Empire of Lies; Book of Truth.

I’ve always loved to read. It’s relaxing. I read a lot – mostly tech books, but I try to read some recreationally, both to relax and to expand my horizons. I was watching Glenn Beck on Headline News a couple of weeks ago, and he had author Andrew Klavan on, pitching his latest, Empire of Lies. Sounded interesting, so I filed it away to a slot on my list of “books I want to read.” This past week, I thought about the book, but had a hard time remembering the name or the author. It finally dawned on me that I could use Amazon’s “if you like this book you might also like” feature to find it. Sure enough, I was able to remember the general look of the cover. I’m not always into instant gratification, but for some reason, I really wanted to read this, and I had some time on my hands, so…

I went over to my local Hastings. Now living here in Amarillo (Centrally Located Between Two Oceans!™), we have what we locals refer to as the Hastings Mothership (it’s not just a Hastings…it’s the World H.Q. for Hastings, Inc.) Pretty nice store, and usually well-stocked. They have several tables full of “new releases.” Nope. No luck. Went to the computer. Looked like a book they didn’t have in stock. Strike two. Went to the front counter, and asked if any of the other locations might have it. Nope. Strike three, and they’re out. So I called our local Barnes & Noble, and bingo – they had a copy.

As an aside, I find it interesting that both our major book chains here in the Panhandle are run by corporations that have either admitted publicly or privately to being quite liberal, politically. I always find it difficult to reconcile someone’s “progressive” beliefs with capitalism and commerce, because so much of liberalism centers on the “evils of business,” and how corporations are evil, yada, yada, yada. So I find it interesting to note that the “new books” tables at both companies promote new books that largely take a liberal view of things. The books that are of a more conservative mindset need not apply. Sure enough, Klavan’s book was nowhere to be found in the “just arrived” or “new books” sections. I was able to get them to hold a copy for me, so I did purchase it that night.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, I quickly discovered why they might have been disinclined to promote the book or even give it a cursory visibility. It’s a riveting read, it’s unashamedly conservative in it’s outlook, and the hero is a flawed but committed Christian. Not a radical, mind you, or some kind of wild-eyed evangelical or fundamentalist, but just a committed Christian.

I don’t want to give away the plot – after all, it is a political thriller – but I would like to mention a couple of things that I found really interesting. First of all, the hero has a sordid past, but was able to find Christ and turn his life around. That right there makes for a minor miracle in a novel in this day and age. The norm today is to cast your hero as a Christian who is tempted and strays, usually becoming a hypocrite along the way.

Second, the hero is human. All to often, if a writer isn’t going to make a mockery of a character’s faith, they go the opposite direction, turning them into a Christ-powered saint. Not here. This protagonist struggles more than once with breaking his marriage vows, caught up in the desire for another woman. Each time, he’s able to stop himself before breaking his vows, and each time he is the better for it. But that doesn’t stop him from wondering about the path not taken. How bloody refreshing is that?

Third, he does not beat around the bush in dealing with the subject of radical Islam. In fact, he makes some rather pointed observations about not only Islam, but of the current trend in Hollywood and the “mainstream” media towards automatically condemning anyone who fails to sing from the hymnbook of multi-culturalism and diversity.

Lastly, it’s refreshing to see a man – a Christian man – humanized in such a way. The protagonist is someone that you could actually imagine knowing, or for that matter, actually being. He is no Dirty Harry/John McClain/Superman, but acts, reacts, makes mistakes, gets lucky, and in the end seems like an ordinary man who does extrordinary things for the most familar of reasons.

If you’re a conservative, you’re going to love the book. If your a liberal, read it anyway. You’ll be shaking your head (violently) throughout, but if you’re open-minded at all, it just might give you pause to consider the consequences of policies that prevent us from defending our country in the name of religious sensitivity.