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Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea #6
The Blue Widows
In today's terrifying new world, in which small groups of individuals with unlimited resources can wreak incredible havoc and catastrophe, the task of stopping them becomes all the more urgent and compelling. Jon Land's latest topical thriller finds Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea facing just such a an obsessed fanatic plotting nothing less than the total destruction of America.
Danielle, now the head of Israel's National Police, still relies on her Palestinian-American partner, detective Ben Kamal, currently working for a private security firm in Boston. When a raid on a terrorist hideout in Gaza yields flame-charred pages written in Arabic, she sends the document to Ben for his inspection. Shockingly, his translation reveals that the pages are actually a fatwa , a religious edict, granting permission to bring about a biblical prophecy known as the End of All Things.
Layla Aziz Rahani, embattled daughter of a powerful Saudi Arabian billionaire, is the mastermind behind this insidious plot, whose apocalyptic scope and magnitude are almost beyond comprehension. Now Danielle and Ben, working both separately and together, must track Rahani along a deadly trail of shadows and subterfuge that spans three continents-before an ancient prediction becomes a very real and irreversible disaster.
Danielle, now the head of Israel's National Police, still relies on her Palestinian-American partner, detective Ben Kamal, currently working for a private security firm in Boston. When a raid on a terrorist hideout in Gaza yields flame-charred pages written in Arabic, she sends the document to Ben for his inspection. Shockingly, his translation reveals that the pages are actually a fatwa , a religious edict, granting permission to bring about a biblical prophecy known as the End of All Things.
Layla Aziz Rahani, embattled daughter of a powerful Saudi Arabian billionaire, is the mastermind behind this insidious plot, whose apocalyptic scope and magnitude are almost beyond comprehension. Now Danielle and Ben, working both separately and together, must track Rahani along a deadly trail of shadows and subterfuge that spans three continents-before an ancient prediction becomes a very real and irreversible disaster.
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Jon Land
129 books408 followersJon Land is an American author of thriller novels and a screenwriter. He graduated from Brown University in 1979 Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude. He often bases his novels and scripts on extensive travel and research as well as a twenty-five year career in martial arts. He is an associate member of the US Special Forces and is an emeritus board member the International Thriller Writers. John currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 4, 2017
The Blue Widows is Jon Land's sixth novel featuring the off-again/on-again investigating couple Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea, who find themselves up against shadowy plotters working out of Saudi Arabia. The fanatics they face have a sinister plan to humble the U.S. that's code-named "the end of all things," and the Palestinian-American Kamal and Israeli Barnea reunite after an estrangement to try to stop the plot.
Both of them will find their own families and family histories deeply intertwined with those of their opponents, and the only way to defeat their enemies requires them both to face family issues from their respective pasts.
Land writes a serviceable enough thriller and knows how to keep his action scenes brisk and to the point. He displays little of the same discipline when it comes to his actual plotting, throwing in more coincidences than a Victorian melodrama and tossing in characters who are either too important for the brief stage time they get or not nearly important enough to rate the work spent defining them. In a couple of cases, they are both. Land also has a few too many important things happen "offscreen," so to speak, as we learn about some major events only through the secondhand testimony of others, rather than any of our lead characters. The flashback sequences that explain both the title and the roots that led to the current crisis are clumsily inserted, lurching backwards to pick up some vital details before jackrabbiting forward again with the storyline we'd been following. They make the book the equivalent of a teenager learning how to drive before he or she understands gradual pressure on the brake and accelerator pedals.
Reader enjoyment of The Blue Widows is likely to depend on a willingness to overlook those kinds of problems. I picked up my copy off the clearance shelves at a used book store, which generally helps my overlooking, so although Widows has some serious dead spots, I suppose I liked it well enough. Just not well enough to tackle any more cases with Ben and Danielle.
Original available here.
Both of them will find their own families and family histories deeply intertwined with those of their opponents, and the only way to defeat their enemies requires them both to face family issues from their respective pasts.
Land writes a serviceable enough thriller and knows how to keep his action scenes brisk and to the point. He displays little of the same discipline when it comes to his actual plotting, throwing in more coincidences than a Victorian melodrama and tossing in characters who are either too important for the brief stage time they get or not nearly important enough to rate the work spent defining them. In a couple of cases, they are both. Land also has a few too many important things happen "offscreen," so to speak, as we learn about some major events only through the secondhand testimony of others, rather than any of our lead characters. The flashback sequences that explain both the title and the roots that led to the current crisis are clumsily inserted, lurching backwards to pick up some vital details before jackrabbiting forward again with the storyline we'd been following. They make the book the equivalent of a teenager learning how to drive before he or she understands gradual pressure on the brake and accelerator pedals.
Reader enjoyment of The Blue Widows is likely to depend on a willingness to overlook those kinds of problems. I picked up my copy off the clearance shelves at a used book store, which generally helps my overlooking, so although Widows has some serious dead spots, I suppose I liked it well enough. Just not well enough to tackle any more cases with Ben and Danielle.
Original available here.
January 15, 2014
I'm happy to say that I enjoyed this book every bit as much as all the others in this series.Mr Land is a wonderfully entertaining author his characters are well defined and believable and the stories in this series are relevant to our lifetimes my only regret is that there are not more books continuing this storyline
March 1, 2011
It seems so real at times, one begins to think that most likely the events that take place in this book actually happen. Suspense, terrifying read about terriost here in America involving Palestinians, Israeli and Americans. Could not put this book down.
April 16, 2011
Decent plot, but come on, a little more effort on fleshing out the characters and reducing the cliche factor.
July 30, 2015
A fast paced page turner that was hard to put down.
August 13, 2022
Ben and Danielle have been living in the U.S. for a bit when a job they are working on goes awry. Afterwards she decides to take a job back in Israeli with the National Police. Ben continues living in the U.S. and is approached by a man who works for the State Department that gets him into an investigation that involves Ben's brother and some of the "students" he sponsors. It puts his family at risk and turns out to be far more than Ben expected.
Danielle in the meantime is working on a case of a murdered Arab woman which turns out to have connections to the case Ben is working on. Ben's old friend, Colonel El Azi, helps out Danielle quite a bit and is the one who got her interested in the case in the first place. There are lots of ties to Danielle's past and she ends up learning a lot about herself and her family.
A plot has been a long time in the making involving an Arab man wanting to destroy the U.S. People have stolen some smallpox virus from a government facility and are planning on exposing the country to it. Lots of subterfuge at the beginning as to who is really behind the plot and people from Ben & Danielle's original screwed up mission also become involved.
The story unfolds from several angles with bits of the past thrown in at strategic points. There is lots of emotional baggage that comes up and heartache. Fast paced action, well developed characters, suspense. A good continuation of the series.
Danielle in the meantime is working on a case of a murdered Arab woman which turns out to have connections to the case Ben is working on. Ben's old friend, Colonel El Azi, helps out Danielle quite a bit and is the one who got her interested in the case in the first place. There are lots of ties to Danielle's past and she ends up learning a lot about herself and her family.
A plot has been a long time in the making involving an Arab man wanting to destroy the U.S. People have stolen some smallpox virus from a government facility and are planning on exposing the country to it. Lots of subterfuge at the beginning as to who is really behind the plot and people from Ben & Danielle's original screwed up mission also become involved.
The story unfolds from several angles with bits of the past thrown in at strategic points. There is lots of emotional baggage that comes up and heartache. Fast paced action, well developed characters, suspense. A good continuation of the series.
July 7, 2020
Intriguing but not satisfying
Interesting premise certainly and action as always - this action is Land's forte .While the action moved always toward the planned conclusion, it occasionally seemed artificial. Contrived and frenetic even. I enjoyed the book and will certainly read others by Land, but somehow this book left me feeling unsatisfied. A few points of actual annoyance popped up as a I turned page after page. One (silly perhaps) example is his use of the spelling "Koran." It's not wrong, but it somehow seems slightly out of touch. His spelling of the word isn't the one used most often currently at the time this book was published. It made me feel that the author wasn't quite in synch with the setting of his written work. Would make a good movie.
Interesting premise certainly and action as always - this action is Land's forte .While the action moved always toward the planned conclusion, it occasionally seemed artificial. Contrived and frenetic even. I enjoyed the book and will certainly read others by Land, but somehow this book left me feeling unsatisfied. A few points of actual annoyance popped up as a I turned page after page. One (silly perhaps) example is his use of the spelling "Koran." It's not wrong, but it somehow seems slightly out of touch. His spelling of the word isn't the one used most often currently at the time this book was published. It made me feel that the author wasn't quite in synch with the setting of his written work. Would make a good movie.
September 11, 2019
Well, I haven't read the previous books in this series, but this one was lying around the house so I picked it up. It was pretty good. I was impressed by the details in the description of the Mall of America, which I've been to. I was waiting for the write to falter and make a mistake, but he didn't as far as I could tell. Not to give too much away, but I found the coincidences in the end to be a bit much, but overall an enjoyable read.
March 16, 2022
well this series finally jumped the shark
June 14, 2015
A fanatical group has stolen several vials of smallpox from a supposed secure facility in the US. Their plan is to destroy the US. A rich Saudi woman owns the company contracted by the US to make enough smallpox vaccine to vaccinate the entire US population. Ben and Danielle discover that she has contaminated the vaccine with a virus that will render every American sterile, thus ending reproduction in the US. Ben and Danielle must stop her before the vaccine is distributed.
July 24, 2008
A really good book- very comparable to Grisham or Clancy. It would make a good movie. Lots of twists and turns.
August 13, 2009
Ben & Danielle #6
December 8, 2015
Loved The Blue Widows - Jon Land is always a thrilling, interesting read.
January 19, 2014
Good book but starting in the middle of a series like this one you miss a lot about the characters. Will go back to the beginning
Want to read
August 30, 2014I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12869921
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12869921
March 4, 2016
Loving these characters and his series....action until the last page!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews