The Last Days (Political Thrillers Series #2)

My review isn't about the book it's to complain that that prologue for the book is missing. Very disappointed that this book was sold as is. It made no mention of the missing pages in the description.

The Last Days (2003) is the sequel to The Last Jihad. In the previous volume, an alternate timeline unfolds where Saddam Hussein has bought nuclear weapons from Russia and other sources. When his various plots against the US and Israel have been frustrated, he unveiled his nuclear tipped ICBM, which was hidden within a children's hospital building. As the Iraqis prep the missile for firing on New York City, the US President reluctantly authorized use of tactical nukes against Baghdad to prevent the missile launch. The center of the city disappeared in fire and smoke. In this novel, Jon Bennett returns to the Holy Land with a US diplomatic team headed by Tucker Paine, the Secretary of State. As they arrive at the Palestinian Authority compound, Yasser Arafat is rolled out in a wheelchair to meet them. The man pushing the chair is the head of Arafat's security, but he detonates an explosive vest that kills Arafat and others around him, including Tucker Paine. Immediately after the explosion, someone starts firing on the diplomatic convey from across the road. Others start firing from the PA building. Bennett keeps his head down, but it soon becomes obvious that they have to get out of the compound and back to Israeli territory. He climbs behind the wheel of the armored limo, gets everybody left alive back inside, and drives furiously out of the compound and down the road, with Palestinian vehicles chasing him. Bennett and the other survivors are cut off from the Israelis, but find shelter is a top secret safehouse in an old gutted-out hotel in the Gaza Strip. From there, they contact other US forces in the area and plan an escape. However, severe weather has grounded all aircraft in the area, precluding any rescue until the storm abates. This story continues the mission to unite the Palestinians and Israelis in a venture to develop trillions of dollars worth of gas and oil into a joint treasure. The death of Yasser Arafat was intended as a setback to this plan, but the self-immolation of the Palestinians militants after his death convinces Palestinian moderates to try another approach. The Palestinian Council selects Ibrahim Sa'id as prime minister. Since Ibrahim is the partner with Dmitri Galishnikov in the Palestinian Petroleum Group that is promoting the gas and oil venture, this is good news to the US. Unfortunately, Ibrahim is also hidden away in the Gaza safehouse with Bennett's party and surrounded by hostile mobs. Meanwhile, the terrorist organization that has been trying to kill Bennett, and has successfully assassinated Arafat, is searching for the whereabouts of Bennett's party. Contacts throughout the Mediterranean have been alerted to watch for them. Airplanes and boats have been obtained and some special arrangements have been made with Libya. When Bennett and company are found, they are going to find themselves in a small war. Highly recommended for Rosenberg fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of desperate ventures to de

This is a sequel to 'The Last Jihad'. I recommend both books, but they should be read in order and this is the second one. Rosenberg again wrote a fast paced thriller with an interesting plot and lots of twists. The story also contains a very creative plan for Middle East peace that makes the story very unique. Although the resources may not actually be present to make it happen like they are in the book, one can at least appreciate some of the ideas presented. One area that he could use some improvement is in research to make the details more accurate. The author obviously isn't familiar with firearms as he talks about a .357 magnum having a safety and reloading it with a clip. As a revolver, this type of pistol doesn't have a safety. Additionally, revolvers don't use clips. One other mistake was in describing a fire in a building, he talked about it providing enough light to see by. When a building is on fire, it is not light inside. It is extremely dark as the smoke prevents one from seeing much of anything. As this was written two years ago, it also contains some items that have occurred differently than are in the story. That is no fault of the author. The reader just needs to realize when the book was written that Rosenberg was portraying future events. For example, both Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden are dead at the beginning of this book. As we all know, Saddam is in prison and Bin Laden is hiding like the coward that he is. In addition to a great story line, Rosenberg makes some great points that readers would do well to ponder. In one place, he has the former head of Mossad telling the 'hero' of the story, Jon Bennett, that 'the problem with you Americans is that you don't believe in evil'. He goes on to explain that he believes that 'evil forces make evil men do evil things'. He explains that this awareness of evil missing from the American perspective causes problems for us. He said that because of this, the people at the FBI and CIA, 'and definitely the guys at State - don't properly anticipate horrible, catastrophic events because you don't really believe in the presence of evil ...' He goes on to cite some specific events to support this contention. After his lesson from the Israeli, Bennett realizes that he is right. He realized that in regard to suicide bombers and other terrorists 'weren't misguided or misunderstood. They were controlled by evil. Pure evil. And evil couldn't be negotiated with. It could only be hunted down, captured, or destroyed.' There are some lessons in this novel that would be helpful for many in our nation to learn. Bennett is certainly an unlikely and really unrealistic hero. The investment banker turned into an action hero with no training could use some work. Regardless of that and other minor imperfections, Rosenberg has again written a terrific novel. I look forward to his next one.

Tom Clancy rocks.There, I just had to get that off my chest. And now you know my secret --- that even though I could be called a snob when it comes to fiction, I have a soft spot for fast-paced global political thrillers in which Americans are always the good guys. It's my own form of escapism.That's why when I read that Joel C. Rosenberg's latest book was "Clancyesque" it was a good omen in my eyes. Indeed, THE LAST DAYS, the bestselling sequel to the bestselling THE LAST JIHAD, is a breathless geopolitical roller coaster ride. It follows on the heels of THE LAST JIHAD's war on terrorism plotline to focus on the potential for peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors.The cast of characters is familiar to readers of THE LAST JIHAD and Jon Bennett, Wall Street strategist come senior White House advisor, takes the lead as the architect of a plan for peace between Israel and Palestine. Its basis? Vast oil reserves found in the region stand to make every Palestinian and Israeli man, woman and child wealthy beyond their dreams if they can just learn to work together.Assassinations and attempted assassinations ensue. A Palestinian civil war breaks out and several shadowy groups with their own interests do their best to wreak havoc with attacks on sensitive locals such as the Dome of the Rock and Washington D.C. Admittedly, for reasons I'll talk about in a moment, I wanted to put this book down. But I couldn't. I was hooked and had to know what would happen next. Perhaps my biggest endorsement of the book would be the fact that I stayed up until 3AM to finish it.One of the ways Rosenberg creates the narrative vortex that sucks you in is by warping the timeline and populating his story with real people in imaginary places. As the story opens the war in Iraq has just ended. Saddam Hussein is dead. His sons are dead. And the year is 2010. Huh? Didn't most of this just happen a few months ago? You don't even realize that it's 2010 until later on in the story. By then you're also scratching your head at the appearances of Abu Mazen as prime minister of Palestine. In the real world Mazen relinquished the role several months ago in 2003. And while the president in 2010 is the imagined James MacPherson, references to the real President George W. Bush, officials in his current administration and their policies also add to a sense of reality that is slightly askew. I'll warn you: for a few days after reading THE LAST DAYS the stuff of the nightly news will seem so seven years ago.The reason I wanted to put the book down stems from what I perceived as Rosenberg's conservative political agenda. As a sometimes-conservative evangelical Christian with Jewish roots, I share a lot of the affections of the author. I like democracy. I like Israel. At the same time, I'm generally critical of those who use fiction to make a point that could be made more honestly in a nonfiction arena.The tip-off to me that this might be the case with THE LAST DAYS is its cellophane-thin c

Jon Bennett and his bodyguard Erin McCoy attend a historicalsummit that is also attended by the U.S. Secretary of State and Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian security becomes a suicide bomberkilling the Secretary of State as well as Arafat. A civil war breaks out among various faction who want to replace Arafat.Ourhero Bennett and McCoy and their delegation have to find a way out of the west bank.You have two villains,a Russian Gogolov and an Iranian,Jibril who are the masterminds behind all of the plansof evil.The evil planners have decided to dispatch suicide bombersquads to the United States.Bennett and McCoy finally escape butface an attack from terrorist forces bent on their demise.Thereis never a dull moment in this book.You will definitely find thisbook hard to put down.I hope Joel C. Rosenberg writes more books.His first two have been outstanding.

Joel Rosenberg's new political thriller, "The Last Days," is absolutely riveting, and better than his first (though I liked "The Last Jihad," too). Last Days begins with the assassination of Yasser Arafat and the U.S. Secretary of State, the eruption of a Palestinian civil war, and an attack against a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Gaza, eerily similar to what recently happened. Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy find themselves under seige and trying to escape and the next 92 pages are non-stop action. If that's not enough, the CIA discovers Palestinian suicide bombers are headed to the United States, and a Jewish terrorist group is plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock and rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Woven all the way through is an understated by provocative premise that we are currently living in "the last days," an apocalyptic time before the return of Christ. It all makes for a compelling package, and somehow refreshingly unique and different from Clancy's latest book and other thrillers in this genre.What makes "Days" work even better than "Jihad", I think, is that it's longer, giving Rosenberg more time to develop the multiple story lines, and the characters. It's not the literature of John Steinbeck, but then again, it's not supposed to be. The oteher thing that works really well is that Rosenberg writes witha real visual flair. As I was reading "The Last Days" (and I raced through it just two days), I could vividly picture everything that was happening, like I was watching it as movie. Also, the research is really fascinating -- especially the whole subplot about the attack against the Temple Mount. It was engrossing and fast-moving, but I was also learning things I'd never known before, never thought about before.What's intriguing about both "Days" and "Jihad" is that they feel almost prophetic. How he basically predicted a kamikaze attack on the U.S. and a war with Iraq all before it happened is a story that I'd like to know more about. And I have a feeling "The Last Days" is going to be coming true in some way, shape or form pretty soon as well. I hope not -- it's a scary scenario. But you never know. I'm looking forward to more.