18 Billion

by Jack Gresham

In Washington, D.C., a cell of Afghan terrorists-armed with a nuclear weapon-conspire to rob the Federal Reserve Bank of New York of 18 billion dollars. They plan to fund and curry favor with Mohammed of Babylon, an international negotiator and proponent of peaceful jihad who is rumored to be the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam. Mohammed, shocked to find himself the center of religious extremism, attempts to right the wrong done to the United States without betraying the trust of his people.Meanwhile, the government's investigation into the terrorist cell behind the threat uncovers a more frightening plot. An international corporation called Global Consultant Ltd. appears to be funding and manufacturing global terrorism for their own purposes. The corporation, driven by greed rather than ideology, has the feds wondering how far their influence reaches and what it will take to counter the terrorism already set in motion.

337 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrorists claim to have planted a nuclear bomb in Washington DC and demand access to the New York Federal Reserve Bank or they will set it off. So begins the rather far fetched 18 Billion. Without any confirmation of the bombs existence the terrorists are given access to the Federal Reserve Bank, where they make off with the title’s 18 billion, dollars that is. The terrorists transport the money out of the country and turn it over to Mohammed of Babylon. Mohammed is an Islamic religious leader who condemns violence and some believe is the Mahdi. Mohammed secretly meets with the President of the United States and makes a secret agreement to return the money in exchange for the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq, amongst other things. 18 Billion is billed as Book One of the Mohammed of Babylon series.[return][return]I tried to like this book, there are parts of an interesting story in it, however the problems pushed the interesting parts aside. Without going into a point by point explanation I’ll just hit the high points. While the writing style wasn’t bad, I had to reread some paragraphs to understand what they were saying and a lot of the dialogue seemed forced and unnatural. Government agents make no mistakes in 18 Billion, and their ability to trace e-mail and phone calls seems greatly exaggerated. I was willing to over look these issues, along with the unbelievably of the U.S. Government giving terrorists $18 billion based solely on the claim they would detonate a nuclear bomb if they didn’t get it, however there was one more problem which ended any chance of me reading further books in the series. Towards the end of the book, the President’s spiritual advisor- Reverend Daniel Barkley, who previously had almost no role in the book, is sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with friends when they are joined by a “Mr. Goodson”, a friend of Barkley’s unknown to the others. After dinner Goodson leaves and no one except Barkley can remember his being there. This incident had nothing else to do with the rest of the book; I can only think readers will hear more about this character in later books. I will leave it to them to find out if Mohammed is the Mahdi and if Goodson becomes God’s son and the world becomes a wonderful place. In a short four pages Mr. Gresham ended any chance of me reading future books in this series. I’m obviously not the target audience for this book, and while I could be wrong, I think this book is aimed at the Left Behind crowd. So if you’re a fan of that series you might want to give 18 Billion a try. [return][return]I received a review copy of this book from Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘Could this really happen?’

In Washington DC, a terrorist cell armed with a nuclear weapon conspires to take eighteen billion dollars from the Federal Reserve. They plan to use this money to fund Mohammed of Babylon – rumoured to be the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam and a proponent of peaceful jihad.

The government’s investigation into the terrorist cell behind the theft discovers that an international corporation, Global Consultant Ltd, which seems to be driven by greed rather than ideology, is funding global terrorism. How far does its influence reach, and what will it take to counter the terrorism already in motion?

The ongoing threat of terrorism; the motivation provided by religious extremism; the power of eighteen billion dollars and the potentially dangerous conflict of interest between a peaceful leader and fundamentalist followers: all of these are key ingredients in this thriller. How will Mohammed of Babylon react to receiving this money, and for what purpose will he use it?

Sadly, for me, this novel wasn’t entirely successful. The urgency required by the events was dampened by a combination of poor editing and verbose writing. Passive, descriptive language slowed down my reading and tended to detach me from the story. I needed to see or feel the action rather than read all of the steps involved.
This is the first in a planned series of novels to feature Mohammed of Babylon. In a world unsettled by the fact and the threat of terrorism this novel will have a ready audience.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Thing Two · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of this book is great. The writing, however, needs work.