The Book: Scimitar's Edge by Marvin Olasky
:10 -- The Gist: A novel about former college roommates Hal Bogikian, a brooding newspaper columnist, and Malcolm Edwards, a womanizing university professor. About the only thing the two have in common are atheism and an affection for Malcolm's aunt, Phoebe du Pont, a wealthy Christian widow. When du Pont invites the two men and her beautiful assistant, Sally Northaway, on a tourist and archeological trip to Turkey, the four Americans become the target of a terrorist's kidnapping plot.
:20 -- The Quote: Kemal, followed by Malcolm, stormed into the tobacco shop and shouted, “Where's that lying shopkeeper?” The shopkeeper, shaking, said he wasn't hiding anything. Kemal, pulling out a heavy service revolver, asked him how he would be able to run his shop with every finger crushed. When the shopkeeper said he feared great trouble with violent people, Kemal brought down the butt of his gun on the man's left pinkie. As he howled, Kemal said, “I didn't hit your finger that hard - next time I will crush it, and all the others.” Malcolm remonstrated: “Surely you won't do that! It's barbaric.” Kemal punched Malcolm in the stomach, doubling him over, and told the shopkeeper, “I've done that to an American. Just think what I'll do to you.” The shopkeeper rushed to his file and gave Kemal the address. As he ran out of the station he called to Abdul, “Put the American in protective custody. We may have to do something else barbaric.”
:30 -- The Good: -- The plot is brisk and convincing and contains a feature often lacking in the action/thriller genre: the characters act in ways that are consistent with their characters.
:40 -- The Bad: -- Contains many of the standard faults of "Christian" novels: flat characterization, unconvincing conversions, stereotypical villains.
:50 -- The Verdict: After publishing over 20 volumes of non-fiction, Marvin Olasky tries his hand at writing fiction. The transition isn't entirely successful. Olasky excels at writing history, journalism, and politics and when he brings those talents to bear on Schimitar's Edge, the results are supurb. Unfortunately, when the tale turns away from geopolitical themes or digressions on history, the story falters. Still, it would be unfair to judge his first novel to his corpus of excellent non-fiction writings. Judged on its own merits, Schimitar's Edge is an entertaining thriller. The story also includes a fascinating glimpse into the history and culture of Turkey, which made it worthwhile reading even for a committed fiction-phobe like me.
:60 -- The Recommendation: Recommended for readers who enjoy the thriller genre. (Note: Contains scenes of violence that are strong, but non-graphic.)
Contains many of the standard faults of "Christian" novels: flat characterization, unconvincing conversions, stereotypical villains.
Funny, to me that characterizes many of the standard faults of evangelical culture. Art mimics life.
when he brings those talents to bear on Schimitar's Edge, the results are suburb . . .?
I've heard of flat writing, clunky dialogue, and purple prose, but I've never heard of leafy-green-backyards-and-station-wagons fiction before. This book must be duller than I thought.