Review by Ada Ling -- Devil Among Us by Jack Winnick

[Ada Ling]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Devil Among Us" by Jack Winnick.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Devil Among Us is the second book in Jack Winnick’s Lara and Uri series. But you can read as a stand-alone book. This time, the terrorists targeted a Jewish synagogue in New York on a High Holiday. Over a hundred people died and many more injured. FBI agent Lara Edmond and Israel's Mossad Uri Levin teamed up again to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice. Can they find out who the devil is behind this?

The author again demonstrated his in-depth knowledge of Middle East history and politics. He gave the readers insights on how FBI agents, oil tycoons, Mossad, Christian Zionists, and politicians connected. There is also an introduction to the culture of Iran, Egypt, and Siberia. The military tactics and warfare technology are very intriguing. Throughout the book, the author, as the subject expert, backed his writing with extensive research and years' experience. As the author mentioned, the story is fiction, but it is based on tragedies in real life. The author warned us again that the Middle East turmoil could be a reality. While grateful for what the security professional earned for us, we also need to think about getting allies outside the US.

The story between Lara and Uri is another part I enjoyed the most. Lara and Uri were sperate for a while before pulling together to find out about the bomb in New York. Will they restore the romantic relationship? They did not have much time to think about it. They must jump into the chaos and battle the terrorists. It is fascinating to see them travel from Texas to Lebanon and on to Israel. They were trapped several times, but they had their ways to survive. I like the humor when they were trying to escape. The overall background of this book is tense and dark. But Lara and Uri’s relationship cheered up the whole story. I wish there were more coverage on Lara and Uri in the book.

I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I took one star off for a couple of reasons. First is the editing. There were quite a few grammatical errors, including punctuation marks and spacing format. However, this did not impact my reading. The second reason is the flow of the storyline. The beginning several chapters are well written and easy to follow. But some later chapters are not chronologically coherent - creating confusion to the readers. The third reason is the excessive description of Middle East names, the Muslim leaders, and battle details. I lost several times because of the overwhelming, unfamiliar terms. I believe most readers are not familiar with Middle Eastern issues. So, they likely will have the same feeling as me. The author could trim down and make the book more engaging.

All in all, this is still a fast-paced book with well thought out plots. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a terrorism thriller with a Middle East background. However, some violence and torture scenes can be disturbing. I would not recommend it to children and teens.

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Devil Among Us
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[Adanna Inya]

I'm yet to read this trending Jack Winnick series, but the exploits of Lara and Uri keep me interested. Beautiful review.

[Fabulous mind]

Although I'm yet to read a book from Lara and Uri series, but I have heard a lot of praises showered to this international crime thriller. I think I should consider giving it a try too. Great review.

[Saint Bruno]

Jack Winnick is an amazing storyteller. I can't believe am yet to read any of the books in this series. Thanks for the insightful review and recommendation.

[Rashida10]

Your review was as good as expected. Jack Winnick is a legendary writer. The action never stops overwhelming the readers, why should the review?

[Chigo Nwagboso]

I hope Lara and Uri came out victorious and strongly in love. Thanks for a detailed review.

[Erandi Ekanayake]

Sounds like a book right up my alley. I'm a huge fan of thriller stories. Thank you for the great and descriptive review!

[Harty Muli]

Terrorism is in our midst and thanks to Lara and Uri for highlighting the problem. Nice review.

[Raluca_Mihaila]

I like a good thriller which also offers information about other issues and cultures. So thank you for introducing this book to me! Very good job with the review, looks great!

[Anusha Thatavarthi]

I heard very good reviews of this series and the plot of this book is thrilling and intriguing. Thanks for the great review!