Review by rhendel -- Devil Among Us by Jack Winnick
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rhendel
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Review by rhendel -- Devil Among Us by Jack Winnick
[Following is a volunteer review of "Devil Among Us" by Jack Winnick.]
The Devil Among Us by Jack Winnick is the second installment in the Lara Edmond and Uri Levin series. In this book, FBI Agent Lara Edmond is tasked with investigating the truth behind the bombing of an Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn. While conducting the investigation, Lara discovers the synagogue bombing was part of a larger terrorist plot spanning across the US and Israel. With these findings, both governments agree to a joint task force that sends Mossad Agent Uri Levin to New York to work alongside Lara. Soon enough, Lara and Uri find themselves traveling across the US and Israel while working to prevent multiple terrorist attacks that could lead to an all-out war in the Middle East.
I thought this book was okay. Although I found it fairly predictable, it had a compelling storyline that kept me engaged throughout the story. However, I found myself wondering how realistic parts of the plot were. After reading more about the author, he seems very knowledgeable about military operations and history in the Middle East, so I think the plot was probably more realistic than I first believed. There were a few twists that I didn’t expect, but they were resolved so quickly and easily that they weren’t that impactful. I would have enjoyed the book more if there were fewer twists that were more deeply developed.
One of the biggest parts of the book I struggled with was the character development. Perhaps there was more development of Lara and Uri in the first installment of the series, but I didn’t feel strongly connected to them until towards the end of the book. While their romance was a nice respite from the military aggression in the book, it didn’t seem well-developed and came across as an afterthought. Additionally, there were so many characters coming in and out of the story that I found it hard to keep track of the lesser players. I also felt that some of the smaller characters had more development and backstory than Lara and Uri. For instance, I didn’t realize until halfway through the book that Lara was Jewish. While not extremely important, in a book about religious terrorism where every character has their own religious motives, I found it surprising that it wasn’t made clearer from the beginning.
There are a few other issues I had with the book. First, even though the book takes place in current times, it came across as dated. For instance, there are mentions of using subway tokens in New York City even though tokens haven’t been in circulation since 2003. There was also a lot of derogatory and racist language used. I understand that when writing about deeply rooted religious terrorism there has to be some amount of stereotyping and hurtful language but, in this book, it seemed excessive. There were several instances where I found myself cringing while reading the dialogue. There was also a lot of complicated military jargon that I found myself skimming through.
Overall, I rate The Devil Among Us 2 out of 4 stars. It has an interesting plot that I felt engaged in, but it was pretty predictable. I also found some of the language upsetting and made me feel disconnected from many of the characters. Additionally, there were several typos that made reading the book difficult. I would recommend this book to readers who like suspenseful books and enjoy reading about Middle East relations. I would caution readers that there is a lot of derogatory language and violence, including attempted rape, that some might find disturbing.
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Devil Among Us
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Devil Among Us by Jack Winnick is the second installment in the Lara Edmond and Uri Levin series. In this book, FBI Agent Lara Edmond is tasked with investigating the truth behind the bombing of an Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn. While conducting the investigation, Lara discovers the synagogue bombing was part of a larger terrorist plot spanning across the US and Israel. With these findings, both governments agree to a joint task force that sends Mossad Agent Uri Levin to New York to work alongside Lara. Soon enough, Lara and Uri find themselves traveling across the US and Israel while working to prevent multiple terrorist attacks that could lead to an all-out war in the Middle East.
I thought this book was okay. Although I found it fairly predictable, it had a compelling storyline that kept me engaged throughout the story. However, I found myself wondering how realistic parts of the plot were. After reading more about the author, he seems very knowledgeable about military operations and history in the Middle East, so I think the plot was probably more realistic than I first believed. There were a few twists that I didn’t expect, but they were resolved so quickly and easily that they weren’t that impactful. I would have enjoyed the book more if there were fewer twists that were more deeply developed.
One of the biggest parts of the book I struggled with was the character development. Perhaps there was more development of Lara and Uri in the first installment of the series, but I didn’t feel strongly connected to them until towards the end of the book. While their romance was a nice respite from the military aggression in the book, it didn’t seem well-developed and came across as an afterthought. Additionally, there were so many characters coming in and out of the story that I found it hard to keep track of the lesser players. I also felt that some of the smaller characters had more development and backstory than Lara and Uri. For instance, I didn’t realize until halfway through the book that Lara was Jewish. While not extremely important, in a book about religious terrorism where every character has their own religious motives, I found it surprising that it wasn’t made clearer from the beginning.
There are a few other issues I had with the book. First, even though the book takes place in current times, it came across as dated. For instance, there are mentions of using subway tokens in New York City even though tokens haven’t been in circulation since 2003. There was also a lot of derogatory and racist language used. I understand that when writing about deeply rooted religious terrorism there has to be some amount of stereotyping and hurtful language but, in this book, it seemed excessive. There were several instances where I found myself cringing while reading the dialogue. There was also a lot of complicated military jargon that I found myself skimming through.
Overall, I rate The Devil Among Us 2 out of 4 stars. It has an interesting plot that I felt engaged in, but it was pretty predictable. I also found some of the language upsetting and made me feel disconnected from many of the characters. Additionally, there were several typos that made reading the book difficult. I would recommend this book to readers who like suspenseful books and enjoy reading about Middle East relations. I would caution readers that there is a lot of derogatory language and violence, including attempted rape, that some might find disturbing.
******
Devil Among Us
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Waterworks by Jack Winnick
