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The Reckoning
The Reckoning, winner of the 2009 Indie Book Award for Multicultural Fiction and the 2010 Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Award for Mainstream/Literary Fiction, tells the story of a journey home gone terribly wrong. When journalist Theresa Fuller is captured inside Iraq in August 2002, and imprisoned by Iraq's secret police, visions of her childhood in Baghdad begin to haunt her. Tormented by the relentless Colonel Badr, she only finds relief in her growing attraction to Tariq al-Awali, the Iraqi captain who took charge of her capture. Before American bombs begin to fall, Theresa must find a way to escape the cruelty of an oppressive regime and save those she cares for most. Through gritty, gut wrenching prose Mills exposes the horrors of dictatorship and the mindless cruelty that flows from political repression. The Reckoning masterfully weaves the horrors of Saddam Hussein's Iraq with the rich threads of a compelling fictional narrative as raw and real as anything taken from today's political headlines. It also sends a message of hope, inspiration, and faith in the human heart.
- GenresFiction
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2008
99 people want to read
About the author
Tanya Parker Mills
3 books30 followersTanya Parker Mills was born on an American Air Force base in Tripoli, Libya that was later bombed into oblivion. It was, perhaps, a fitting precursor to other childhood sites filled with war and contention. During her five years as an American expatriate child in Baghdad, Iraq, her family witnessed two revolutions involving Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party. She was also present in Beirut in 1975 when the Lebanese Civil War broke out, after having finished her high school years there at the American Community School. With such a background and a long-time interest in writing, it was only natural that she would begin to milk her own history to create stories like her first award-winning novel, The Reckoning.
Mills continued her education at Brigham Young University and graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. As Assistant to the Washington Correspondent for Scripps League Newspapers, she had numerous articles published in newspapers across the country.
Mills has also worked for a PBS affiliate, served a church mission to Italy, and written several articles for Sunset Magazine Trade Publications as an assistant editor. She now resides in Richland, Washington with her husband, two children, and two cats.
Mills continued her education at Brigham Young University and graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. As Assistant to the Washington Correspondent for Scripps League Newspapers, she had numerous articles published in newspapers across the country.
Mills has also worked for a PBS affiliate, served a church mission to Italy, and written several articles for Sunset Magazine Trade Publications as an assistant editor. She now resides in Richland, Washington with her husband, two children, and two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 7, 2009
First of all, this book is not for the faint-hearted, in fact I'd caution anyone under 17 from reading it. It's not as graphic as some books (say: Follow the River), but the continual and nearly non-stop scenes of torture really wear on the reader after awhile.
I was hoping for a little more from the main character. I wanted a stronger character (flaws are always welcome). But she didn't fight back, she didn't try to escape, she didn't even pray. At least Corrie Ten Boom had her faith.
Beyond that, I think the research and the descriptions by the author were impeccable--reading the author bio informs us that she lived part of her life throughout the Mid-East. This brings a pretty accurate depiction of the culture--at least those portrayed in the book. Overall, I felt it was a valiant effort by the author, and a very tough subject to write about.
For those who enjoyed this book, I'd also recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini.
I was hoping for a little more from the main character. I wanted a stronger character (flaws are always welcome). But she didn't fight back, she didn't try to escape, she didn't even pray. At least Corrie Ten Boom had her faith.
Beyond that, I think the research and the descriptions by the author were impeccable--reading the author bio informs us that she lived part of her life throughout the Mid-East. This brings a pretty accurate depiction of the culture--at least those portrayed in the book. Overall, I felt it was a valiant effort by the author, and a very tough subject to write about.
For those who enjoyed this book, I'd also recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini.
May 10, 2010
Set in the early days of Saddam Huesin, Th Reckoning is a masterful mingling of cultures and a hard look at what makes people tick. Ms. Mills has described some of the most terrifying and sickening circumstances in the human experience with sensitivity and honesty. The believable characters and situations pull the reader into a time and place where mistakes are deadly and people are forced to examine their integrity and beliefs. A great, breathtaking read that also makes you think.
March 23, 2009
Loved this book. It has a lot of historical info about Iraq and Saddam Hussein's rise to power. It is also a great love story and there are a lot of twists and turns with the plot.
August 19, 2019
Unusual romantic thriller set in Saddam Hussein's Iraq
Part of the power of this first novel comes from Mills' skill in creating interesting characters, and part comes from the veracious atmosphere she creates, and part from a masterful command of narrative. Like all successful novelists, Mills allows the reader to know exactly what the reader needs to know, but no more. Or perhaps I should say there are enough plot twists en route to an edge-of-your-seat ending to please the most demanding of Hollywood thriller directors. Or maybe I could even say that when it comes to violence in the name of literature Cormac McCarthy has nothing on Tanya Parker Mills!
Here's the premise: Theresa Fuller, an American journalist, is arrested by the dreaded Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein's secret police, while chasing a story in Kurdish Iraq with her photographer friend Peter Cranston. It's August 2002, seven months before the invasion of Iraq. She has entered the country illegally and has dyed her blond hair dark so that she will not stand out. She is in her forties, unmarried. A sadistic Colonel Badr takes a special interest in her interrogation apparently because of something her father did or did not do some forty years earlier when he was a professor at a university in Baghdad and she was nine years old.
Enter a handsome unmarried Mukhabarat Captain named Tariq al-Awali--or actually, he is the one who arrests her and begins the questioning. He is gentle and attentive, perhaps he is the good cop and the monster Badr is the bad cop. And perhaps this will end well and perhaps it will not. And can it really be the case that a man trained in the techniques of torture is to be the hero?
Tanya Parker Mills keeps us guessing as she combines elements of the international espionage thriller genre with a chick lit focus amid a dramatic plot that forces the reader to turn the pages to find out what happens next. And a lot of what happens is not pretty, as might be surmised considering that Theresa is in the hands of some of Saddam Hussein's most notorious henchmen. Even sadistic son Quasi appears in a cameo.
Personally I was a bit put off by the unusual love affair, but so skillful is Mills in the telling that I found it entirely plausible. As for the little detail of their births that threatens to keep them apart (I cannot be more specific without spoiling the plot), I thought it a bit anticlimactic, coming as it does in the midst of so much violence, so many deaths, and such appalling torture. Part of the story actually takes place in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison before the Americans gained control there. I could not help but think (although this is entire extraneous to Mills' intention: she is carefully non political)--I could not help but think how horribly ironic it is that Bush, Cheney and others actually continued there what Saddam Hussein had started there.
And speaking of torture, since this is a story of torture, physical and mental, including torture as a means to dehumanize, I could not help but think of George Orwell's 1984. In that story the final triumph of the Party (a party not so very different from Saddam Hussein's Ba'thist Party) comes when Winston Smith is broken both physically and mentally and defeated as a human being when in terror he cries out "Do it to her!" In Mills' story Theresa heroically says to Colonel Badr who is about to have the electrodes put on Tariq's mother, "Hurt me…Use it on me." (p. 359) In this I believe that Mills is countering the conclusion that Orwell came to. Instead of losing our humanity as Winston lost his, Mills is telling us that human beings can rise above the purely physical.
It is clear that Mills also believes that the religious differences between Christians in the West and Muslims in the Middle East are not as significant as the humanity and the belief in a personal God that both religions share. We can see this in the way Tariq and Theresa both look to Allah/God as a source of strength in their lives through prayer without the need to distinguish one from the other in any way. I certainly hope this sense of easy and obvious tolerance becomes the norm some day.
It should be noted that Mills herself spent part of her childhood in the Middle East which accounts in part for how comfortable she is with the all the cultural aspects of the novel. However, it would be a mistake to imagine that this is a fictionalized memoir. Clearly this is a work of fictional art in the best tradition of the form, and clearly Mills herself is not Theresa. Yet it is also clear, as is often the case with the best fiction, that the heroine is very much someone with whom the author strongly identifies; and in this way the reader is led to also feel a close affinity for Theresa and what happens to her.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
Part of the power of this first novel comes from Mills' skill in creating interesting characters, and part comes from the veracious atmosphere she creates, and part from a masterful command of narrative. Like all successful novelists, Mills allows the reader to know exactly what the reader needs to know, but no more. Or perhaps I should say there are enough plot twists en route to an edge-of-your-seat ending to please the most demanding of Hollywood thriller directors. Or maybe I could even say that when it comes to violence in the name of literature Cormac McCarthy has nothing on Tanya Parker Mills!
Here's the premise: Theresa Fuller, an American journalist, is arrested by the dreaded Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein's secret police, while chasing a story in Kurdish Iraq with her photographer friend Peter Cranston. It's August 2002, seven months before the invasion of Iraq. She has entered the country illegally and has dyed her blond hair dark so that she will not stand out. She is in her forties, unmarried. A sadistic Colonel Badr takes a special interest in her interrogation apparently because of something her father did or did not do some forty years earlier when he was a professor at a university in Baghdad and she was nine years old.
Enter a handsome unmarried Mukhabarat Captain named Tariq al-Awali--or actually, he is the one who arrests her and begins the questioning. He is gentle and attentive, perhaps he is the good cop and the monster Badr is the bad cop. And perhaps this will end well and perhaps it will not. And can it really be the case that a man trained in the techniques of torture is to be the hero?
Tanya Parker Mills keeps us guessing as she combines elements of the international espionage thriller genre with a chick lit focus amid a dramatic plot that forces the reader to turn the pages to find out what happens next. And a lot of what happens is not pretty, as might be surmised considering that Theresa is in the hands of some of Saddam Hussein's most notorious henchmen. Even sadistic son Quasi appears in a cameo.
Personally I was a bit put off by the unusual love affair, but so skillful is Mills in the telling that I found it entirely plausible. As for the little detail of their births that threatens to keep them apart (I cannot be more specific without spoiling the plot), I thought it a bit anticlimactic, coming as it does in the midst of so much violence, so many deaths, and such appalling torture. Part of the story actually takes place in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison before the Americans gained control there. I could not help but think (although this is entire extraneous to Mills' intention: she is carefully non political)--I could not help but think how horribly ironic it is that Bush, Cheney and others actually continued there what Saddam Hussein had started there.
And speaking of torture, since this is a story of torture, physical and mental, including torture as a means to dehumanize, I could not help but think of George Orwell's 1984. In that story the final triumph of the Party (a party not so very different from Saddam Hussein's Ba'thist Party) comes when Winston Smith is broken both physically and mentally and defeated as a human being when in terror he cries out "Do it to her!" In Mills' story Theresa heroically says to Colonel Badr who is about to have the electrodes put on Tariq's mother, "Hurt me…Use it on me." (p. 359) In this I believe that Mills is countering the conclusion that Orwell came to. Instead of losing our humanity as Winston lost his, Mills is telling us that human beings can rise above the purely physical.
It is clear that Mills also believes that the religious differences between Christians in the West and Muslims in the Middle East are not as significant as the humanity and the belief in a personal God that both religions share. We can see this in the way Tariq and Theresa both look to Allah/God as a source of strength in their lives through prayer without the need to distinguish one from the other in any way. I certainly hope this sense of easy and obvious tolerance becomes the norm some day.
It should be noted that Mills herself spent part of her childhood in the Middle East which accounts in part for how comfortable she is with the all the cultural aspects of the novel. However, it would be a mistake to imagine that this is a fictionalized memoir. Clearly this is a work of fictional art in the best tradition of the form, and clearly Mills herself is not Theresa. Yet it is also clear, as is often the case with the best fiction, that the heroine is very much someone with whom the author strongly identifies; and in this way the reader is led to also feel a close affinity for Theresa and what happens to her.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
December 30, 2010
This isn't my usual type of book, but I read it because Tanya is in my writing group. I usually go for YA books. I like upbeat books, romantic comedies, or adventures. This book is none of those things. Tanya warned me that it's a dark story, and she wasn't kidding. Most of the book takes place in a prison in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's reign. The main characters are tortured and you begin to wonder if they'll all die before the book is out. I couldn't read it in one sitting. It was too intense.
But that said, it really is a story about redemption and forgiveness and for that reason I think it is a powerful book that is worth reading. And really, when you consider the amount of books written about the atrocities of World War 2 and slavery, you wonder why there aren't more books written about recent atrocities. Are we afraid to comment on events where the people who have lived through them will read our work?
I'm sure there will be many more books about Iraq under Hussein's rule and Tanya's is a good start on the subject.
But that said, it really is a story about redemption and forgiveness and for that reason I think it is a powerful book that is worth reading. And really, when you consider the amount of books written about the atrocities of World War 2 and slavery, you wonder why there aren't more books written about recent atrocities. Are we afraid to comment on events where the people who have lived through them will read our work?
I'm sure there will be many more books about Iraq under Hussein's rule and Tanya's is a good start on the subject.
February 7, 2011
This was a great book. I would feel a little odd saying that I really enjoyed it, since there is a lot of torture. Much of the story takes place in Iraqi prisons during the rein of Saddam Hussein. The author is the niece of a member of our book club, so we had the privilege of having her come speak to us. Part of her childhood was spent in Baghdad, so she was able to share her experiences with us and how some of them were incorporated into her novel. I enjoy reading historical fiction books and found it so interesting reading a book that intertwines details of events that occurred in the last decade with a very fascinating storyline. I would definitely recommend this book. It was a very quick read.
January 22, 2010
The first 160pgs were slow and seemed a bit contrived, but the last 200+ pages, I couldn't put the book down. What a page turner it turned out to be! Plus I've never read anything of this subject matter before. I liked the characters, but I wish there was more depth to the falling-in-love. I liked the the author wasn't wishy washy about how Iraqi/Hussien followers ruthlessness.
December 30, 2009
Theresa Fuller is a journalist who ventures into Iraq for a story. Her group is captured and tortured. She slowly recovers her lost memories of her childhood in Iraq during her time in prison. Her only hope is to escape and save her friends. Does she have the physical, emotional, and mental strength to go on?
This novel is challenging emotionally, but definitely worth reading.
This novel is challenging emotionally, but definitely worth reading.
May 17, 2015
It doesn't feel right to review my own book, but let me say that as my first venture into the world of audiobook narration, it was a blast and a challenge to take on all those different voices, male and female, with accents varying between American, British, Arabic, and even a touch of German. I'm narrating a few other books by other authors before I take on my second novel, A Night on Moon Hill.
March 19, 2009
Brand new book by a brand new author, my friend from Riverside. This is set in Irag and Tanya lived there as a child. She has written a story of insights into Irag lifestyle and the effects of war but mostly a story of romance and twists and excitement. Slam bang finish.
February 12, 2011
Once I picked this one up, it was hard to put down!
February 9, 2026
The Reckoning is a gripping, emotionally charged novel that plunges readers into the dangers of pre-war Iraq while exploring memory, trauma, and moral reckoning. Tanya Parker Mills blends political suspense with deeply human questions of forgiveness, loyalty, and redemption, creating a story that is both tense and thought-provoking. Fast-paced yet reflective, this award-winning novel lingers long after the final page.
November 5, 2022
This was a page turner! I got transported half way around the world. It had twists and turns and action and romance. Omg I’m so attached to these characters.
July 19, 2012
For my complete review, please visit Perpetual Chaos of a Wandering Mind.
The Reckoning Plot: beginning in the summer of 2002, our heroine, Theresa, a freelance journalist after a story, illegally crosses out of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and is spotted by the Islamist fundamentalist group, the Ansari, which leads to her apprehension by the Iraqi army. With her are arrested her cameraman, Peter (who is in love with her), and her three Kurdish guides (a father and two sons).
Just a few months before the US invasion, Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush are rattling sabers at one another. Terror reigns in Iraq. Theresa, Peter, Jalal, Massoud, and Barham endure isolation, starvation, and torture in the hands of the Iraqi secret police. When Theresa's history of living in Iraq as a child comes to light, her situation becomes nearly hopeless.
Tanya Parker Mills' finely honed craft draws in the reader with painful, sometimes shocking realism. Her plot so tight it's hermetically sealed, her characters rich and compelling, her pacing impeccable, she accomplishes what only the best writers manage: she disappears as she envelopes the reader in the story.
Tanya Parker Mills illustrates the country in vivid detail with the sights, sounds and smells of the region. The heat of the desert radiates from the page. Perhaps most importantly, Ms. Mills' own time spent in the Middle East has given her compassion and empathy for its people which she in turns instills in her readers.
She creates an unlikely hero in the arresting officer, Tariq al-Alwali, US educated but caught up in events beyond his control, doing what he must to keep his family alive. Like himself, his mother and grandfather, even his house help all live in fear knowing that any moment they could be arrested, arbitrarily executed, and never heard from again, all without cause or hope of redress. Just as the rest of the Iraqi population, they are at the mercy of their government and the consciences (or lack thereof) of the men in power.
The reader should be cautioned that Tanya Parker Mills writes with stark realism and doesn't pull any punches. Her characters are tortured and brutalized in the manner known to be practiced in Iraq at the time, including rape and dismemberment. People suffer and die. She often taxes the sensibilities of the reader with the intensity of her prose.
The Reckoning is a novel to read again and again to truly appreciate all its subtle nuances.
FTC disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided by the author or their agent with the understanding I would publish a fair and honest review. I receive no other compensation for this content.
The Reckoning Plot: beginning in the summer of 2002, our heroine, Theresa, a freelance journalist after a story, illegally crosses out of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and is spotted by the Islamist fundamentalist group, the Ansari, which leads to her apprehension by the Iraqi army. With her are arrested her cameraman, Peter (who is in love with her), and her three Kurdish guides (a father and two sons).
Just a few months before the US invasion, Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush are rattling sabers at one another. Terror reigns in Iraq. Theresa, Peter, Jalal, Massoud, and Barham endure isolation, starvation, and torture in the hands of the Iraqi secret police. When Theresa's history of living in Iraq as a child comes to light, her situation becomes nearly hopeless.
Tanya Parker Mills' finely honed craft draws in the reader with painful, sometimes shocking realism. Her plot so tight it's hermetically sealed, her characters rich and compelling, her pacing impeccable, she accomplishes what only the best writers manage: she disappears as she envelopes the reader in the story.
Tanya Parker Mills illustrates the country in vivid detail with the sights, sounds and smells of the region. The heat of the desert radiates from the page. Perhaps most importantly, Ms. Mills' own time spent in the Middle East has given her compassion and empathy for its people which she in turns instills in her readers.
She creates an unlikely hero in the arresting officer, Tariq al-Alwali, US educated but caught up in events beyond his control, doing what he must to keep his family alive. Like himself, his mother and grandfather, even his house help all live in fear knowing that any moment they could be arrested, arbitrarily executed, and never heard from again, all without cause or hope of redress. Just as the rest of the Iraqi population, they are at the mercy of their government and the consciences (or lack thereof) of the men in power.
The reader should be cautioned that Tanya Parker Mills writes with stark realism and doesn't pull any punches. Her characters are tortured and brutalized in the manner known to be practiced in Iraq at the time, including rape and dismemberment. People suffer and die. She often taxes the sensibilities of the reader with the intensity of her prose.
The Reckoning is a novel to read again and again to truly appreciate all its subtle nuances.
FTC disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided by the author or their agent with the understanding I would publish a fair and honest review. I receive no other compensation for this content.
September 19, 2012
When I sat down to read "The Reckoning" I wasn't prepared for what was in store for me. I was immediately drawn in to an emotional, intense story that I had difficulty putting down. Tanya Mills has taken her characters, as well as her readers, on an exotic, dangerous, intriguing journey.
Teresa Fuller, her cameraman, Peter Cranston, had planned to slip across the Boarder of Iraq long enough to get the details of a story she had been following. As soon as she had what she needed, they would quietly slip out of Iraq without being seen. That didn't happen and what they encountered was , , , well, I'll not go into anymore detail because You have to read the book to get the rest of the story. I promise you that you won't be disappointed.
Teresa Fuller, her cameraman, Peter Cranston, had planned to slip across the Boarder of Iraq long enough to get the details of a story she had been following. As soon as she had what she needed, they would quietly slip out of Iraq without being seen. That didn't happen and what they encountered was , , , well, I'll not go into anymore detail because You have to read the book to get the rest of the story. I promise you that you won't be disappointed.
January 26, 2012
A harrowing account of a journalist captured, held, and tortured in Iraq in the days leading up to the Iraq war. Great story line, believable characters, and certainly realistic. The author spent time, herself, in Iraq, and it lends authenticity to the story. My one critique would be that the reader never gets a break from the increasing tension as the torture scenes escalate. This book proves that Indie authors can be extremely talented in the stories they offer.
September 27, 2009
3.5 almost 4. This is a first novel written by the daughter of a friend of mine. It is a well written story of love and intrigue which takes place in Iraq before the current war. There are twists of plot to keep you turning pages, but, in the same vein as Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, there is cruelty to women and torture and murder that may be upsetting to readers.
Read
September 29, 2024I had to just read this all the way through once I'd started--to sleep would be to leave my new friends in peril, and that was impossible. Mills also does a great job of describing the wider political struggles leading up to the Iraq war in a way that flows with her storytelling and adds a rich layer of history to the story.
September 16, 2009
I loved this book and was really impressed until I got to the ending which was too pat and convenient.
Want to read
October 30, 2012I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11498370
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11498370
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews