Ulterior Motives by Mark Andrew Olsen

When an al-Qaida email is intercepted, promising a New Year's Day attack on America, it leads to the capture of the group's leader. But even under fierce interrogation, the terrorist clings to his jihadist beliefs and resists divulging anything of the threat. Desperate, the Army resorts to a contingency paper that proposes to break a subject's resistance by inducing a religious conversion. One hitch: the top-secret attempt must be masked as an offer of clemency, and must rely on a completely innocent mentor, a so-called witness who is unaware of the project's true aims. They find that witness in Greg Cahill, a disgraced FBI agent who has since turned to Christ and serves in a prison ministry. Lured by an offer of restoration, as well as the lifting of a restraining order that's keeping him from seeing his son, Greg begins an unlikely friendship with a man the entire country despises. Despite himself, he begins to share his faith--yet with a combustible result unforeseen by either himself or his government handlers.

This was a book that I can honestly say I enjoyed reading. However it wasn't without it's problems.
I feel that the author could have explored the feelings of his characters more. I myself enjoy emotional stories very much. This book had the potential to be EXTREMELY emotional, but, once again, I feel the author didn't do a very good job of conveying the characters emotions.
That being said, it wasn't a bad book. It wasn't a great book, but it certainly was an interesting plot. It is a story of the ultimate forgiveness and I feel that book was very clear in showing the power of God's Forgiveness.

All in all: It was a little unrealistic. It didn't explore what the characters were feeling enough. But it did have action, suspense, a plot that kept you interested, and a good message.

I give it 2.5 stars.

Offworld by Robin Parrish

Christopher Burke and his crew of NASA astronauts are the first human beings to walk on the surface of Mars. Their return to Earth was supposed to be a momentous day. But a surprise is waiting for them there that's beyond imagining.
Safe after a treacherous landing in Florida, the crew emerges to find the unthinkable: every man, woman, child, and animal has vanished without a trace.
It's not a dream.
It's not a trick.
It's real.
Alone now on their home planet, the crew sets out to discover the extraordinary secret behind the disappearance of mankind. And whether or not everyone can be brought back.
But they may not be as alone as they thought.

This is the first stand-alone novel that Robin Parrish has had published. His previous novels are Relentless, Fearless, and Merciless, which make up the acclaimed Dominion Trilogy. He is an excellent author and his novels are very well written, but if you want to read his stuff, and I recommend that you do, start with the Dominion Trilogy.
Offworld was very well written and kept me captivated... until the last 20 pages or so. I was constantly wondering what was going on and couldn't wait to find out what caused the human race to disappear. But once it was revealed and I thought it was wrapped up rather nicely, the author took another turn and I don't know why. He revealed this piece of information that didn't need to be revealed and it ruined the ending. It ruined it because it was never fully explained and it didn't even make sense.
I hate that I must give a perfectly good book a bad review because of one imperfection, but when the book is over the only thing you can think about is this ONE problem.

It had it's problems, as most books do, but all in all I can say that I enjoyed Reading the book. It's not a high-octane thriller, but it most certainly has its fair share of suspense. Both in story and event.

I am going to give it an overall 3 stars. If you like suspense this is one you may want to pick up, but if you like thrills and a "complete" story... Skip this one.