War Torn by Jeffrey Wilson

War Torn

Based on personal experiences by the Wall Street Journal and Amazon #1 bestselling military thriller author Jeffrey Wilson, War Torn is an inspirational novel that details a young man's crisis of faith after a tour of combat duty in Afghanistan turns tragic.

Jake is a solid American, a young husband, a good friend, and a patriotic member of the National Guard. While his family and Christian values define who he is, he has never fully understood the passion for the faith that his wife, Rachel, and his best friend and fellow soldier, Cal, seem to share. But when Jake and Cal are deployed with their unit to Afghanistan, Jake depends heavily on the quiet but powerful faith of his best friend and embraces, finally, a relationship with God. Despite the horrors he experiences in war and the pain of his separation from Rachel, Jake has found his way for the first time—until a crippling loss shakes his newfound faith to the core and makes him question where God is in his struggles, or if God even exists at all.

Can a loving wife’s faith carry a broken man through the most difficult challenge of his life? Can a committed pastor put his own struggles and doubts aside to help heal a wounded marriage? Like so many combat veterans, Jake must find his way back to his family even after returning from Afghanistan, and learn to find God in the fog of war that follows him home.

The Guru's Review: 

I volunteered to review this new novel by Jeffrey Wilson and I am very glad I did. It is a very impressive novel, compelling and engrossing. Wilson has brought to life convincingly the reality of war, combat and strategy, the relationships between the soldiers of the unit. Very real are the emotions they go through on the day to day on either a raid or a show of force patrol. But where Wilson shines is showing the raw emotions they experience when one is injured or more importantly when one of them is killed. 

I was distraught when Pete could not come to terms with the death of one of his comrades and the emotions he expressed, raw and intense. You find yourself relating to these emotions but also with empathy and compassion. Then you relate to the attempts of Jake as he tries valiantly, but honestly, in answering the questions that Pete has in relation to this death, why it happened, how do you process this, how do you move on, how do you deal with all these emotions and more. I appreciated the fact that Jake could not help Pete at all and this was just as raw for him as it was for Pete not being able to deal with the reality of war.

And it only gets worse when Cal is killed and Jake's world is turned upside down and he feels he has reached a point of no return. I was on the train when I read all of this novel and it was hard to maintain control when I just wanted to let my emotions go as these characters did. Very hard to not cry on public transport when these emotions have been triggered! 

Wilson is very successful in integrating his experience in the military and his tours of duty into this novel. It forms a solid foundation upon which this novel is constructed and adds to the credibility of the plot, characters and its themes. His bio states that he, 

has at one time worked as an actor, a firefighter, a paramedic, a jet pilot, a diving instructor, a Naval Officer, and a Vascular and Trauma Surgeon. He also served two tours in Iraq as a combat surgeon with both the Marines and with a Joint Special Operations Task Force.

Such a narrative is best when an author writes what they know compared to applying the research of an unknown topic or element into a novel. The latter is only successful in how it is applied to the plot, but this is not an issue when the author has first-hand experience. The genre of the military, special ops and the like shine when an author is writing from this personal knowledge base. Wilson is one of the masters here. I have no problem reading any of his other novels based on this fact alone. I know I am going to be in for a wild ride and be thoroughly entertained. 

Wilson has structured this novel on two levels. The home front where the wives, Kelly and Rachel, respectively, of the two main characters, Cal and Jake, cope with having their husbands on tour of duty and all that this entails. It is here that Wilson develops these two characters and endears the reader to them and their empathy for what they are going through is engaged. The second level, the war front, has the typical depiction of what this is like for these soldiers. Again, Wilson develops the characters, mainly Jake and Cal so that the reader is engaged and committed to them so that when both these two levels meet in the second half, this novel takes off. The former level sets the stage for what happens when Cal is killed and Jake returns home, broken, affected by PTSD and with no end in sight of the nightmare he has experienced. It is here that the fallout from the events of the other soldiers being killed, but especially that of Cal's death is explored in all its rawness, intensity, by Rachel, Kelly, Jake, their family members, Pastors Craig and Chris, TC Morrow, and Adrian.

Wilson shines in the spiritual aspects of this novel. He shows no hesitation or reticence in depicting Cal as living out his faith and it shows in all aspects of his life and relationships. This is one Christian who is not afraid of the gospel of Christ and in proclaiming it. But this is not done in some super-spiritual way where Christians and non-Christians have experienced these super-spiritual, overly zealous Christians where you cannot relate to them. Wilson has depicted Cal as one who knows what his relationship with Jesus is; relational, sincere, practical and where his hope lies. It is this tangible evidence in his life, that draws Jake to Cal and where he accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour. And one other aspect of this relationship Cal has with Jesus is he is not afraid to be real, to show emotion, doubt, but to submit to Jesus and let Him be in control and Sovereign.

Similarly, Wilson has depicted other Christian characters in a similar fashion. I loved Pastor Craig. I loved his vulnerability and admission that he did not have all the answers to help Jake, but it was his humility that grabbed me. He did not suffer from pride or an expectation that as a Pastor he had to know how to handle all situations, especially PTSD and what Jake was going through. This humility was also shown in his accepting counsel from his assistant Pastor, Chris. These two had a Paul and Barnabas relationship on one hand and a Paul and Timothy on the other. These two understood each other, accepted each other's flaw and strengths, were very comfortable with each other. 

I know Wilson has modelled Craig on his own Pastor as he states in the Acknowledgements. He seems to have quite a Shepherd in this Pastor and I can see from this depiction of Craig and also of Pastor Chris what a positive effect this has had on Wilson's life and spirituality and relationship with Christ. I have said in many reviews, that the Christian, Biblical and spiritual elements of a novel can also give a glimpse of the relationship the author has with Christ. I can see this through the characters of Pastor's Chris and Craig, Adrian, and Cal. I know what to expect if I ever met this author and others. This transparency is a wonderful characteristic and evidence of the Spirit's work in this author's life. 

Christian fiction is often criticised for being preachy in the gospel message, or for including the actual prayer from the Christian characters. Sometimes, I find this to be unfounded while at other times, it can stand out from the plot and appear as if it has been added for Christian content only or not an essential part of the plot. Not so with this novel. Wilson has avoided this by integrating the gospel message and the themes of forgiveness, redemption, submission, hope in Christ, the question of death, killing and grief as part of the plot structure and character development. It is more giving counsel than so-called "preaching" in dealing with the very real but raw emotions experienced by Jake over Cal's death, his guilt, anger, his PTSD, and the issues Rachel and Kelly had to deal with over their grief of Cal's death and Rachel's affected husband. This novel would fall flat and be very unsatisfying without the integration of these elements. Wilson has also been upfront with adding the biblical reference to these themes and accounts of counsel. Three specific accounts that impressed me greatly were the instruction and counsel from Cal to Jake about killing, Romans 8 between Kelly and Rachel but the one that really impacted me was the account when Craig was ministering to Jake about the Power of the Cross and what Jesus' death meant to us all in any situation we are in, in this case, PTSD, loss of a loved one/spouse/friend/soldier and discovering who you are in Christ. All three examples very powerful messages on their own but work seamlessly together. They definitely show the power of the Word of God. I found all these examples beautifully executed by Wilson. 

Wilson's method here just reinforces the tenet that we learn better when information in all its forms is delivered in an entertaining way. Fiction is well placed to do this and is very successful. Christian fiction fits in very well here. You do not feel as if you are being preached at when authors like Wilson integrate into the structure of the plot and its themes. It also adds depth and strength to the novel's structure. I state in the "Why Christian Fiction?" tab of this blog from reading Christian fiction I like to experience that, 

• it has entertained me immensely, 
• it has encouraged my walk with God, 
• it has not deviated from known biblical doctrine, and it will not lead a non-believer astray or promote false doctrine, 
• it honours God, 
• it does not encourage worship of the created (eg angels) instead of the Creator (God). 

Wilson has definitely achieved this for me. Fiction can be a very powerful platform when an author writes for God under His guidance/anointing. 

Another aspect of the spiritual in this novel is a touch of the supernatural. Both Rachel and Jake have dreams where they are visited by a messenger called Luke. It is very identifiable that this messenger is an angel (Mal'ak (also spelt as Malak or Melek and is the Semitic word for "angel" Hebrew מַלְאָךְ and means messenger). He tells each of them what they need to do and a heads up on what to expect when Jake comes home. In Jake's case, he has an opposing voice to what Luke says and at first, I wondered if it was demonic, but as this was not as obvious as who Luke is, it seems to be the negative talk from his brokenness, anger, guilt, shame. However, when Jake is care-fronted by Adrian and Craig with the Word of God and their counsel based on this, it is easy to see this negative but destructive self-talk is destroyed (excuse the play on words here!). Even Rachel is ashamed or embarrassed to discuss her dream and counsel from Luke with Pastor Craig.

It does make me wonder why Christians are so reticent to accept the supernatural in our lives even when it becomes obvious! It should go hand in hand with our conversion and experience of Jesus. I would have liked to have seen more of this supernatural element in this novel but it served its purpose.

This novel highlighted the need for more support by the government in reality to support veterans. I honestly do not know if the situation here in Australia is the same or similar to what you see in America, but I am shocked at the lack of care and support on every level of society for veterans! There needs to be more resources created, distributed and any existing ones expanded and improved to meet the needs of the armed forces members once they return home. It should also be for life as their needs are not temporary in the majority of cases. 

Wilson has tied up all the loose ends well by the end of the novel and while it has a happy and satisfying ending, how it does end and what Jake, Rachel, Kelly, Craig and Chris achieve in their lives, physically, mentally and emotionally is not just for the novel's ending but is what can be achieved by faith, by mentoring, by coming alongside those who are broken, despairing and at the end of themselves, by allowing the Spirit of God to minister through any willing Christian and in the broken who has a heart and mind that is receptive to the Spirit's healing. 

This is one very impressive novel. It is action packed, it hooks you and does not let go. It will tug at your emotions, it uplifts you and shows the power of the Cross and Jesus' victory over sin and death and His restorative and redemptive power. 

I look forward to more from this author. Jeffrey Wilson is one author to follow are support. 

Highly Recommended.

The three ratings below are based on my discernment:

World Building 5/5

Characters 5/5

Story 5/5

The two classifications below are based on the booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland:

Spiritual Level 4/5

Enemy Spiritual Level 3/5

Overall Rating: 4.3/5

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Spiritually, based on my review and on the following reference booklet,

A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland, and that War Torn contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Redemptive Fiction outlined in this booklet, (click on the title below to see what this is based on), I award Jeffrey Wilson with the

Reality Calling Christian Redemptive Fiction Award

 

Congratulations, Jeffrey!

To buy or preview this novel, click on the BUY/PREVIEW icon below:

Marshall Texas Ranger: The Case of the Hidden Pasts by George H. McVey

Marshall Texas Ranger: The Case of the Hidden Pasts

Found beside a burnt out wagon, ten miles from the last battle of the civil war, in only his long-johns, with two Griswold pistols in his hands, he has no clue who he is. All he can do is try and find his past, his name, even his purpose in life.

With the help of some new friends and the ability to use deductive reasoning and techniques, much like the fictional Sherlock Holmes, the self-named Marshall Little sets out to find his past. During an encounter with Nugget Nate Ryder, Marshall saves the life of Texas Governor Andrew Hamilton, who then appoints him a captain of the Texas Rangers, in charge of a special company of rangers to solve unsolvable crimes. His first assignment: find out who wants the Governor dead.

Can Marshall find the criminal mastermind behind the attempted assignation of the Governor? Will he find out who he is, and why he was found where he was? Or is the past to remain hidden? 

With the help of a colorful cast of characters, who meet and travel along with Marshall, Texas Ranger, in his first assignment: The Case of the Hidden Pasts.

Release date: 17th February 2017

The Guru's Review: 

I stumbled upon this novel from seeing the cover preview by the author on a Facebook group we both belong to. When he posted the description I was interested. He sent me a review copy. I have read only one other Christian western novel so this was another reason to read another. Very different to the previous one. This is the first novel of McVey I have read and I am now a fan. This is one fun novel. McVey describes it as

Marshall is just my attempt at a fun, little pure western, no romance or second calling, just a guy doing what he's good at...

I could not agree more! I reckon McVey has a winner with this story line. I pray he writes more about Marshall and expands more of this premise. There seems to be unlimited scope for further storylines.

It does not take long to get hooked into the storyline. Marshall is introduced immediately in the mysterious circumstances that set the pace and flow for the rest of the novel. Apart from this, two things further hook your interest and keep you reading. The first, his superior deductive reasoning and techniques, very much like Sherlock Holmes. The second, the spiritual gift and mission revealed from God through Eva Little. I found these last two elements very intriguing. Makes it very speculative and that I love.

Once these three elements were established by the halfway mark, I found myself supportive and rooting for Marshall. I love the sense of mystery behind Marshall's past and the situation that first introduces him. Then seeing how this gift and mission from God plays out in Marshall's new life is enthralling and captivating. 

Sometimes a character sticks out more than others. Sometimes this is due to them being based on a real person while others are solely the author's vivid imagination. Could even be a combination of both. It no surprise that Eva Little is memorable as she is based on McVey's biggest fan; a dear lady who is 99 yrs old! I find this very heart warming! 

I have not read any of the Sherlock Holmes novels (only the movie/TV versions). If McVey has based the description of Marshall's deductive reasoning and techniques on Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, then he has translated this effectively into Marshall's character. However, this in no way shape or form, comes across a clone of Holmes. Marshall is a very different than Holmes. I found the various descriptions/examples of Marshall's deductive reasoning a joy to read and keeps you reading more. I had similar reactions as the characters who witnessed these ("How could he know that?").

I appreciated the research of the era and the weaponry that McVey has conducted. I had not heard of some of these guns and again, it was a joy to read. This definitely gives the story an authentic feel and reflects the attitude and reliance on guns in this era as well. 

I loved the spiritual aspects of this novel. The prophet-like messages that Eva Little receives from God in relation to Marshall form a firm foundation for Marshall's new life and mission. Eva portrays a deep faith in God and is in full submission and obedience to Him. Seems to come naturally to her. What is McVey trying to convey to us here? For me, an obedient and submitted life to God becomes natural when we become disciplined in living out His Word in our lives. Eva was confident in this relationship as was shown by the many times she delivered these messages without doubt or alteration. She believes that every detail she received from God was the truth and would occur as He directed. Total vessel she was to be used by Him for His purposes only. It was all about God and not about her. I found this very encouraging. I even wondered if it was easier in that era to have this type of relationship with God compared to our modern era. Today's way of life and culture seems to offer too many distractions that blind us to the importance of placing God above all else and in all things.

McVey has portrayed Marshall as not knowing if he was Christian before his memory was erased by God. However, after coming out of his short coma, Marshall admits that Mrs Little's God is his God as well. He later submits a sincere prayer wanting to follow God. What follows for the rest of the novel is Marshall being obedient and submitted to whatever God wants of him in fulfilling His mission. 

I have not read any of McVey other works but I have checked out his biography. Nugget Nate is a character who in this novel as well as a previous novel. In this novel, Nate also has a type of hearing from God that he calls the "Callin' ". I wonder if this is explained in the previous novel? I might read this to find out. 

I have only one concern with this novel. It might be just me, but I found the second half has less of the deductive reasoning situations that sets Marshall apart from the rest of the Texas Rangers. This second half swings into more of a plot-based pace to find the perpetrators of the attempted assassination of the Governor. Yet, this half does set the stage for the further development of the Special Company of the Texas Rangers. It also lays the foundation for the next instalment in this series and that I am thankful for. McVey even hints at the title of this next instalment!

All in all a very enjoyable fun novella. It is strengthened with spiritual themes of salvation, faith, obedience and submission to God. I look forward to visiting the world of Marshall Texas Ranger in his next case.

Strongly Recommended. 4/5 

World Building 5/5 

Characters 5/5 

Spiritual Level 4/5 

Story 4/5 

Enemy Spiritual Level N/A

Overall Rating: 4/5

_______________________________________________

Spiritually, based on my review and on the following reference booklet,

A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland, and that Marshall Texas Ranger: The Case of the Hidden Pasts contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Redemptive Fiction outlined in this booklet, (click on the title below to see what this is based on), I award George H. McVey with 

The Reality Calling Christian Redemptive Fiction Award

Congratulations, George H. McVey!

Optimus 4 by Ross G. Gaehring

Optimus 4

In the year 2063, Earth is dying, beset by the geopolitical and ecological disasters of the Great Tribulation. Isolationist America is under the iron-fisted rule of General George Brinton Mclellan, a tyrannical century-old right wing dictator, obsessed with 1970s pop music, Busby Berkeley musicals and Ronald Reagan. Two Special Forces Troopers are assigned the unpleasant task of entering the “Dead City” of Detroit to retrieve a Christian radical and former war hero, Commander Rance Edwards. Descended from a famous African American, an aristocratic Wehrmacht General, a legendary Native American, a Jewish freedom fighter and European Royalty, Edwards became a member of the despised Christian sect after being wounded in the disastrous Euro-American War. A gifted fighter pilot, he is needed for the Dictator’s last desperate gamble to save America; the invasion of another planet. Rance soon finds himself tempted by a burning love for his former fiancée Christine St. James, newly married to another man. He’s also about to face his greatest challenge… preparing his fellow fighter pilots for the imminent climactic battle in space.

The Guru's Review:

When this book showed up in my Recommended for You feed on Amazon, I remembered that I had bought this in 2014. I checked Amazon to see how the reviews were tracking and was surprised to see that there was only one review and it consisted of two words: "Great read". Only one review and such a short one pushes my buttons! I really feel for an author when this happens. I also noticed that this book is now out of print.

I decided that seeing I had bought this book due to its plot and that there was only one review, I would read it now seeing I was taking a break over the Christmas/New Year period from reviewing author requested reviews. I am glad I did as this is an excellent debut novel by Gaehring.

The first impression I had was that Gaehring writes well and this novel is a joy to read. He has a confident use of the English language and I found myself looking up some words that I had not seen before and others that I had very little understanding of. I enjoy doing this in a novel as this challenges my understanding of the English language, I learn more words and I love seeing how the word fits in with the context of the sentence structure and paragraph. The dictionary feature of the Kindle comes in very handy here and encourages me to do this.  

The next thing I noticed is that Gaehring knows how to research and construct a novel with his plot well supported from this and integrated well in the same. This makes the novel very credible and realistic and adds depth to the warfare and science fiction elements. It also aids in the cohesivity of the overall novel. 

This is the only novel I have read where each chapter is broken into segments. Each chapter has three of these. The first is a paragraph that has a holographic disc jockey announcing the songs of the 1970s that is pumped all over the USA. Reminds me very much of the DJ in Good Morning Vietnam, the role played so memorably by the Robin Williams. In this segment, our DJ, Jazzy, mentions the songs that America's dictator, the Great General George Brinton McLellan, favours and other songs that are mentioned in the narrative of the novel that later follows in the chapter. I laughed at this as there were so many of these 70s songs that I knew and had them playing in my head as I was reading. Really enjoyed this! That was a very clever and creative effect by Gaehring and balanced out the drama of the plot and its dramatic and suspenseful events. Gaehring has an extensive knowledge of the songs of this decade as evidenced in the Sources and Notes section at the back of the novel, which is very impressive, where all the songs are listed over 10 pages of the Kindle version. Five hymns are also included but these are not mentioned by Jazzy but rather sung by Rance's Christian community. 

The next segment of each chapter is a running account of the upbringing and background information to General McLellan's life leading to how he became this General and dictator. It does provide a detailed account of his character and the events that influenced him to seek dominance and dictatorship but I am not sure why Gaehring included this to the extent that he has (in every chapter) as despite him being one of the main character's, I would have preferred the author to have treated Rance, the major character with this treatment as I felt that Rance needed more development as what development Gaehring has given him is very effective, but it would have given Rance even more credibility in his rank as Commander and as a Christian, seeing Rance is the protagonist and one the reader endears themselves to.

On this latter position, Gaehring has depicted Rance as one self-confident and self-assured Christian who knows who he is in Christ, is well grounded and founded in the Bible and lives this out in every aspect of his life as the Bible instructs Christians to do. He also has a tender heart towards God and is in tune with the Spirit in all he does as evidenced by the many mini prayers of repentance, intercession, and supplication that he offers to God during the course of each day in the various duties, events that he is involved in, and interaction with Christians and non-Christians while also experiencing the direction and presence of the Spirit as well during these times. This latter interaction with the Spirit is rare in Christian fiction today, and I and another reviewer, call this genre, Spirit-filled fiction. It is defined as follows, 

(These books) are focused upon characters with (or who develop) an intimate relationship with the Lord. They talk with Him all the time, day in and day out, hour by hour, minute by minute. It can be very potent in a first-person account told by a character. 

The result of this type of relationship is that the Lord moves much more obviously and powerfully in the lives of the characters. The Lord heals people, and gives miraculous resources and solutions to characters—both the believers and non-believing characters. The Lord becomes an active character in these books. It’s a wonderful thing to read and experience. When it is done well, we finish the book in an attitude of worship—built up and empowered by what we have experienced in the lives of the characters.

Gaehring has depicted Rance as not being afraid of the Gospel of Christ, providing a defense of the Gospel when he meets resistance against it, ridicule, humiliation for being a Christian in this post-rapture world where Christianity is banned and those penalized/banished by identifying as such. I found this depiction of Rance as a Christian very encouraging and uplifting to my faith, and I can see that this could be a valid witness to a reader who does not yet believe in Christ and see what Christianity can be like and that there is no valid grounding in being an atheist or humanist.

It was again encouraging that Gaehring depicted the redemptive nature of the Gospel and of the Spirit where two characters accepted God's gift of salvation, where the plan of salvation as presented was not preachy or overdone. Again, I adhere to a specific new genre of fiction and it is classified as redemptive fiction, 

These books offer standard rebirth scenarios where a person accepts the Savior as their Lord. They give their life to serve Him and their lives are transformed—sometimes almost violently, often slowly and gently. They show a realistic look of the daily walk of faith for a believer. A clear Messiah is revealed who died for our sins. Through repentance and baptism, a person is forgiven and cleansed, beginning a new life in the Kingdom of God.

The last segment of each chapter is the continuation of the plot. It is here of course that all the action, suspense, battle scenes in the likes of Star Trek and Star Wars takes place but not to any great detail as we are used to in these movies; this novel is only 242 pages so length limits this, but it still gives a good picture of the battle between the Greys of Optimus 4 and the human invaders. Most of the plot takes place aboard the spaceship USS Hornet showing the raving machinations of General McLellan who is so obsessed with eradicating and exacting revenge on the Greys for what they had done to Earth and being the supreme autocrat for the Earth, despite its dying status and this new planet, Optimus 4, that he seeks to colonise as Earth dies. It is here where Rance and the General clash and Gaehring shows the true nature of how a Christian should treat conflict without compromising their faith or actually sinning in the process. To me, this shows the depth of Gaehring's relationship with Christ and it is again, encouraging and uplifting to my faith.

I also liked the example of how Rance dealt with sexual temptation from his ex-girlfriend and this is portrayed exactly as it needs to be dealt with, knowing where you stand in Christ, not compromising your faith or relationship with Christ, stopping the advances before arousal and desire are sparked in the Christian and in the scene, being firm and forceful in asking her to leave. Rance's mini sermon about sexual purity to his small Christian community was also a breath of fresh air and I applaud Gaehring for not holding back in the depiction of this biblical truth. 

The only reason I gave this novel a 4/5 star rating (Strongly Recommended is my equivalent) is that as stated previously, I cannot see why Gaehring provided such a detailed account of McLellan's life as he is not the only main character. Also, I felt the novel ended abruptly, leaving a few plot lines unresolved such as what becomes of the human survivors and the relationship between Rance and his ex-girlfriend? What happened to the remaining Greys? I can only surmise that these will be addressed in a sequel as this novel screams out for one, but by the title it does not imply that this is a series. For all the positive elements I have outlined in this review, I would love to see this story continue and the author provide more of these spiritual/biblical/Spirit-filled themes. 

Strongly Recommended (4/5 Stars)