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The Lost Hadith
During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the CIA places Sergeant Burns, who is also a professor of religious studies in civilian life, on special assignment to decipher a pendant that belonged to the Prophet Muhammad’s wife, A’isha. Competing Islamic factions, each led by fanatical clerics, pursue Burns across the Middle East as he uses the clues found on the pendant to search for a forbidden Hadith; writings about Muhammad that threaten to tear Islam apart. The clerics resort to kidnapping Burns’ daughter while she vacations in France and plan to exchange her for the Hadith. The CIA learns that Burns now plans to exchange the Hadith for his daughter, which they cannot allow. The Lost Hādīth is loosely based on actual event during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
210 pages, ebook
First published June 5, 2014
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 6, 2014
Reviewed on behalf of The Review Board
This is a book about the lost Hadith. Although fictional, it is based loosely on actual events during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the lost necklace of A’isha is found following the bombing of the house of a Shi’ite official, Sergeant Burns is placed on a special assignment by CIA. In civilian life he was a professor of religious studies, which makes him ideal for the job. The pendant on the necklace contains clues that point to the whereabouts of the lost Hadith. There are competing Islamic factions who discover that the US Military has the necklace, and they will do anything to stop it being used to find the Hadith. Murder and kidnapping ensues in the battle to gain the upper hand.
The book opens with the bombing on the house of a Shi’ite official and the accidental finding of the necklace. The pace is steady. I didn’t feel the characters were portrayed well enough for me to care what happened to any of them. Scenes were choppy and cut short often. For instance, one moment we are in the middle of a gunfight, and within two sentences we are sitting in a Cambridge campus library. More transition is needed, with more space given to describing events. Emotions were completely absent at these times—it was like watching the scene from a mile down the street. There was also a lot of repetition in the book. For example, when the two academics were taking the necklace to different people to verify its authenticity, the same information was given to the reader time and again. It only needed saying once. I also lost count of the number of scene openings where Sergeant burns “snapped out of his daydream”.
Introductory clauses were missing the necessary punctuation more often than not, and sentence constructions were clumsy at times. I felt the ending of the book was well rounded. The proofreading seems to have been done well. But, as I say, there is a need for further editing.
The premise of the book is a good one, and I was intrigued from the get go. Unfortunately the sheer amount of repetition and clumsy sentence structures made this a slow and laborious read. I offer a soft three out of five stars, which translates into six out of ten stars on TRB’s rating scale.
This is a book about the lost Hadith. Although fictional, it is based loosely on actual events during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After the lost necklace of A’isha is found following the bombing of the house of a Shi’ite official, Sergeant Burns is placed on a special assignment by CIA. In civilian life he was a professor of religious studies, which makes him ideal for the job. The pendant on the necklace contains clues that point to the whereabouts of the lost Hadith. There are competing Islamic factions who discover that the US Military has the necklace, and they will do anything to stop it being used to find the Hadith. Murder and kidnapping ensues in the battle to gain the upper hand.
The book opens with the bombing on the house of a Shi’ite official and the accidental finding of the necklace. The pace is steady. I didn’t feel the characters were portrayed well enough for me to care what happened to any of them. Scenes were choppy and cut short often. For instance, one moment we are in the middle of a gunfight, and within two sentences we are sitting in a Cambridge campus library. More transition is needed, with more space given to describing events. Emotions were completely absent at these times—it was like watching the scene from a mile down the street. There was also a lot of repetition in the book. For example, when the two academics were taking the necklace to different people to verify its authenticity, the same information was given to the reader time and again. It only needed saying once. I also lost count of the number of scene openings where Sergeant burns “snapped out of his daydream”.
Introductory clauses were missing the necessary punctuation more often than not, and sentence constructions were clumsy at times. I felt the ending of the book was well rounded. The proofreading seems to have been done well. But, as I say, there is a need for further editing.
The premise of the book is a good one, and I was intrigued from the get go. Unfortunately the sheer amount of repetition and clumsy sentence structures made this a slow and laborious read. I offer a soft three out of five stars, which translates into six out of ten stars on TRB’s rating scale.
January 27, 2016
Brilliantly written novel set in a location of current interest. I learned a great deal and in parts of this book found myself running my tongue over my teeth to get the grit of sand. Visual and appealing, Mr. Thorpe takes us on an historical journey that sheds a splinter of light on the troubles in that region of the world.
October 9, 2015
Wow. What a story.
May 17, 2017
Interesting read about the war in Iraq. Strange character, the author.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews