Title: Black OPS American Jihad
Author: William W. Johnstone
Pages: 254
Year: 2006
Publisher: Pinnacle
My rating 4 out of 5 stars.
I found out about this book via a Facebook post and having never read it, I decided I was going to dive right into the novel. The novel is written solely by William W. Johnstone and it is a story about legacy, specifically Smoke Jensen’s legacy. If you have not read about this character, he is a man who doesn’t seek trouble, but won’t back down from it either. He fights for what is right and seeks out those who are doing wrong when they cross his path or hurt those he loves. What makes this story fascinating is that Smoke is writing to a grandson not yet born, a couple of generations future of Smoke’s time. Smoke wanted him named Arthur Kirby Jensen.
Smoke leaves a journal for him that shares some of his trials in life, passing on the wisdom he learned to a great-great grandson he’ll never know. I loved the idea of passing on the wisdom from Smoke’s life and writing it as if he were alive and speaking directly to his grandson. I enjoyed the suspense of the novel as Arthur Kirby Jensen is serving in the army, facing a trial in his career and life that is high stakes.
The best piece of advice Smoke passes on is that the character of a man matters, especially under adversity. Arthur, known as Art, in the book, sure encounters some of that when he faces a court martial with a stacked deck, but he has a calm steady demeanor. The story really has some surprise twists and turns and makes for a book easy to get lost in. While there are a few uses of foul language what I really saw no need for was a brief encounter Art had one night with a woman after saving her life. Nothing graphic just a description of French passionate kissing that really could have been left out and it wouldn’t have hurt the story at all because it added nothing to the plot.
If his niece picks up this character and beings writing about him, I hope she will continue to write strong plots and subplots, action, adventure and the like without any distractions as mentioned above. Readers, don’t let it keep you from the book. It’s a quick distraction and now that you know about it you can skip over it and get wrapped up in the drama! ( )