What a crazy romp through a possible end-times scenario. (apparently I have 2 more books to read to see how this Islamic chaos plays out). Oh, I will read them - I'm addicted now.This tale is kind of like the Left Behind Series. But focuses totally on Islam and it's 12th Prophet type Messiah BUTTHEAD. Sound ludicrous??? Not to many of the Muslims I have chatted with: they are totally looking forward to a religious world leader who will FORCE the rest of the planet to embrace Islam...or we at least will be peasant slaves to the superior Muslim populace - it is a Religion Of Peace after all "Cough, gag!"If in doubt: go read some Muslim literature - this crap really is in their agenda. Mr. Rosenberg isn't just pulling this stuff out of his Alphabet breakfast cereal. Just for fun: go do a search on youtube. But on to the good stuff,This is obviously a Christian novel with a few Christian heroes thrown in for GREAT measure, there's probably an atheist or two - but they get killed by the Muslims. (YES< I'm incredibly biased towards the good guys...and girls.) Speaking of such: did everyone know that the Holy Quran only mentions ONE woman by name, YES - Mary the Mother of Jesus. Why would any woman want to be a Muslim? You are barely a minor character in your own history. Here's a bit of advice: "Your god ALLAH doesn't like you very much, he only sees you as fodder for MEN. Even your men get sexual Houris in paradise (next to the flowing river of wine that is). What do Muslim women get??? A few Muslim men told me good Muslim women get to be at the front of the sex line. Every Muslim woman gets mad at me when I bring this topic up... yet it's a fact of their religion. How dumb is that. Houris are mentioned throughout the Quran - and YES I HAVE READ THE WHOLE THING. The Quran also mentions having 4 wives is an option: Surah 4:3"And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one or those your right hand possesses."We wouldn't want to be unjust now would we??? YES, it appears Allah doesn't particularly understand human women, or love for that matter. The Twelfth Imam character shows this perfectly: He talks of love and peace - but it's all propagandish Crap for the gullible. Often that is all it takes. So sad.But this is an exciting story Joel Rosenberg has delivered. (I don't think he has a Muslim friend left on the planet NOW!) This book is a little bit James Bond, a little bit Odd Thomas, and plenty of Stephen King, and a smidge of Billy Graham. It's easy for some people to assume a story like this has no foundation in reality BUT: Joel has done his homework, he even includes numerous events throughout the series that actually happened. To ignore or ridicule this story is to say that millions of Muslims are NOT trying to fight/kill/bomb/unhead/conquer many portions of this planet on their religious quest for world domination. Here in Canada we have had two Muslim killings THIS WEEK! So this issue is very close to home. Yesterday a Muslim murdered a soldier at the Canadian Parliament and then got his head blown off. (Not many Muslims seem to perfect the getaway plan concept. That works in OUR favor.)But Muslim people are not the problem (I have met many wonderful loving Muslim folk), the problem is ISLAM itself. Good people stuck in an evil worldview is a fixable difficulty. As Joel Rosenberg's book shows: many Muslims are becoming Christians after they realize the true nature of Islam/Allah/Muhammad. So there is always hope for people. If you know a Muslim please pray for them. If necessary; read a book called SEEKING ALLAH, FINDING JESUS by Nabeel Qureshi. A fantastic read.My wife refers to this book as the 12fth Omar. Yeah, close enough. Well, you can't help complimenting the week in which you get to read too many novels and actually when you get to read two heart-thrilling novels within two days of time without any disturbance and interruptions. It's a rare occasion in my life that I read a book that's almost 500 pages but when the book is about something that you always wanted to know or of the genre that you always wanted to read, it takes no time for you to go through all the pages in the least time possible. Yesterday I read Bankerupt by Ravi Subramanian that totally surprised me with its perfectness and today I am done with "The Twelfth Imam" by none other than the International Bestseller- "Joel C. Rosenberg". Well, the cover says "The New York Times Bestseller". It is said that a novel shouldn't be judged by its cover page but I think my view about this novel right from when I got my hands on it has not been wrong. :-) The novel is as intense as its cover page. Synopsis:What if the Islamic Messiah Comes to Earth? What if The World Waits too long... and Iran Develops Nuclear Weapons? Tensions are rising in the Middle East. Irans president vows to annihilate the United States and Israel. Israels prime minister says someone must hit Irans nuclear sites before its too late. The American president warns against a preemptive strike on Irans nuclear facilities and says negotiations are the key to finding peace. And amid it all, rumors are swirling throughout the region of a mysterious religious cleric claiming to be the Islamic messiah known as the Mahdi or the Twelfth Imam. Word of his miracles, healings, signs and wonders is spreading like wildfire. CIA operative David Shirazi was born for this moment. He is recruited and sent into Tehran with one objective: use all means necessary to disrupt Irans nuclear weapons program, without leaving American fingerprints and without triggering an apocalyptic new war. But time is running out.The Twelfth Imam is the first novel in a new political thriller series by Joel C. Rosenberg, the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning Last Jihad series. Rosenberg takes you inside a world few will ever enter, hold on to your seat - the twists and turns never stop coming.About the Author:- Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967) is an American communications strategist, author of the Last Jihad series, and founder of The Joshua Fund.[3] An Evangelical Christian, he has written five novels about terrorism and how he says it relates to Bible Prophecy, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Ezekiel Option,[4] along with two nonfiction books, Epicenter and Inside the Revolution, on the alleged resemblance of biblical prophecies and current events. He and his wife, Lynn, have four sons and reside near Washington, D.C. The book gives you enough goosebumps to understand why it has been written with such deep research and articulating it with current conditions of the countries it has talked about. Though the book is fictitious but somewhere its the truth in which we are living today. I am quite guilty when I say that I can't review all the things that I have read in 500 pages but I shall give you an overview of my feelings after reading this book. There are very less book that are written on terrorism which really enthralls you and fortunately, this is one of them. Actually, this is more than that. It is a book which can be like an autobiography for many living in the countries that are always at radar of the super-power countries. The communal mentality that has rotten everyone's soul is discussed terrifically in this book. Some incidents can make girls vomit because of the high violence that it describes. :-) Powerful hearts like me will enjoy such incidents as these are the souls of this book. Right from the first page, the tension between the parties, communities and segments were discussed which keeps the book focused on the topic at which it is purposely written. The book is divided into parts which makes it little easy to consume otherwise it could have been little hard to understand things. Well, I appreciate the writer's initiative to mention all the characters before starting the book which makes it easy for us to refer them if we are reading the book after taking certain gaps. I must say that pick this book only if you can digest it otherwise if you are possessive about your religion, better skip it. Well, still read it because the book is lot above that. I would give this book 4.25/5. Thanks. ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!