Strait of Hormuz - Davis Bunn Review

 An under-the-radar phone call from the U.S. State Department puts Marc Royce once again on assignment—ferreting out rumors of a clandestine operation stretching from Asia to the Mideast. At stake is Iran’s threat to blockade the narrow Strait of Hormuz, cutting off vital shipping routes and escalating global tensions beyond the breaking point.

Under the guise of investigating money laundering via high-end art purchases in Europe, Royce finds himself in Switzerland with only sketchy information, no backup, and without a single weapon other than his wits.

His appointment with a gallery owner in Geneva is a dead end--the man is on the floor with a bullet through his chest. But it turns out Royce does have backup. The Mossad has sent someone to keep an eye on this undercover op, which is of more than casual interest to the Israelis. And it's someone Royce knows...

My Review

“You must ask the one question I have spent my entire life running from.” Rhana’s gaze was a burning flame.  “You must ask which direction will lead you closer to God.”
Marc Royce is back and author Davis Bunn once again captured my senses as he took me on a new journey of reconnaissance, romance & faith. The last (really?) of the trilogy, one could read each as a stand-alone novel. But why? Just like Lion of Babylon and Rare Earth, Strait of Hormuz will catch you up in a page-turning race to reach the end of the book where all the pieces of life’s mystery fall together.

I was drawn into the story as Bunn wove each character in and out of the tapestry of the rich and beautiful to the dangerous and harrowing moments of international espionage. From prominent art gallery, yacht and luxurious resort to high sea adventure and car chase you will find yourself on the edge of your seat as Marc and the woman he secretly loves zigzag their way through an intricate plot unrevealed until the end. Davis Bunn has a gift of interlinking suspense with God's plan, redemptive nature and hope for each individual person. I love un-wrapping each and every story. You will too.

I received a complimentary copy of Strait of Hormuz from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Read Chapters 1-3 of Strait of Hormuz for free

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About Davis Bunn
Davis Bunn is a four-time Christy Award-winning, best-selling author now serving as writer-in-residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Defined by readers and reviewers as a "wise teacher," "gentleman adventurer," "consummate writer," and "Renaissance man," his work in business took him to over 40 countries around the world, and his books have sold more than seven million copies in sixteen languages.

Strait of Hormuz is the series finale of the popular Marc Royce Adventures. Library Journal named Lion of Babylon (Book 1) a “Best Book of 2011.”  Rare Earth (Book 2) won the 2013 Christy Award for best suspense novel and was a CBA top 20 best-seller.

Pictured: Davis Bunn and his wife, Isabella Bunn.

 

Q & A with Davis Bunn
Q: This story includes two special components from your early life. Tell us about them.
DB: My mother worked as an antiques dealer. In truth, ‘work’ was not really the correct term, because this was a passion she inherited from her mother. They bonded while my mom was still a child, going to small eastern Carolina towns and hunting around junk stores for the sort of bargains that don’t exist anymore.

Their first love was early Americana, a type of colonial furniture known as Jacobean that predated America’s nationhood. I never really shared this passion, but in two previous books I came to respect and admire those who do.

And so I knew a great delight in re-entering this world in Strait of Hormuz, only this time at the very highest end. Strait takes place in the rarified world of multi-million dollar art, where the richest of collectors vie with museums and galleries for items that are no longer classed as antiques, but rather as treasures

The second special component was the location. I lived in Switzerland for almost five years, and many of the venues were places where I worked, and walked, and came to discover myself as an author.

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Help Davis Bunn celebrate the publication of “Strait of Hormuz.” Enter to win His & Hers Luxury Swiss Watches or a $150 Amazon Gift Card! http://woobox.com/ipi8wk. You can enter once per email address per day. Rack up bonus entries by sharing the contest with your Facebook and Twitter friends!

Twitter users: Here’s a ready-made tweet for you:  Win His & Hers luxury watches or $150 Amazon card http://woobox.com/ipi8wk. Celebrate 'Strait of Hormuz' with @davisbunn.

Q: How can readers find you on the Internet?
My website and blog are at www.davisbunn.com
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Beyond the word cancer

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."  Romans 5:3-5 NIV

I talked to one of my best friends this afternoon.   We’ve been friends for many years.  Through thick and thin.  Good times and Bad.  Today I shared all the details of our jaunt across Kenya.  Everything.  All the laughter and tears, the bittersweet moments of holding broken children, the old friends and new, each road and what it was like this time, each church, each person…everything I could think of.  

I told her how many people were praying for her even across the world…speaking life into her body, now wracked with cancer.  She should have been with us, but instead was fighting the good fight.  We didn’t talk much about the chemo or the pain or the loss of waist-length thick hair. We refuse to play into the hand of the enemy.  No, we zoomed by it and spoke instead of what life will bring tomorrow, next week, months and years from now.  Each word a dynamic press towards abundance.  

I’ve been down this path before with a loved one. Yes, cancer demands our attention.  It sucks the joy out of us and attempts to replace it with false bravado.  But God.   There is nothing false in Him.  There is joy in the suffering.  I breathe deeply and pull out the memories of a time gone past, looking them over one by one.  God’s grace is sufficient for each of us to embrace and come out the victor.  All those many years ago He sent His son to take the stripes & if you wipe away the tears to look closely you will find there are so many miracles woven through the fabric of anguish.  So many moments God’s hands reach down to hold them up when we cannot, offering the tender care of a future, just as promised…a future and a hope.  Divine marvels captured & clung to.   

So we caught up on all the news of the past few weeks, giggling over the silliness of life and the people in ours.  We made plans for our next conversation, our next visit & our next trip.  We hugged as only old and dear friends can over a phone line.  And I wept.  For what she must endure.  That I can’t be there for her.  For how she will be changed.  And yet God.  Our amazing and wonderful creator.  He will bring alongside her those that love beyond words, laugh through the tears and intercede with the Heavens…and with it healing.  

Today was a hard day.  I battled the line between whose report to believe and chose to act on the report of the Lord.  The stand came through tears.  I had to pull it out of myself.  It’s never pretty when you desire to be so perfectly staunch in God’s word and find a glitch, but Kingdom mentality won.   The Heavenly picture of my Father’s home brought the manifestations of grace to create with my friend new memories to look forward to. 

Life.  That in abundance.  For eternity.

The Farm

Walking the farm today, rivulets of sun-drenched warmth rolled down our foreheads soaking the hair on our necks.  Children came from their huts following us, asking questions in an unknown language but kids are kids everywhere.  A hug, a warm smile and a hand to hold is all they need or want.  They tagged along part way down the road to the fish ponds & then ran off to finish their play.  We continued on with our dear friends, exclaiming over the beauty of the land, the growth of the crops and extent of the fish farms.  In our hearts we were astonished. 

Years ago, when we first began to visit the Ochuro’s of Bungoma, there were a small Bible College and the beginning of a Children’s Home housing a few street kids and fewer total orphans.  The desire was there but the funds were not.  Yet there was a dream in the heart of the man and woman God had put in this place.  A dream to build and become the hands and feet of Jesus.  They began with 1 greenhouse and from that developed 5; all of them providing enough tomatoes to feed the students and sell at market.  With that they began to purchase land, then a well, then a seed farm, then some vegetables as well as 22 fish ponds and now we are walking 7 acres of corn, rice, Maringa trees, soy, peanuts & sukamawiki.  7 acres that even the neighbors eat from.  7 acres that house and employ his family.  7 acres bringing enough finances to keep the children fed, clothed and in school as well as run the bible college & church on very few donations.  In Africa you don’t count on too many contributions as there is not a lot to give. 

There is more to do.  There are more children to save from life on the streets; more Pastors’s to graduate from school, more churches to start (over and above the 350 they have started in Kenya and the surrounding countries) and more lives to bring to Christ.  So as we walked the farm today, we reveled in the wonder of hearts turned completely away from self and focused on God’s desire.  

We learn something every day.  Today we learned God equips those He calls; one just has to keep their ear to His lips, be obedient to His whispers & not be afraid to act.