesson in itself. But it is more important...and most important...that the book be read as broadly as possible given the present situation in Washington. I had already developed my own concern and fear of what is happening...Comey's statement: "We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country, with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized, and unethical behavior is ignored, excused, or rewarded." merely confirmed that this book was one I wanted and needed to read!

I must spotlight early on that it was illustrative of this administration to have Comey fired while he was out of the office and without prior notice by any of his line superiors. I have seen more and more individuals who have reach middle or high level leader positions who not only don't have the experience, make no effort to learn what the job requires, and, especially, is unwilling to handle the major personnel issues of a leader. But did you know that James Comey was at a site visit in California, where he was working on an important project he had initiated--to bring more minority individuals in as agents!?!

Readers will begin the book by learning of Comey's professional background, but you will also learn about the importance of early training in his home about his moral conduct. He learned early the difference between good and bad, sometimes through his own errors. But that parental training helped him to work to move toward improvement.

With one of the major issues facing America being the treatment and division on racial differences, I found it gratifying and significant that Comey, on his own initiative, had started a recruitment effort to bring agents in who could show and help in the diversity very much needed to deal with the expanding division that I saw initiated directly from the man in the presidency of our country. Note that Comey had worked for three different presidents and had already began this program.

One of the other major issues that had bothered me greatly and covered in the book was related to the support, and reasons given, for some of our religious individuals in America to support this President...

I see many so-called conservative commentators, including some faith leaders, focusing on favorable policy initiatives or court appointments to justify their acceptance of this damage, while deemphasizing the impact of this president on basic norms and ethics. That strikes me as both hypocritical and morally wrong. The hypocrisy is evident if you simply switch the names and imagine that if a President Hillary Clinton had conducted herself in a similar fashion in office. I’ve said this earlier but it’s worth repeating: close your eyes and imagine these same voices if President Hillary Clinton had told the FBI director, “I hope you will let it go,” about the investigation of a senior aide, or told casual, easily disprovable lies nearly every day and then demanded we believe them. The hypocrisy is so thick as to almost be darkly funny. I say this as someone who has worked in law enforcement for most of my life, and served presidents of both parties. What is happening now is not normal. It is not fake news. It is not okay.

I have never been a political person, nor do I have any allegiance to a specific political party. It was only as I saw what was happening during the lead-in television to the election that I saw a man who purposely instigated hate, prejudice, lack of respect for women and so much more. When I saw that the Republican party allowed this kind of behavior, I was incredulous to hear that it was mostly Christian people who supported him. Then I saw a major leader who said the same as Comey included above...How could his policy issues be more important than his basic ethics--his moral conduct. I still don't have an answer, but with Trump as well as Bush, I was gratified that Comey's opinion and narrative of actual events matched mine.

But this is not a personal applause statement about James Comey. It is merely as I have watched politics and leaders for nearly 40 years, I have come to the same conclusions as the former Director of FBI.

I have no other choice than to highly recommend this book to those who are willing to listen/read...and who are also concerned about what has happened to the United States especially recently. I have felt Comey a truthful man, who was quite willing to admit he didn't know how to handle the impossible situations he was placed in. I have also felt concern about those above him...and many others who have spoken one way or another for the last 15 months and more... But who, when cornered as to take a stand to their leader, chose to not act or to send a subordinate... Been there and done that... American leaders have much to learn about the three points highlighted in the book: Truth, Lies, and Leadership!

GABixlerReviews

I have been in various leadership roles through most of my professional life, including on he job and in professional organizations. I believe my background allowed me to read this book and verify its Truth... 

This is more of an opinion piece than I normally allow myself for reviews. Please feel free to comment and I'd be happy to discuss my position further...