Book Review: 1/1: Jihad - Britain, by Jack Everett & David Coles

This Print On Demand (POD) fiction novel written by the two gentlemen noted above is about terrorism and its effects on Briton in the near future. It starts in 2006 as it lays the foundation for one of the main middle-east characters to build up resentment and anger towards Britain due to their involvement in his country's politics. He experiences personal loss of family, and swears he will wreak destruction on his enemies. His long-term planning results in a day of destruction never before seen in Britain, and sends waves of chaos and panic throughout the continent. Reactions, and subsequent plans and strategies at the upper levels of government play a major role in the novel. Actually it almost appears as though each author took turns writing about their areas of interest and expertise; one being about the terrorists and their activities, the other about the inner goings-on in the government.

That's a very brief summary and overview of the novel, which I thought required at least a full paragraph... these gents obviously put a lot of themselves into creating this story, and they should be commended for the realistic detail, dialogue, character development, and plot movement.

Now for my opinion.

When writing about the terrorist characters and that side of the story, I found the book engaging and interesting, as it seemed realistic and believable. The technologies and strategies described sounded real-world. The story line moved along at a nice pace. Then, every time the story line shifted to the political world, it bogged down for me. There was too much of a disparity between the plot movement and development with the terrorists, and the much more detailed and verbose dialogging between all the politicians, their friend, and families... the story moved along quite slowly for my liking.  I found myself skimming just to get through it, which in the end didn't affect my comprehension of the plot, but it did impact my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible read for me... but it was slow in enough places that I think the plot meandered because of it. Others may enjoy it for the politics; it was obvious whoever of the two wrote those parts was well versed in the intricacies and inner workings of the British government.

On the quality front, there were a few little gotchas with mis-spellings, punctuation errors, and grammar. That, plus the formatting (typesetting) needs some polish. A glaring example: novels should be flush-right, not ragged-right. The artwork and graphic design is well done, lending a big-press feel to it, so - it wouldn't take much polish to stand head and shoulders above many other POD books I have reviewed.

I'll give it 7 out of 10.


Wolfy