Review: The Good Son and In the Name of Honor

The Good Son by Michael Gruber (New York Times bestselling author)
400 pages
ISBN: 0805091289
EAN: 9780805091281

Somewhere in Pakistan, Sonia Laghari and eight fellow members of a symposium on peace are being held captive by armed terrorists. Sonia, a deeply religious woman as well as a Jungian psychologist, has become the de facto leader of the kidnapped group. While her son Theo, an ex-Delta soldier, uses his military connections to find and free the victims, Sonia tries to keep them all alive by working her way into the kidnappers' psyches and interpreting their dreams. With her knowledge of their language, her familiarity with their religion, and her Jungian training, Sonia confounds her captors with her insights and beliefs. Meanwhile, when the kidnappers decide to kill their captives, one by one, in retaliation for perceived crimes against their country, Theo races against the clock to try and save their lives.

I will start this review by reminding you all that I'm not a big fan of suspense genre books, it's just not my cup of tea, but I AM a huge fan of reading and I always give a book a chance, even if I think I won't enjoy it because it's not the first time that I have walked away pleasantly surprised.

I'm a little on the fence with this one, it had it's good parts and it's bad parts, but again that maybe be due to the fact that it's not really my kind of story and while I think it was well written, some of the things in the book left me scratching my head.

One of the main characters is Sonia and as much as I tried, I just couldn't relate to this woman at all, couldn't like her, couldn't understand her, matter of fact at one point I was just downright irritated with her.

Now with that said, there are a ton of readers out there who have totally enjoyed the book and think it's great, all I can say is that you'll have to judge for yourself but if you're a fan of suspense and war related subjects and religion and politics, then this is definitely the book for you.

In the Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson (New York Times bestselling author)

Hardcover, 388 pages

isbn 0805087745 (isbn13: 9780805087741)

When Lt. Brian McCarran shoots and kills his superior officer, Capt. Joe D'Abruzzo, at Fort Bolton in northern Virginia soon after they return from a tour in Iraq, 31-year-old Capt. Paul Terry, of the army's JAG Corps, defends the lieutenant. That the accused is the son of legendary Gen. Anthony McCarran, the current army chief of staff, makes it an especially sensitive court-martial. To complicate matters, Joe was married to Kate Gallagher, the general's goddaughter and lifelong friend of Brian and the McCarran family. Sparks fly after Brian's gorgeous older attorney sister, Meg, insists on working with Paul.

Again a book that I typically wouldn't have picked up on my own as it falls into the thriller/mystery genre but with this one, I totally enjoyed it.

The first few pages were a little boring but I was determined to see it through and am so glad I did, I couldn't put it down after that. The only complaint I have is that a huge chunk of the book does indeed focus on the trial and it got a little tiring at times but one of the main focuses on the book was on PTSD and what the soldiers in Iraq have to endure, it's hard to read because it touches your heart, especially as a military wife.

If for that alone, I think the book should be read, maybe people will get a better understanding of what these soldiers go through.

Having your husband deployed and at war is a fear that every military wife goes through on a daily basis, but I think for me, one of the other things that really worries me is the thought that he could go to war and come back a very different person, or thinking that I would not be able to help him overcome what he had gone through.

Such a good book, my husband is reading it now and enjoying it too.