Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Thursday, October 16, 2014

Jack Reacher withTom Cruise--Good Movie

I was looking for a movie to watch on Netflix the other day, and decided to watch Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise. It was a good movie. Jack Reacher turned out to be a pretty cool character. And that's what I like in movies. A cool main character who's a great hero. That's why I liked most (but not all) of the James Bond movies, the Clint Eastwood Man with no Name movies, and the more recent Jason Bourne movies with Matt Damon, and the Transporter movies with Jason Statham. They all have a cool main character who knows how to fight and how to be cool. They're great heroes.

I did like Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible movies, but Jack Reacher isn't a spy. He is an ex military man, though, and uses those military skills to get to the bottom of murders which he at first thought were committed by someone he knew in his military days. He hooks up with a defense lawyer whose father is the prosecutor, btw, to uncover the facts in the case. And wouldn't you know, this defense lawyer is a real hot chick. No, really, she's beautiful. A very beautiful blond woman. But that's okay. Who said a woman can't be a good defense lawyer, and also be a beautiful blond woman? I say it's possible, so let's run with it.

And run with it Tom Cruise does. Sure there's romance brewing between Jack Reacher and the defense lawyer, but why shouldn't there be? After all, the blond lawyer is young, single, and did I mention very beautiful? And, of course, Jack Reacher is the perennially eligible bachelor! So, there you go. A perfect setting for a romance. BUT--the movie does not focus on romance. It focuses on the case, which is getting to the bottom of the murders. Jack Reacher does, and that's the plot of a very well written story.

Btw, I'll admit to envisioning these two actors playing the roles of Trent Smith and Samantha Jones in my book Killer of Killers. They may not be perfect for those roles, but the way they handled the roles in Jack Reacher proved they would have worked well in Killer of Killers, too.

As for the movie Jack Reacher, it's intriguing, engaging, full of action, and never boring. I liked it, and I might even put it up there on my favorite movie list which includes Transporter, Bourne, and Bond. Yeah, it was that good. At least to me. Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise--good movie.

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