A Patriot's Act

Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series, Book 2

By: Kenneth Eade

Narrated by: Patrick R. Golden

Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

This fast-paced, action-packed thriller will challenge everything you believe about justice and freedom. It begs the question of what exactly patriotism is - blind allegiance to authority or standing up for what is right as guaranteed in the US Constitution. It's all about delicate balance of power and experience - something gone awry, and something explored through intimate descriptions.

Brent Marks, the lawyer from the number-one best-selling financial thriller Predatory Kill is called upon to seek justice for an innocent client held prisoner in Guantanamo Bay.

When a naturalized American citizen turns up missing in Iraq, Brent Marks fights the Goliath US Government's Patriot Act with its own constitution. Santa Barbara accountant Ahmed Khury responds to the plea of his brother, Sabeen, a suspected money launderer in Iraq. Before Ahmed realizes what has happened to him, he is sent to Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp as a suspected terrorist and is subjected to torture to extract information he doesn't have. The courtroom drama mounts as the drama outside the courtroom explodes, and when murder, corruption, and cover-up enters the picture, nobody, including Brent, is safe. This political thriller novel will challenge everything you think about patriotism, the war on terror, civil liberties, and freedom.

©2015 Times Square Publishing (P)2015 Kenneth Eade

Author presumes America is another Nazi regime

...you might enjoy this novel.

I love the premise of this novel. An American of middle eastern dissent is mistakenly arrested as a spy while visiting a brother in Iraq. He is sent to Cuba, where his rights are ignored and is subseqently tortured. A legal battle ensues to free him. All of this seems plausible and very well might have occurred.

There is no question abuses by US personnel occurred at Guantanamo. However, the author falls victim to all or nothing thinking as he relates the story.

In the first few chapters of this book, the author clearly assumes everyone hates George W Bush and considers him stupid. Everyone. He is adamant that Guantanamo is exactly like the Nazi prison camps, and assumes it is a foregone conclusion everyone agrees.

I found his writing childish and petty, despite the fact his premise was clever.

The narration was lacking emotion and very dry.

Great powerful story!

Of this is going on in out country, I am not shocked although I I would be outraged. The story was intense and told well, it was so intense and sad. The Curry family deserved so much more and I liked the ending!

Fiction that reads like fact...

Any additional comments?

Two things about this book:
1. All of this authors books were given One star by one buyer who did not leave a review. Most of the books in this series stopped right there. I almost passed this book based on that single one star.
DO NOT PASS THIS BOOK UP!
2. This is a FANTASTIC book! It is based on a naturalized US citizen who is wrongly suspected of terrorism. His home is illegally searched, he is arrested and taken out of the country to Guantanamo where he is tortured endlessly.
The author presents this beautifully. Our hero Brent Marks takes on the case following a catastrophic event and the court room drama that follows is heartbreaking. When the guards from Guantanamo are questioned they of course give very reasonable and "acceptable" answers. It them flashes back to the reality of the situation. One example: when asked if the prisoner was given sustenance answer - Yes. The reality was that he was that he was shackled to a chair, his head restrained with belts and he was force fed with an nasal gastric tube shoved forcefully down his nose and throat.
The narrator is Patrick R. Golden. I have never heard of him before however he did a super job, his accents sounded genuine and his characters were easily distinguishable.
This book deserves to be heard. I also really liked that at the end of the book there is about 10 minutes or so of facts used to back up this fictionalized story.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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Dishonesty for political purposes!

I have noted several times in reviews here that readers/listeners are able to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy fiction. This novel takes that literary license too far by linking the author's notes at the end to the story to the story of the novel. The key claim of the book becomes that at least one US citizen has died at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility. There are also several other major factual errors including the nature of forced feeding and mock executions at the facility (both did occur but not as gruesomely described in this book). The author's notes should have explained that the book over dramatized the situation rather than implying the book details were factual.

I have major issues with the USA Patriot Act as it was passed and as it has been reauthorized several times since. I believe most of the act is unconstitutional.

The fact is that in the 15 years since Guantanamo has been used as a prison in the "War on Terror" exactly one US citizen was held there and it was temporary. His name is Yasser Hamdi. Hamdi was born in the US to Saudi parents and moved to Saudi Arabia as very young child. He did not return to the US until after he was captured in Afghanistan as an adult. He was immediately moved to a North Carolina facility when his citizenship was determined and was later released. He did not die in prison. No US citizen ever died while in custody at Guantanamo and only one was held there briefly. The extensive author's note does nothing to correct that. As a result of that and other gross exaggerations, the story is a lie represented as the truth. I goes far, far beyond literary license. As a result the novel is political garbage.