The Walls of Jericho

Rating:
Summary: A new era of Land thrillers
Review: "The Walls of Jericho" marks a departure from the typical Jon Land thriller. While many of his earlier works were non-stop action, this one is lighter on the action and more on the development of the overall story and character development. One reason for the added character development was due to the introduction of two major new characters -- Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea. These two are the central figures in all but one of Land's last seven novels.

This one centers around Ben and Danielle's search for a serial killer who has committed a number of murders in the city of Jericho. Their job is to discover the identity of the killer who calls himself the Wolf and capture him before the killings continue. The tracking of the serial killer is reminiscent of Ben's tracking of another serial killer named the Sandman, who in the past had killed his family. Danielle's motivation is to better herself and prove herself to her ailing father.

While tracking the Wolf, Ben and Danielle learn that there's more to the situation than the serial killer. Both Ben's and Danielle's superiors want the Wolf captured to avoid worsening the already tense political situation between their two peoples -- the Israelis and the Palenstinians. As they get deeper into the investigation, they discover a third party is involved which only complicates matters.

"The Walls of Jericho", while still a good read, is not up the standards set by the better of the Blaine McCracken novels ("The Omicron Legion", "The Fires of Midnight", etc.). The storyline moves slowly at times and some characters are introduced only to be quickly removed from the storyline. The third party involved, while integral to the overall plot, felt a bit out of place at times. Overall, it's still a worthy read if you're a fan of Jon Land's works and political thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: A new era of Land thrillers
Review: "The Walls of Jericho" marks a departure from the typical Jon Land thriller. While many of his earlier works were non-stop action, this one is lighter on the action and more on the development of the overall story and character development. One reason for the added character development was due to the introduction of two major new characters -- Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea. These two are the central figures in all but one of Land's last seven novels.

This one centers around Ben and Danielle's search for a serial killer who has committed a number of murders in the city of Jericho. Their job is to discover the identity of the killer who calls himself the Wolf and capture him before the killings continue. The tracking of the serial killer is reminiscent of Ben's tracking of another serial killer named the Sandman, who in the past had killed his family. Danielle's motivation is to better herself and prove herself to her ailing father.

While tracking the Wolf, Ben and Danielle learn that there's more to the situation than the serial killer. Both Ben's and Danielle's superiors want the Wolf captured to avoid worsening the already tense political situation between their two peoples -- the Israelis and the Palenstinians. As they get deeper into the investigation, they discover a third party is involved which only complicates matters.

"The Walls of Jericho", while still a good read, is not up the standards set by the better of the Blaine McCracken novels ("The Omicron Legion", "The Fires of Midnight", etc.). The storyline moves slowly at times and some characters are introduced only to be quickly removed from the storyline. The third party involved, while integral to the overall plot, felt a bit out of place at times. Overall, it's still a worthy read if you're a fan of Jon Land's works and political thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: A new era of Land thrillers
Review: "The Walls of Jericho" marks a departure from the typical Jon Land thriller. While many of his earlier works were non-stop action, this one is lighter on the action and more on the development of the overall story and character development. One reason for the added character development was due to the introduction of two major new characters -- Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea. These two are the central figures in all but one of Land's last seven novels.

This one centers around Ben and Danielle's search for a serial killer who has committed a number of murders in the city of Jericho. Their job is to discover the identity of the killer who calls himself the Wolf and capture him before the killings continue. The tracking of the serial killer is reminiscent of Ben's tracking of another serial killer named the Sandman, who in the past had killed his family. Danielle's motivation is to better herself and prove herself to her ailing father.

While tracking the Wolf, Ben and Danielle learn that there's more to the situation than the serial killer. Both Ben's and Danielle's superiors want the Wolf captured to avoid worsening the already tense political situation between their two peoples -- the Israelis and the Palenstinians. As they get deeper into the investigation, they discover a third party is involved which only complicates matters.

"The Walls of Jericho", while still a good read, is not up the standards set by the better of the Blaine McCracken novels ("The Omicron Legion", "The Fires of Midnight", etc.). The storyline moves slowly at times and some characters are introduced only to be quickly removed from the storyline. The third party involved, while integral to the overall plot, felt a bit out of place at times. Overall, it's still a worthy read if you're a fan of Jon Land's works and political thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: Unimaginative whodunnit posing as political thrillier.
Review: A new fan of Jon Land I bought this book on the strength of the reviews. Little more than a cheap detective novel the characters are as shallow as the plot. It was an effort to turn the pages.

Rating:
Summary: Unimaginative whodunnit posing as political thrillier.
Review: A new fan of Jon Land I bought this book on the strength of the reviews. Little more than a cheap detective novel the characters are as shallow as the plot. It was an effort to turn the pages.

Rating:
Summary: www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7015
Review: Check out the Unofficial Blaine McCracken/Jon Land Home Page at www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7015

Rating:
Summary: A bit cheesy
Review: First off, by looking at the date of my review, it should come as no surprize that I don't consider myself a Jon Land fan (I bought the book on a whim, over a year after its release). The romantic part of the story was rather predictable...Pakad is a '90s career woman, wants a man, meets Ben, <yawn>. The only disappointment in their relationship was that there were no real friction between the two. Land could have brought the reader on more of a roller coaster ride if these two culturally diverse agents had actually experienced some bad blood before falling in love. The three stars were earned because of the page-turning qualities of the murder(s) and the desire to see what clues would turn up next. Certainly a good read for the murder mystery fan. My only other complaint about the work was that Land did not make use of some of the secondary characters (esp. Brickman) as much as he could have. The good political message coming out of "Walls" however! ! is that Middle East peace is not a black and white issue wherein there are two sides and each of the two sides is at peace with itself.

Rating:
Summary: A Suspenseful Book!
Review: I bought this book to try out a new author. I was not dissapointed. A Palestenian detective is paired with a female Shin-Bet investigator to solve a series of serial killings. The Palestenian detective was formerly a detective in Detroit.After the murder of his family he returned home. He and the Shin-Bet agent form a good working relationship that eventually leads to a romantic laison. This book does a good job of describing the worlds of both Palestine and Israel. The team have to deal with some dangerous and seedy characters with their investigation. When they finally reach the guilty parties the killers are very shocking to say the least. A plot to destabilize the peace process is under way. This is definitely a well written book. It also impressed me with Jon Land. Read this. You will not be dissapointed.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't finish this one
Review: I know that this is a murder mystery and not a political science textbook, but if an author is going to place his characters in a politically charged area like the West Bank, he should at least try to portray the situation realistically.

Land is clearly pro-Palestinian and after about 150 pages I had to stop reading. Land constantly has his Palestinian character go on tirades about how "thousands (of Israelis) were involved in the administrative detentions, the torture, the terrorizing (!) of our young, the closing of our schools." The Israeli character just makes dumb replies as if to admit to such nonsense. Land often makes the argument that the only reason Palestinian terror exists is because the Israelis were so mean to them.

What drivel.

Rating:
Summary: Huge potential for an entire series here...
Review: I really enjoyed the book and the portrayel of the multi-dimensional arab-israeli conflict. I agree that the relationship between Ben and Danielle was very contrived and just happened out of nowhere, as well as being somewhat hard to believe if Ben was really an arab, but hey.
The book was wonderful.
I can't wait to run out and buy PILLARS OF SOLOMON to see what happens next.