Rating: 
Summary: Not quite up to par
Review: This genre is one with which I am quite familiar. Sadly, I found The Last Jihad to be off the mark in several areas, despite a valiant effort by the author to create an exciting adventure novel. Obviously the first problem is unfortunate timing. The author relied on the status quo remaining for a time in Iraq, but as perverse fortune would have it, his basic premise of Saddam Hussein instigating a new major war must now be relegated to one of those exercises in "what if?"-you know, a game where speculation on a possible outcome of past events is predicated upon a rift in the time continuum causing history as we know it to be changed. If President Bush had not first kicked Saddam out so swiftly in our real world, the story would have been far more interesting, having moved into the "eminently probable scenario" category. Obviously this was not Rosenberg's fault, he gambled as one must when dealing with real people and current situations.
My real complaints are mainly annoyances at descriptions of actions that are exaggerated beyond reason in an attempt to create emotional impact. An example? US agent shoots terrorist in back of neck with a standard load .45 semi-auto pistol (860 fps solid-point bullet) and "virtually" separates his head from his body. Combat vets and medics are allowed to laugh heartily here. I also found the dialogue off-key, especially involving the President and his staff: simplistic, rather juvenile and superfluous banter during moments of historical crisis. Radio chatter between pilots also was apparently taken from old Clark Gable movies, a plethora of antiquated and unnecessary "Roger, Roger that"s and "five by five"s. Most startling was the idea that the President would order pre-emptive nuclear strikes on two cities with a combined population of nearly ten million civilians just to get Saddam Hussein seemed a bit over the top, even for a fiction story. The thinly-disguised politicizing gets a bit old and smacks of anti-Arab propaganda. Descriptions of how Saddam's top military officers cavalierly execute their seconds-in-command by shooting them down without warning in front of the rest of the troops for no reason other than to get their attention, like the pistol-shot decapitation scenario mentioned above, would play better on the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon show favored by Bart and Lisa Simpson. But my main criticism is the lack of interest the characters generate. The main protagonist seems a poor choice, shallow, ineffectual and altogether unlikable, his main traits being selfishness and greed. I wouldn't let my daughter marry him. The love interest between him and a lady undercover agent, whose character was barely defined, seemed lukewarm at best, never developing into a passionate, tender affair to balance all the violence.
For this type of novel, one would perhaps better enjoy a thriller featuring the political savvy and story pacing of Vince Flynn, (Separation of Power) the character and plot development of Tom Clancy (Clear and Present Danger) and the military weaponry, clandestine operations and Middle Eastern cultural expertise of Phillip E. Carpenter. (Arabian Assignment: Slavery and Terrorism in North Africa) I am not sorry I bought The Last Jihad, however, it filled some time during a slow period, but there are other novels of this genre far superior if you have not already read most of them.-Barker Reviews
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting,believable thriller of how the Next Jihad plays out
Review: Gripping policitical suspense thriller of a Wall Street Strategist suckered into Presidential politics with many surprising insites into Mid-Eastern fanatics (some a little shallow, but fun: "the 70 virgins awaiting him by Allah's side"...). Some histoical Jewish lore sprinkled throughout. Joel Rosenberg could have put a little more effort into portraying Muslim's lack of fear of dying. His bio's serve as a quick way to introduce or strengthen a character's motives, but then they often stagnate. Only the hero matures a little, excruciatingly slowly, but believably so. His spies have no love life.
Drawbacks: opening chapter is the worst of Clancy's technobable, strengthened later by far more elegant execution of these toys of war.
Strengths: a wonderful economic and political thriller unfolding a too real picture of how the world an markets would react to the next 9/11. Excellent rationale, with a nice clash of leadership styles, quite realistic for Washington DC. It's more elegantly strung together than Daniel Silva's "The English Assassin," which had similiar Holocaust ties. Almost as good as "Chasing the Dime," (Michael Connelly) - but gravitates instead to the Washington/NYSE power plays. The unfolding drama is reminisent historically of the Cuban missile crisis.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read !
Review: A fast paced, page-turner. Great action sequences, believable characters, and an intricate plot make The Last Jihad an excellent thriller. If his next novel is a good we make have another Clancy on our hands. My one critique of the book (and it's a trivial one) is this: in an attempt to keep the novel "clean", and not use profanity, the author has characters use curse substitutes such as "freaking". At those moments, when the emotions in the scene run high, the use of these substitutes somehow makes the scene lose credibility. For that split second (when for example a hardened, battle worn intelligence officer is shaking down a possible terrorist in a rage and uses the word "freaking") the reader is reminded that he's reading a book and is brought out from being totally immersed in a scene. Overall one on the better novels I've read in a long while. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: could have been better...
Review: Colorless characters, unimaginative writing, Clive Cusslerish outlandishness and an overabundance of military tough-talk keep this book from going anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Wild ride!
Review: This book was excellent! Once I began reading, I could not put it down! It arouses suspense, anger, worry, relief, and many other emotions. It also represents what the author believes would happen in a future world with Saddam Hussein still in power! I would strongly recommend this book to every human being!
Rating:
Summary: People are Cardboard Figures
Review: The writing is great in spots, the action spots. But the intrigue and the political patter are almost juvenile. The author's research seems to be good. Maybe I was disappointed because it was published after we got Iraq in hand. It jarred me to read what the author thought would happen and to know that it was nothing like contemporary history. I'm fighting to finish it by flipping through the parts that make me want to regurgitate. Some stuff in it is really great. But I'm not sure I can finish the thing.
Robert Armstrong
Albuquerque NM
Rating: 
Summary: Good premise, good middle - but runs out of steam
Review: I was immidiately sucked in by the beginning of the novel, which has all the intensity of a major Hollywood action picture. Unfortunately, the author cannot sustain the intensity and the ups and downs seem random. Most characters, while not flat, do not have real depth to them either. I was also thrown by several factual errors:
* Hussein's sons were not killed in 1996, though this may have been deliberate choice by the author. In that case, it seems strange since it's thrown in as a background filler and does not play a major role in the book.
* It's impossible for image enhancing goggles to magnify light enough to "burn through their retinas".
* Israelis may speak in English with a thick accent - but hardly when they speak to each other in Hebrew.
Rating:
Summary: Had potential to be a 5 star suspense novel
Review: This novel begins and ends with an attempt on the president's life. Between those events lies the harrowing tale of the attempt to determine which of the president's closest associates is the traitor providing the terrorists with information on his location and the attempt to keep an escalating situation in the Middle East from spiraling out of control and turning into a world war. The majority of the book is told from the perspective of Bennett, the president's protege who has been left in command of the business that the president had to leave when he began his campaign for governor of Colorado. He is the only character whose psychology we get to examine intimately. Despite his flaws, he is likeable and one really hopes that things will work out for the best for him. As tensions escalate, the president asks him to leave his commercial work and come on as a White House advisor, specifically, to take the business deal he closes in the early pages of the book and attempt to turn it into the centrepiece of a new Middle East piece plan. The book is very well paced, and although it deals more with the politicians and secret service agents (rather than the more direct military/intelligence characters of a Clancy or Robinson novel) it remains a page turner. So, why only 3 stars? The first reason is the abruptness of the ending. There is absolutely no denouement at all. The last chapter reads as if there must be two more following it which mysteriously vanished. One supposes that Rosenberg has a sequel in the wings. Secondly, keeping in mind the author and the time it was written, this book comes across as something of a propaganda piece. Rosenberg was one of the editors of World Magazine, before he resigned to promote his book. World was adamant in making the case for a war with Iraq, and many of the presuppositions of this book are drawn from those arguments (the presence of weapons of mass destruction and a link with al-qaeda). The timing of the book cannot have been coincidental, and I resent it when I find an author trying to influence my political opinions so overtly (whether I agree or disagree with them).
Rating:
Summary: A Real Page-Turner!
Review: The Last Jihad is a very timely political post-9/11 thriller that will have the pages fly through you fingers. The excitement, suspense and tension builds right from the start and never lets up until the very end. While the characters are not particularly well-developed, the plot more than makes up for this weakness. While not every one is going to agree with the decisions made towards Iraq in this book, I am sure you'll feel that reading The Last Jihad will be like being on a roller-coaster ride that seems out of control. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Rating:
Summary: BEST BOOK EVER
Review: One fine day i was listening to Rush Libaugh on my local radio station interviewing the breakout author Joel C. Rosenberg, having writen books along side the great Tom Clancy decided to write his own. Rush had so much praise for this conservative author that i picked up the book the next day, couldn't put it down. Not as long as a Tom Clancy, yet twice as good. Best book i have ever read, and probably ever written.
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