Ishmael Covenant (Empires of Armageddon series) by award-winning author, Terry Brennan - from Kregel Publishing [Giveaway]

My thoughts: This is quite an interesting book. For me the first half was a slow read simply because keeping track of the characters was somewhat daunting. Also, understanding the geopolitical and religious factions and implications developing was difficult for me to keep straight and understand.

Basically, the premise of Ishmael Covenant is an agreement between Arab states and Israel granting land back to Palestine, agreeing to joint protections in case of attack, and granting the Israelites a portion of Jerusalem to built a temple.

Woven into this mire of politics is a mysterious box that holds a prophesy and also has power to strike dead anyone who touches it that doesn't have the Aaronic blessing bestowed upon them. 

A couple of the characters in this complex story are eerie, mysterious, and evil in bearing and in being.

You have strong defenders in United States Embassy teams as well as Israeli security forces. Combined, these are forces with which to reckon. They fulfill their responsibilities quickly and successfully.

Over all the complexities of this story, there is interwoven individual faith and the strength it gives to them to face each day no matter what the obstacles.

The book ends with a cliff hanger and you hope the publisher will soon release a sequel so you can see what results with the Ishmael Covenant and what happens to the mysterious box and its message. 

About the book: His marriage in tatters and his career ruined by lies, Diplomatic Security Service agent Brian Mullaney is at the end of his rope. Banished to Israel as punishment by his agency, he's assigned to guard a US ambassador and an insignificant box. Little does he know that this new job will propel him straight into a crisis of global proportions.

Inside the box is a messianic prophecy about the fate of the world. And a dark enemy known as The Turk and the forces of evil at his command are determined to destroy the box, the prophecy, and the Middle East as we know it. When Ambassador Cleveland gets in the way, his life and his daughter's life are threatened--and Mullaney must act fast.

Now agents of three ancient empires have launched covert operations to secure nuclear weapons, in direct defiance of the startling peace treaty Israel and its Arab neighbors have signed. And a traitor in the US State Department is leaking critical information to a foreign power. It's up to Mullaney--still struggling with his own broken future--to protect the embassy staff, thwart the clandestine conspiracies, and unmask a traitor--before the desert is turned into a radioactive wasteland.

Fans of Joel C. Rosenberg, Steven James, and Ted Dekker will relish the deadly whirlpool of international intrigue and end-times prophecy in Ishmael Covenant--and will eagerly await the rest of this new trilogy.

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About the author: Terry Brennan is the award-winning author of The Sacred Cipher, The Brotherhood Conspiracy, and The Aleppo Code, the three books in The Jerusalem Prophecies series. His latest release, Ishmael Covenant is the first in his new series, Empires of Armageddon.

A Pulitzer Prize is one of the many awards Brennan accumulated during his 22-year newspaper career. The Pottstown (PA) Mercury won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for a two-year series published while he led the team as the newspaper’s Editor.

Starting out as a sportswriter in Philadelphia, Brennan became an editor and publisher for newspapers in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York and later moved to the corporate staff of Ingersoll Publications (400 newspapers in the U.S., Ireland and England) as Executive Editor of all U.S. newspaper titles.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given. Giveaway is hosted by publicist who is responsible with publisher, Kregel, for sending winner's copy.