Review of PAID IN BLOOD by Mel Odom (see his website)

Tyndale, August 2005

Qadir Yaseen knows that Israel can never be defeated as long as America arms it. But Israel, the nation that stole hs homeland destroyed his entire family, and caused the deaths of so many others must be destroyed. So Qadir comes up with a monumental plot to destroy, or at least distract America for years--long enough for the Arab world to rise againstIsrael. Qadir is cetain that God is on his side.

With his marriage in tatters, NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) Commander Will Coburn isn't at all sure God is on his side. Still, whe one of his teemmates is murdered, Will goes to work tracking down the killer. What he finds initially doesn't seem to add up. Over time, though, it begins to make a horrible kind of sense. Will has caught a small piece of Qadir's plan. But Qadir has been plotting for years and Will has only days to uncover the full truth. It would take a miracle to stop the destruction.

Author Mel Odom delivers an action-packed thriller. Will and his team face Columbian druglords, Hispanic assassins, the Korean Maffia, and Arab warriors willing to die (and kill) for their faith. Odom has researched his crime-scene techniques and the investigation felt very real and pressing as the team traveled the world in search of clues.

The religious aspect of this story is a bit heavy-handed for the secular reader. Odom leaves the reader with no doubt that Qadir's God is not the real God of the ultra-Christian NCIS. Bringing this message home strongly, the Christian God repeatedly delivers on behalf of the NCIS team. The book's target audience (Tyndale is a Christian publisher), however, will definitely approve of the message. Considering this, I thought Odom did a fine job motivating Qadir, explaining how his loss of two families (including young children) to Israeli attacks, drove him to adopting his extreme plan.

The generally fast-paced story occasionally bogged down over religion, praying, and especially Will's concern over his upcoming divorce. With saving the world at stake, surely Will could have put the impending divorce on the back burner--especially given that he had separated many months before the story began. Still, once Odom gets back into action, though, PAID IN BLOOD is compelling reading, especially for the Christian target market.

See more BooksForABuck.com reviews of thrillers by Mel Odom. See also BooksForABuck.com reviews of fantasy novels by Mel Odom.

Four Stars

Reviewed 7/02/06

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