Australian Author Receives Powerful Endorsement from Jerusalem

May 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Esteemed internationally as a man of peace, Jerusalem’s Rabbi David Rosen praised Adelaide novelist James Houston Turner for the way he balanced religious and political sensitivities with unrelenting suspense in his latest thriller, The Identity Factor (Comfort Publishing).  Rabbi Rosen is an International President of the World Council of Religions for Peace; an Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews; has served as a member of the Advisory Committee of the World Congress of Imams and Rabbis of the World Economic Forum's C-100 (a council of 100 leaders formed for the purpose of improving relations and cooperation between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds); was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to interfaith relations in the Middle East and between Israel and the U.K.; and serves on the Executive of the World Council of Religious Leaders. In a personal letter to the author, Rabbi Rosen said, “Dear James. I enjoy a good thriller when I get the opportunity. Your entertaining book has a hopeful, reconciliatory subtext and I applaud your spirit. I am sure you have considered it, but I think it would make a very good movie.”

“I knew I was walking a tightrope when I wrote The Identity Factor,” says Turner of his novel, which not only addresses current Arab/Israeli tensions in the Middle East, but challenges the traditional view about the origin of Genesis. “Normally credited to Moses, Genesis is actually a collection of more ancient documents,” he goes on to explain. “By comparing Genesis to other ancient Near Eastern documents such as ‘The Code of Hammurabi’ and ‘Epic of Gilgamesh,’ Genesis divides itself naturally into separate historical documents, with the author of each document identified in its colophon, which is a specific type of internal literary phrase.”

And this is where Turner's research provides the basis for an explosive thriller that is already being compared to Jason Bourne and The DaVinci Code (Blogcritics Magazine, Apex Reviews, LA’s the Place magazine). Even the notorious Abu Fayed, played to perfection by the accomplished actor, Adoni Maropis, in the hit television series, 24, lauded Turner's book: "I love a great villain. Great villains demand great heroes and The Identity Factor has both."

"Adoni was right," says Turner from his home in South Australia. "The villain defines the hero, and because the villain in my book is Middle Eastern, I paid special attention not to make him a fanatical stereotype responding to a hackneyed stereotype of the current political and religious climate. And yet I can't ignore those realities. They need to be addressed, yet in a way that is fresh and not contentious. Rabbi Rosen’s endorsement is confirmation that I’ve succeeded, at least to a degree. My novel postulates how a terrorist like bin Laden could escape the clutches of the US military time and again. It raises the bar of possibilities from fiction to fact in light of repeated claims that he actually had help in Washington."

The Identity Factor opens with the discovery of the tablet by British archaeologist Sir Edmund Clayton in the Sinai Peninsula in 1919. Clayton is then murdered and the tablet disappears, only to resurface in modern-day Cairo, where the CIA learns the phantom terrorist, Abu Nazer, plans to steal it. Because the tablet could detonate war between the Arabs and Jews over the ownership of Palestine, the CIA is understandably keen to identify and stop Abu Nazer. But no one knows where he is, much less who he is. A headstrong rookie profiler is hot on Abu Nazer’s trail, but soon discovers her worst enemy may actually be herself. The Advertiser's Samela Harris (News Ltd) calls The Identity Factor, "One of those searing, cliffhanger books that simply defy you to put the thing down."

eBook review copies of The Identity Factor are available now from Comfort Publishing (http://www.comfortpublishing.com), and later this year in print.  Contact Rob Hamilton, Marketing Coordinator.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of Kansas, James turned to writing fiction as a result of his years as a smuggler behind the old Iron Curtain. He has been on a KGB watchlist, organized secret midnight meetings with informants, located hidden mountain bunkers, and investigated legends of forgotten tunnels beneath the cobblestones and bricks of some of Central Europe’s most venerated cathedrals.

In 1991, James was diagnosed with cancer, but having neither health insurance nor the $200,000 needed for an operation, was refused treatment in San Diego, where he was living at the time. He flew to Australia, where for $17,000 doctors removed a tumor the size of an orange from his face. The odds of his surviving eighteen months were not good. But he beat those odds, and in April, 2011, celebrated his twentieth anniversary.

A former journalist in Los Angeles, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Baker University and a Master’s Degree from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. He and his wife, Wendy, a former triathlon winner, live in Adelaide, South Australia.

You may visit James Houston Turner at his website: http://www.jameshoustonturner.com.

eBook copies of The Identity Factor are available from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/The-Identity-Factor-ebook/dp/B004TO...