Allah's Fire by Gayle Roper and Chuck Holton

Allah's Fire is basically about modern terrorism, the mindset of the people believing Allah wants them to martyr themselves, the devastation of those caught in their attacks, and how good people fight back.  The book starts out as two separate stories, one of an American young woman who grew up in Lebanon and is back for some journalistic work, another of an Explosives Specialist team leader in the US Army who is sent with his team to Lebanon to investigate a new kind of explosive that's been used by terrorists.  The two stories eventually mingle into one, and comes to a nail-biting conclusion.

As I've said before, I love reading about the Middle East.  It fascinates me, and I enjoy learning about different sides to a story, so it's interesting to hear some of what fundamentalists believe, and it's incredible that though a lot of women live destitute lives and feel lonely and abused, a lot of them agree with what they've been taught; that women are to be completely submissive, should be allowed to be beaten or killed by their husbands if they disobey, and shouldn't have any rights.  It's very sad, but educational and opens up my worldview.

I also really like reading military operations books.  I think very highly of men and women brave enough to protect the innocent by knowingly putting themselves at risk.  And though I know there is a lot of corruption with military personnel, and between them and governments, it is interesting to read how they get things done, the levels of classification, and even how foreign governments covertly ask for help from the US (or other) Army, but will publicly deny asking them to intervene.

Anyway, this book was a really great read, and I'm anxious to find the next one in the series.