Review by Melchi Asuma -- East Wind, 2nd edition

Melchi Asuma · Post by **Melchi Asuma** » 08 Jan 2020, 09:46

[Following is a volunteer review of "East Wind, 2nd edition" by Jack Winnick.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Jack Winnick's novel, East Wind, is a fictional story detailing the complex and antagonistic relationship between the United States of America and the Middle East countries. Despite being a fictional book, it is historically, geo-politically, and socio-politically accurate.

After raiding a Hezbollah camp, Uri, an Israel-based Mossad agent, comes across some of their plans and blueprints with the word 'opera' being a recurrent theme. He is unable to understand the plans and it takes the efforts of an FBI digital taskforce, led by Lara Edmond, to crack the code and learn of the Hezbollah operatives' communication channels. The Hezbollah, on the other hand, have devised a way to make the great United States of America listen to their demand to stop funding the Israel army. They devise nuclear bombs that will show America just how serious they are. The first bomb, devised by Hossein and planted by Walid (both Hezbollah jihadists) goes off in Los Angeles and wreaks havoc but is contained by the East Wind much to the chagrin of Hossein. It kills many people, injures many more, and destroys a lot of property but Hossein is unhappy that it did not destroy more properties and lives. He then decides to plant the next bomb himself. This time he has to race against the FBI, Homeland Security, Uri, Lara, and his former partner Walid who turned himself in after seeing the devastating effects of the first bomb.

East Wind is a compelling story because of the emotions it manages to convey and evoke from its audience. You can almost feel the regret that Walid feels, the pain that those affected by the bomb feel, and even the sexual and romantic tension between Uri and Lara. It is these raw emotions portrayed so well in the story that make the novel so hard to put down once you start reading it. This may be caused partly by the fact that everything in the story could as well, and has in many other ways, come true.

The characters were also well-rounded, well-developed, and realistically portrayed. It was so easy to relate to Uri's struggles, Lara's struggles, and their victories. Even the antagonists, Walid, Hossein, Nasrallah, and other Hezbollah operatives, were developed well such that we knew their ambitions, determinations, fears, strengths, and weaknesses.

Jack Winnick truly did a superb job with this novel. I found nothing I disliked and no grammatical error. The book must have been very professionally edited. It is a lovely book that I have to award the highest rating of 4 out of 4 stars. It is a novel that should be enjoyed by diverse audiences and especially lovers of crime thrillers, detective novels, geopolitical stories, and socio-political novels.

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East Wind, 2nd edition
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Twylla · Post by **Twylla** » 17 Mar 2020, 20:35

Excellent review! It was interesting to see how the leaders of Hezbollah recruited and indoctrinated young men to their cause. The Jihadists inspired a strong sense of purpose in the boys. Interesting study in psychology!

Twylla · Post by **Twylla** » 17 Mar 2020, 20:36

Excellent review! It was interesting to see how the leaders of Hezbollah recruited and indoctrinated young men to their cause. The Jihadists inspired a strong sense of purpose in the boys. Interesting study in psychology!