Cover of THE CORDOBA CONNECTION, photo courtesy of Rivers Edge.
THE CORDOBA CONNECTION by C. Terry Cline, Jr.
THE CORDOBA CONNECTION is a new novel by C. Terry Cline, Jr. Cline was working on this novel at the time of his death in 2013. His wife, Judith Richards, is also a writer and she collaborated with him on this work and saw it through to its publishing this year. The novel is as timely as today’s news reports and offers an inside look into the world of those of the Muslim faith.
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In the story Gabriel Cohen is a man who lost his wife in the 9/11 attacks. Since that occurrence he has let his hate of all Muslims fester inside him. Now he has begun a crusade to kill various Imams across the country. As he kills these individuals he hopes to stir up an open war between America and the Muslim communities. However he does not get the publicity he craves and needs, so he determines to raise the ante even higher.
Ben Mansur is a retired police officer and an investigator of hate crimes. He is a Muslim but not a completely devout one. His wife and two children are much more adherent to Muslim rules and traditions than he. When Cohen escalates his activities to a hostage/ransom situation Ben is drawn into the hunt for this crazed killer.
In the story as we learn more about Ben’s wife and children we also learn more about the world of the typical Muslim. We see the problems they face in living in a predominately Jewish/Christian world where they are constantly being misunderstood. Ben knows the rules of his religion but he does not abide by them all. His wife Yasmin is a professor of Islamic studies at Emery University so she holds herself to a much more rigorous practice of her faith.
As Ben searches to locate the place where Gabriel is hiding out with his hostages the clock is counting down. Cohen is a man determined to make his mark on history and he will use whatever savage means necessary to accomplish that goal. This makes for an exciting and eventful story.
Cline’s writing gets into the plot immediately and moves with an accelerated pace to the climactic end of this tale. There are no side trips and no extraneous verbiage. This is a story with a determined plot that unfolds as quickly as the reader can read.
The major fault I found with this overall enjoyable and engrossing sbook is its abrupt ending. The pace of the storytelling is so fast that when it ends it is with a screeching halt. There is no letting the reader down gently but rather there is a whiplash inducing conclusion. I wanted a bit of an aftermath but it was not there. Still I have to say all that precedes that ending is well done.
THE CORDOBA CONNECTION is published by Rivers Edge. It contains 342 pages and sells for $27.95.
