Jericho 3, by Paul McKellips

Paul McKellips brings us a great read in his second novel. WIth this novel comes the return of Navy Captain Seabury Campbell, a medical doctor and former Navy Seal. "Camp" Campbell is going to be in for the fight of his life as he struggles to stop a bio-terroist attack that could spur Armageddon. Camp teams up with Lt. Col. Leslie Raines, former FBI agent Billy Finn and General Ferguson to work together to figure out what the Iranians are up to and whether they truly intend to bring Israel to it's knees with a biological attack.

As the story unfolds Camp is educated by an Iranian Intelligence officer regarding the 8 minutes and 53 seconds of terror that Iran believes will bring the devastation of Israel and usher in the Twelfth Imam who will bring peace to the World and a ruling elite of Muslims to oversee everything. This Iranian operative has to help Camp understand that the West does not have a clear picture of what motivates Muslims and why they are willing to face mutual destruction to achieve what they feel is a higher religious value.

Camp learns his lessons well, but is still locked into fighting terrorism through the methods and values that he has been taught and grown up with. He also has to help the Israeli's come to terms with what the mutual destruction theory might do to their country as well as the Middle East.

McKellips does a great job of bringing the political, military and religious world views together to develop a great novel that will keep you turning the pages until you get to the end. I was fascinated by his use of scripture to point out the subtle aspects of Armageddon and the Valley of Jezrel that has an important role both historically and for the future in accordance with Biblical End Times Theology.

Camp will work to bring a Mossad Agent together with the Iranian Military Agent so that they can discuss the issues of what is likely to be the final all out battle for the Middle East. Omid, the Iranian, although he is a devout Muslim is the portrait of the majority of Muslims who desire peace but desire to obtain it through peaceful means and not militaristic means. He is giving information to the American's and the Israeli's to try and stop what the radical "Twelver's" want to do to destroy Israel.

Will Camp and his friends succeed? Will they stop the destruction of Israel and the deaths of millions through a biological attack?

The story is well written and has many sub-plots that you will almost forget about until McKellips weaves them back in to bring new light on the issue of the battle that is being faced.

I was intrigued by how well McKellips developed his characters, developed his story, told us some history, gave us an education into Bio-warfare and also had a bit of romance thrown in to keep everyone guessing as to what was going to happen.

The ending will surprise you and will also leave the window open for future books to look further into the world of clandestine and military operations.

Thanks Paul for a great read.