I wrote the book and donated it today to Book crossing. I hope people will enjoy it.


It is an espionage thriller in which the premise that rebellion is the highest form of self expression is proven.

You got online before I did!

I am so thrilled to have gotten your book at the festival today. And if anyone missed out on what we were doing we were at the ...

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE BOOK
Welcome to Old Town Kensington's Celebration of the International Day of the Book.

April twenty-third (the festival is on the nearest Sunday) is a symbolic day in world literature. Declared as International Day of the Book by UNESCO in 1995, this celebration of books and literature draws its inspiration from a Catalan tradition, the Festival of the Rose.

Legend has it that Saint George, Patron Saint of Catalonia and international knight-errant, slew a dragon about to devour a beautiful Catalan princess. From the dragon's blood sprouted a rosebush, from which the hero plucked the prettiest rose for the princess. Hence the traditional Rose Festival celebrated in Barcelona since the Middle Ages to honor chivalry and love. In 1923, this lover's "festa" became even more poetic when it merged with "el dia del llibre", or The Day of the Book, to mark the nearly simultaneous deaths of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, the two giants of literary history, on April 23, 1616.

On this day in Barcelona, bookstalls and street festivities run the length of the picturesque La Rambla, the old city's main boulevard and, according to the Spanish author Garcia Lorca, "the only street in the world which I wish would never end".

The Town of Kensington, Kensington Literary Group, and the Pauli Bellet Foundation Catalan Library, invite you to celebrate this wonderful day on Howard Ave, our "La Rambla".

The Bookcrossers of the Greater Washington DC area came to the festival with over 2,300 books and we gave away over 1,000 of them. This author was so kind as to give us a book to send out bookray style so that more readers on BookCrossing will get the chance to encounter this book.

I talked to this author and he is a wonderful gentleman and I only wished that we could have spoken longer without all of the hustle and bustle of the festival going on. This book is signed by our author friend (in English and Russian) and will be passed along to the local area BookCrossers before heading out into the world of BookCrossing. We'll announce on the forums when this book becomes available to continue the BookRay. I have a couple of books to read that are in line before this one but I am looking forward to it because I usually like thriller type books.

From the back cover:

Rebellion is the ultimate form of self expression.

Powerful transnational commercial interests manipulate the War on Terror and news media. Cynical former CIA operative John Trager's search for the truth leads him to Africa and the mysterious anthropologist Simone Loriot. Her passionate quest to save her adopted Central African country from looters of natural resources, draw Trager into a violent whirlwind of mercenaries, tribal rivalries and a traitor in the White House. Facing disaster, Trager finds his true self and reason for self-sacrifice.

I finished reading this book a few weeks ago before I moved from Waldorf, Maryland to Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.

I wanted to make sure that this book didn't get misplaced in the move so I hand carried it. In all the excitement of moving and packing and unpacking I haven't had the time to do much extra like make journal entries. I'll try to add some coherent comments about this book.

This book is quite imaginative and has a definite thriller quality to it. I always wanted to keep reading it to find out where it would go next and how it would be resolved. I think that I would have liked it lots more if I had some better background on the setting and some of the mercenary/operative lifestyle but that is not the fault of the author who described things as he should have for someone that is familiar.

The story line is complicated but not hard to follow. One never quite knows who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. I think this is true to life. Things are not always black and white there is a lot of gray area and often a person that is good does bad things or you may mistakenly think that someone bad has no redeeming qualities.

The book is filled with scenes that make you sit on edge but still laugh and scenes that make you think that it is all over for favorite characters. There is mystery and suspense, thrills and head shaking as the reader turns page after page and rarely guesses what will happen next.

I am glad that I got the chance to read this book and I look forward to hearing the comments of others.

LOCAL BOOKRING!!!

This book is part of a local bookring. That just means that I am offering it up to the BookCrossers that are members of BC in DC that I see at local meetings. There is no specific order to this bookring just bring it to the next meeting that you attend and pass it to someone that is interested in it that hasn't had it yet. The following people have expressed interest in this book:

1. melydia
2. SqueakyChu
3. bookcraver
4. ResQgeek
5. Mom-Oyster

After each of these people have finished reading it please contact crrcookie so that it can continue its travels as a mailed bookring (bookray).

Picked this up at today's meetup at La Madeleine in Bethesda, Maryland. I'm afraid I've got a couple books in front of it, but I'll read it and pass it along as soon as I can.

I'm afraid I won't be reviewing this book. I finished reading it, and enjoyed it all right, but to be perfectly honest I had so much trouble following the plot and keeping the characters straight that I can't form a coherent opinion about it. But I'll pass it along. Hopefully the next person will be able to elucidate a bit. Thanks for sharing this.

My name was on the list of local BookCrossers to share this book, and it was passed on to me at the BC meeting at Le Madeleine in Old Town, Alexandria. I'll read this soon and then pass it along to the next reader.

I was sorting through my piles of books, looking for candidates to release at the Random House Book Fair at the Carroll County Community College earlier this month, and discovered this buried on a shelf. I had completely forgotten that I had it, and when I realized how long I've had it, I moved it to the top of my "to be read" pile straight away.

John Trager wants to retire from the spy business, but he can't seem to escape his past. Vowing that it will be his last mission, he heads to central Africa to track down a former Russian spy who has gone missing. What he finds in Africa will change his life forever, as he gets drawn into a scheme to unite a new country and establish a stable, modern state in the middle of Africa.

Along the way, he falls in love, explores the wilds of Africa and finds himself in the middle of a bloody civil war. This story is well paced, with a wonderfully described setting and a complex web of characters tangled in a web of conspiracy and deceit. It is almost impossible to tell which side many of the characters are on. The tension builds to a conclusion that will surprise many readers, but which feels entirely too real. Not as predictable as many thrillers, this is a very satsifying book.

I'll try to pass this along to another local bookcrosser soon so it can continue its journey.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I've had this FAR too long, and I haven't been able to attend many BC in DC events lately and don't think I'll be able to attend many for a while, so I gave this to crrcookie to take to the next meeting and pass along.

And so this book is back with me. If SqueakyChu doesn't want to take it home (I think her TBR is out of control like mine) then I can pass it along to one of the others even if I have to mail it along.

Received this a while ago from crrcookie. I hope to have it read by the end of the year (not sure which one, though - just kidding). I'll put it near the top of the TBR mountain.

Hello! So glad you found this book. If you are new to BookCrossing, welcome! I hope you'll leave a journal entry. You can remain anonymous or join BookCrossing (it's free!).