Enemy In The Room

Enemy in the Room is a riveting, well woven story that combines mystery, faith, terrorism and moral dilemmas. For the person of faith, I believe you will see yourself in one or more of the characters and be challenged to examine your values and priorities. The reality is that there are enemies around us, whether we identify them as such or not, and we can be complicit and stand for nothing or be brave and stand for something. I especially enjoyed meeting up with characters from Hudson's previous work, On the Edge, and seeing how they had matured as followers of Christ and the challenges they now faced as Christians in a very morally void workplace. I was encouraged to see how their convictions led them to certain decisions. Whether we agree with those convictions or not, it is refreshing to see people taking a stand for what they believe in. Great work!

I enjoyed the book. I felt the characters were well developed, believable and all tied into the story. I would consider the book to be Christian fiction. That was fine with me as I am a conservative Christian myself but I don't recall it being classified as such and some people my be put off by the strong Christian theme. Of course others will enjoy it for the same reason. Anyway the book includes financial wheeling and dealing, personal and family relationships and problems and terrorist plots - something for everyone. And I felt all these different parts of the story were tied together well. I didn't notice a lot of editorial errors. I found the writing to be readable and the pace was good for me.

After reading On The Edge and The President, I was not going to miss out on Enemy in the Room. This book starts out faced-paced and puts a lot of characters in front of the reader very quickly. However, as the story develops, the characters all come together and you soon feel like you are in their midst with your emotions going up and down with the events of this compelling story. Among all of the characters and scenes, there is one strong underlying truth in this book and I highly recommend everyone read it to find that truth for themselves. Jim Traner

No question this story kept me reading. However, I also found it very disturbing. I have friends and colleagues who are of Middle Eastern descent and who are practicing Muslims. I have always prided myself in accepting them as the individuals they are, choosing not to assume they are evil just because they are Muslims, not Christians. As I read this story, I found I had to keep reminding myself that this was a work of fiction, not non-fiction. Mr. Hudson's tale makes it seem as if ALL Muslims have but one goal -- to destroy America and install Sharia law throughout the world. He makes the story one of Allah vs. God, where Allah/Islam is 100% evil and God/Christianity is 100% pure. And he does it in a way that makes you start questioning yourself if you trust ANYBODY who is Muslim. I am not so naive as to believe that there are not imams and others who are indoctrinating Muslims to rise up against those they see as infidels. But my own Christian upbringing did not teach me to distrust first and ask questions later, nor to judge all on the basis of the behavior of the ones on the fringes. I certainly would not want Muslims to judge me as a Christian on the basis of the fringe pastors/Christian groups we see regularly on the TV screen -- pastors like Pat Robertson, and Terry Jones, groups like Westgate Baptist Church who spew forth words of hate and intolerance over and over again. In the Afterword, Mr. Hudson concludes, "Our culture is a moral and spiritual vacuum, created by a constant media/government drumbeat against faith in general, and against Christianity in particular, the faith which was foundational to America." I do not disagree that America's British and European settlers were declared Christians. However, the Native Americans they encountered (and displaced!) were not. The Brit/European settlers came here for religious freedom, not to be persecuted for their beliefs. And, our founding fathers explicitly established the notion of separation of church and state. So I am not buying Mr. Hudson's line of thought. I respect his right to his opinion; I simply do not agree with it. We definitely can, and have, done better as a country than we are these days, but I don't believe that the followers of Islam and Allah are at the root of the problem. Yes, this book kept my interest. But, no, I am not likely to read any more of Mr. Parker's books and I would be unlikely to suggest his books to any of my friends.

Not since Frank Peretti's writings, have I found a novelist who creates such an intriguing plot line that I just have to turn the pages to find out the conclusion of the story. And not since Joel Rosenberg's multiple series of novels have I found an author who can combine political intrigue with current cultural happenings. Hudson does both. I highly recommend this novel, although you'll need to read The President, in order to understand the continuing crossover plot line, more fully.

Enemy In The Room takes you through modern day intrigue and doesn't let you set the book down for long! Parker Hudson quickly develops his characters keeping your mind clear to weave your way through the plots and stories within stories. Just when you think you know exactly how this one will work out, you find you were wrong. This was my third Parker Hudson suspense novel and I wasn't disappointed !