BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON - Book review

Nelson DeMille’s By the Rivers of Babylon was published in 1978. He’d had about eight books published before this, but this was his breakout novel. 

Although written and published over forty years ago, it has chilling relevance even today.

A UN conference in New York is on the cusp of bringing peace to the Middle East. Two brand-new Concorde planes (01 and 02) have just been delivered to Israel to take about fifty peace delegates in each aircraft to the conference.

Onboard the 02 aircraft is Miriam Bernstein, the Deputy Minister of transportation, who was a child-survivor of the Nazi death camps. Her lover is Air Force Brigadier Teddy Laskov; he is flying an escort F14 plane. Among others on 02 are El Al’s Security Chief Jacob Hausner, an ex-intelligence man; General Benjamin Dobkin; and the pilot Captain David Becker.

A Lear private jet contacts the two Concorde planes shortly after they take off, advising their pilots that there is a bomb in the tail of both aircraft which can be activated remotely. The terrorist in the Lear plane is Rish, a man Hausner has encountered before. The terrorists’ purpose is to wreck the peace conference.

The planes are ordered to land next to the River Euphrates – by the ruins of Babylon. Waiting for them are over 150 Palestinian terrorists – Ashbals – orphans of the wars with Israel. ‘They’ve been indoctrinated with hate since the day they could comprehend. They reject all normal standards of behaviour. Hatred of Israel is their tribal religion’ (p159).

The tension never lets up as the Israelis crash land and, with a handful of weapons, make a desperate stand. There are heroes, cowards, betrayers and villains aplenty, and both good and bad people die...

Unputdownable.

Being vigilant

Throughout Spain on 6 January there are parades for the Three Kings (Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Gaspar of India).  This year was no exception for the main local town of Torrevieja. The three kings traditionally hand out sweets to the children.

The previous day, the three kings visited the children’s ward of the hospital and handed out presents.

This year, however, across Spain there was extra police presence.

At 6:30pm the Torrevieja police were informed of the theft of a Nissan lorry with an old number plate registered outside the area; it was stolen 2km from the town centre where the parade was held.

In rapid response, both the Guardia Civil and the local police positioned patrol vehicles at strategic intersections that accessed the town centre. Often, we’ve seen Guardia Civil with caltrops and machine pistols by the roadside, as if waiting for some miscreant. Drug smugglers are caught regularly. As are suspected terrorists.

The lorry was later found burned out on the outskirts of the town. At some point the lorry had swerved off the road, driven into a gully and hit the perimeter wall of an urbanisation. A few witnesses saw the accident at 2am; two young people left the vehicle and ran off after setting fire to the cab.

It’s highly likely that the lorry was stolen by joy-riders – who could have still caused injury or death. It’s heartening to realise that the forces of law here are organised and ready for action, and willing to think the unthinkable. Here, at least, lessons seem to have been learned from the atrocities of Nice and Berlin.

Jihadis bound for Britain

In the news recently there have been voices of concern raised about Islamic State terrorists sneaking into Europe amidst the thousands of refugees crossing the Mediterranean.

In 2006 I wrote the short story ‘Adopted Country’ and it was published in an English magazine in Spain, and this tale posited this very real threat from Islamic terrorists. Here are some excerpts:

On a clear day like today, I felt I could almost reach out and touch Africa. I stood alongside my brother, Juan, on the seashore of Tarifa, Spain’s southernmost tip. Juan was the Guardia Civil officer supervising the capture of yet another boatload of illegal immigrants.

       Earlier, squinting out to sea as the Guardia Civil launch intercepted the over-laden longboat, Juan had said, “It isn’t surprising, Leon, is it? North Africa is only fourteen kilometres away from where we stand. They want an easier and better life here in Europe so they’ll risk everything in the attempt.”

…

A week earlier, I helped break up an al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Torrevieja. It wasn’t the first of its kind, nor would it be the last, though perhaps these deranged murderers would think twice about setting up shop in this area. There were forty officers involved and five suspects were arrested—three Algerians and two Moroccans. Three houses and two commercial units were searched, netting twenty kilos of cocaine, a variety of weapons, false documents and €15,000 in cash.

…

These people are not pleasant. The majority are cowards. They’re quite content to brainwash their form of cannon fodder while skulking in shadows, killing innocents by remote, all in the name of a truly warped view of a great religion.

…

Nowadays, illegal immigrants slipped into Spain through the airports on short term work or holiday visas, and of course never left. But al-Qaeda knew that the airports were watched. So, for over a year they’d been sending their best fanatics over among the boatpeople.

***

'Adopted Country' is one of 22 cases concerning half-English half-Spanish private eye Leon Cazador, ‘in his own words’ featured in Spanish Eye, published by Crooked Cat Publishing.

Amazon UK paperback currently at a giveaway price (£1.10)! -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Eye-Nik-Morton/dp/1909841315/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1431873201&sr=1-2

Amazon Com e-book(currently $3.34, a bargain!):

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Eye-Nik-Morton-ebook/dp/B00GXK5C6S/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431873150&sr=1-6&keywords=nik+Morton

 

 

Amazon UK e-book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Eye-Nik-Morton-ebook/dp/B00GXK5C6S/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431873201&sr=1-2&keywords=nik+morton

Amazon COM paperback:

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Eye-Nik-Morton/dp/1909841315/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-6&qid=1431873150