Jason Elam /Steve Yohn - Blown Coverage - 2

[StefanY]

Blown Coverage /Riley Covington Thriller Series /2



If you're into action/thriller books where suspension of belief is a must, this could be an enjoyable book. The authors have come up with a fairly action-packed storyline and maintain tension throughout the novel. My problems with the book come from how the book is presented and the portrayal of certain peoples in the book that I find inexcusable.

So, how is this book presented and what are my issues with this representation? Starting with the cover art; I have an early reviewer copy with different cover art than the mass market version, but both covers portray the same thing...FOOTBALL. I knew that this was an action/thriller from the blurb on the back, but I did expect there to be some involvement with actual football throughout the book. Besides the main character being a linebacker/special ops military guy (I told you to suspend belief a bit) and some of his acquaintances also being professional football players, the amount of football involvement in this book is VERY minimal. The beginning seemed promising as the readers are presented with a pretty good scene involving the draft day team war room and a controversial draft decision. Besides that, Riley (the main character) attends one team meeting which he is ushered quickly out of for the good of the team and one practice. All this in an almost 400 page book with an action shot of a football player on the cover!

From this point, we'll move on to the misrepresentation of the book from the blurb on the back. The blurb does a fairly good job of describing the general plot of the book, however nowhere in the blurb or on any of the cover information anywhere is this book depicted as Christian reading. The only hint that this book may have religious themes is in the author blurb for Steve Yohn who is a minister. I have no real problems with Christianity or Christian literature, but if I wanted to read a book focusing on Christianity, I would specifically seek out that book. Throughout the book the main character struggles with his faith, constantly offers prayers to God, and has to decide whether or not to pursue a relationship with a woman of another faith. I also found the constant allusions to characters swearing instead of actually printing the dialog to be very childish and distracting.

Now to my main issue: the portrayal of the characters of the book of middle-eastern heritage and/or Islamic faith. Besides two characters in the book who are obviously set up to assuage our feelings that the authors have no prejudice against those who follow Islam, every character of middle-eastern descent in the novel follow stereotypical American values about middle-eastern people. The majority of the middle-eastern characters who live in the U.S. are involved in a sleeper cell. They appear to be hard-working, well-liked individuals who have preyed upon American trusts and are merely biding their time until they are awakened to reign terror upon the populace. I find this incredibly disturbing. As if racial tensions are not high enough in the current state, let's plant unreasonable distrust of anyone who happens to be of middle-eastern descent upon the readers of this book. As if this portrayal is not bad enough, the author's who have disdained cursing of any kind through-out the novel constantly refer to their middle-easter adversaries as hajji's. As far as I can tell, this is a very derogatory term similar to using the 'N'-word when referring to African-Americans. I find this to be extremely offensive and totally unacceptable from someone who is trying so hard to show their high levels of Christian faith.

Anyway, the storyline is really not that bad, but the other problems that I had caused my total dislike of this book. I don't recommend it to anyone.

Have you read this book? Click here to rate it!

[laurie]

As if this portrayal is not bad enough, the author's who have disdained cursing of any kind through-out the novel constantly refer to their middle-easter adversaries as hajji's. As far as I can tell, this is a very derogatory term similar to using the 'N'-word when referring to African-Americans.

If the authors are using "hajji" as a derogatory term, it's probably because they have no idea what it means -- or, for whatever reason, their editor/publisher wouldn't let them use the more common slurs against Muslims.

A hajji is a Muslim who has made the Haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the spiritual requirements for believers in Islam. Those who have fulfilled the requirement are allowed to use "Haj", "Haji" or "Hajji" as part of their name as an honorific title similar to a knighthood's "Sir".

Far from being insulted, a Muslim would be extremely proud to be called "Hajji".

[StefanY]

Military personnel use it much differently than you describe. It's a term that they use to refer to all of middle-eastern descent in a derogatory manner.

Quick definition from Wikipedia: Hajji has become a catch-all slang used by American service members for any Arab person, and is often meant to be insulting (such as "gook" during the Vietnam War).