Rare Earth by Davis Bunn - REVIEWED

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Rare Earth Bethany House Publishers (July 1, 2012) by Davis Bunn

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Born and raised in North Carolina, Davis left for Europe at age twenty. There he first completed graduate studies in economics and finance, then began a business career that took him to over forty countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Davis came to faith at age 28, while living in Germany and running an international business advisory group. He started writing two weeks later. Since that moment, writing has remained both a passion and a calling.

Davis wrote for nine years and completed seven books before his first was accepted for publication. During that time, he continued to work full-time in his business career, travelling to two and sometimes three countries every week. His first published book, The Presence, was released in 1990 and became a national bestseller.

Honored with three Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, his bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Warning, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt.

A sought-after speaker in the art of writing, Davis serves as Writer In Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Marc Royce stares out of the helicopter, a sense of foreboding rising with the volcanic cloud. Below, the Rift Valley slashes across Africa like a scar. Decades of conflicts, droughts, and natural disasters have left their mark.

Dispatched to audit a relief organization, Royce is thrust into the squalor and chaos of Kenyan refugee camps. But his true mission focuses on the area's reserves of once-obscure minerals now indispensable to high-tech industries. These strategic elements--called rare earth--have inflamed tensions on the world's stage and stoked tribal rivalries. As Royce prepares to report back to Washington, he seizes on a bold and risky venture for restoring justice to this troubled land.

But this time, Royce may have gone too far.

My Thoughts:
I haven't completed this novel, but I must share with you that I am reading an autographed copy I received from the author's hand at the International Christian Retail Show! What a thrill for me - a reader that has been reading his words for more than a decade!!

Davis Bunn creates very strong characters in all of his stories, and Rare Earth is no exception.  From the very first pages, Marc Royce's life is on the line as he tries moment by moment to make wise decisions that will allow him to live into the next moment! This is a VERY fast paced story!!  And there are so many layers to the situation encountered by Royce, that at times, it's a real challenge to keep it all straight!

I haven't reached the conclusion yet, but I imagine it will be as breathtaking and thilling as all I have read to this point!  If you want to read at a franctic pace, and miss a few hours of sleep, Davis Bunn and Rare Earth is a story you don't want to miss!

If you would like to read the first chapter of Rare Earth, go HERE.