Book Review: The Last Operative

Tyndale sent me a review copy of The Last Operative by Jerry B. Jenkins. It's better than the Left Behind series, which is the only other thing I've read by him. Interestingly, according the author's note at the beginning, The Last Operative is a rewrite of his very first novel in order to update it make the material current.

In the novel, Jordan Kirkwood considers retiring from his life as an NSA field operative. Shortly after receiving dangerous information from an old friend, Jordan witnesses his own wife killed in an airport shooting, himself the target. He confides in his mentor and handler at the NSA, and after spending some time with family, he begins investigating the information given him. His handler sends him to Central America to meet a contact, which turns out to be an old flame from before his marriage, and together they attempt to foil plans that could bring an attack to America worse than 9/11.

I enjoyed this novel. It moves quickly, even though there's not much action through much of the book, just conversation and Jordan Kirkwood's own conflicts within himself. Throughout the story, Jordan tries to rekindle his relationship with his grown children, having missed out on much of their lives due to his job. Telling them about his old flame doesn't help the situation. The "threat to America" plot resolved a little quickly, and seemed more of a backdrop for the story of Jordan reconciling his personal life with his professional life. The involvement of the old flame and it's repercussions was predictable but enjoyable. The reason for the final ending with Jordan and his old flame meeting seemed contrived but worked to show Jordan's commitment to the security of the United States.

The Last Operative moves quickly and ends with a satisfying resolution.



Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. When they do, I'll mention it in the review. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap or my local library. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).

New DVD Series from the Creator of VeggieTales

What's In The Bible? It's a new DVD series from Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, coming in March of 2010. I recieved a sneak preview from Tyndale House Publishers.

The DVD opens with Phil Vischer in a nice office setting telling us about himself, what happened with VeggieTales, and what he hopes to do with What's In The Bible? and why he teamed up with Tyndale. This part of the DVD was nice. Phil, the voice of Bob the Tomato, is like an old friend and it's nice to learn exactly why he lost VeggieTales; a story I hadn't heard completely until now.

After that is a short video promo for the series. The footage from the series saddens me. I understand it's aimed at young children, but so was VeggieTales and that was a great series even for adults. The puppets come across as cheap PBS wannabes. The voice acting seems crude and overdone, sometimes to the point of being unintelligible. And the live action human characters seem frantically overdone imitations of the Wiggles.

My kids are too old for this series. If I had younger children they might enjoy it, since it seems geared towards the very young, maybe toddler-aged children.

I sincerely hope the series will turn out to be better than the promo makes it seem. Kids need good Christian educational TV to distract them from video games and internet and some of the less-appealing shows on PBS and other "children's" networks.


Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Tyndale sent me the aforementioned promo DVD free for review. They didn't pay me. I sometimes get free books and such as review material.

Book Review: The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book

"Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head." Yeah those. This book isn't just another collection of Chuck Norris 'facts', it's a book written by Chuck Norris picking his favorite of the facts, offering a commentary about them with anecdotes from his life, and offering a positive view of patriotism, Christianity, and roundhouse kicks, among other things.

My three kids get a big kick out of reading the various Chuck Norris facts around the internet (on the websites that are kid friendly). When I saw this book available for review from the Tyndale Blog Network, I had to have it. I'm the last person in my house to read the book. My three kids and my wife all read the book before I got to it. They loved it, and still pick it up sometimes just to have something clean, fun, and meaningful to read. Each fact (and humorous caricature of Chuck Norris in action) is followed by a few paragraphs of Chuck Norris giving a rebuttal, or a life lesson, or an anecdote about the fact, followed by a related quote, and Chuck's Code that sums it up on how to relate it to life.

I don't think I knew that Chuck Norris is a Christian, and he makes no bones about it in the book, nor about his support of our troops, our constitution, etc. This was a nice refreshing read from the normal gloom and doom about our nation that permeates the mass media.

This book hands down gets a grand rating of 5 out of 5.

Disclaimer of dooooom:
For the purposes of review, Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book (because I like free stuff). Clicking on the book link at the beginning takes you to Amazon.com where you can purchase the book and I'd get a small percentage of the sale (because I like cash).