Detained

Written by Don Brown

Narrated by Stephen Borne

A man and his son dreamed of America’s freedom, but the dream became a nightmare when they ended up at Guantánamo Bay.

Hasan Makari and his son, Najib, both Lebanese nationals, have dreamed of the day they would experience the shining freedom of America. But when they arrive in the US, they are arrested, accused of terrorism, and incarcerated at the Guantánamo Bay Prison Camp in Cuba, all on false charges. Suddenly, they face the nightmare of death by execution.

Their only hope is Navy JAG Officer Matt Davis, who has been assigned to the case of his life—to defend the Makaris in court at Guantánamo Bay. Matt believes his clients are innocent, but he faces monumental opposition—not only from powerful federal prosecutors with a huge agenda and an unlimited budget, but also from the woman he loves who, as a fellow JAG officer, has been ordered onto the prosecution team to convict the Makaris.

As the drama unfolds in Cuba, Emily Gardner, a top-ranking TSA lawyer, has just received a larger-than-life nomination as General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. While preparing for confirmation by the US Senate, she discovers a shocking scheme that will turn her life upside down. Can Emily expose the truth in time to save the lives of those being accused—and escape with her own life? Somewhere between the war-torn plains of Northern Lebanon and the secret torture chamber of Guantánamo Bay lie the keys to justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jul 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9780310364641

Don Brown

Don Brown is the author of Thunder in the Morning Calm, The Malacca Conspiracy, The Navy Justice Series, and The Black Sea Affair, a submarine thriller that predicted the 2008 shooting war between Russia and Georgia. Don served five years in the U.S. Navy as an officer in the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps, which gave him an exceptional vantage point into both the Navy and the inner workings "inside-the-beltway" as an action officer assigned to the Pentagon. He left active duty in 1992 to pursue private practice, but remained on inactive status through 1999, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He and his family live in North Carolina, where he pursues his passion for penning novels about the Navy. www.donbrownbooks.com Facebook: Don-Brown  

Reviews for Detained

[nadinec.keels · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Intrigued by the commanding cleanness of the book cover, I picked up Detained by Don Brown, a military and political thriller in which Hasan and Najib Makari, a father and son from Lebanon, are wrongly accused of terrorism against the United States.I appreciated the believable humanness in characters like Matt Davis, a Navy JAG officer, and Emily Gardner, a TSA lawyer: flawed individuals still with striking qualities I rooted for. The racist ignorance of some of the agency officers got under my skin, making me all the more anxious to see what would become of the Makaris. And a little ways after I passed the unputdownable point that propelled me through the rest of the novel, the haunting, painfully fitting prayer of a Lieutenant Commander Garcia echoed right into my core--"Lord, if it is possible, take this cup from me."Now, I did have to get over a number of the exclamation points. It's just a style preference, but in modern adult novels, especially in ones handling serious subject matter, it gives the drama an over-the-top feel when a third-person narrator essentially shouts (!) at the reader, rather than reserving exclamations for the characters' dialogue. Also, there's a lot of phrase repetition that doesn't appear intentional; some of the comments characters make aloud, particularly a few from Secretary Strayhorn, don't really come off as natural, seeming mostly to the purpose of spelling issues out for the reader; and the narrator steps away from storytelling for a few paragraphs early on to explain Navy jets and aircraft carriers in present tense, which consequently pulled me out of the story as well, for a moment.Still, overall, the author effectively makes a case for truth, justice, and faith in this engaging novel, and I've every intention of picking up the next book in The Navy JAG Series whenever it releases--hopefully sooner than later._________________BookLook Bloggers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.