Falcon Down is an action packed spy thriller written by C.H Cobb. To be honest, Cobb hit my soft spot with Spy Thrillers. I love the action, the heroes, and the world of the spy. Not surprisingly, Cobb falls into the traditional spy-thriller novel quite well; he has a strong central character that works in the government, practically like a spy and ends up using his skills to rid the world of a different nations evil plans. Even more intriguing, however, is the internal struggle of the character.

Falcon Down
Falcon Series 1
by C.H. Cobb
Doorway Press
June 2013

Major Jacob Kelly is the spy-like figure and main character of the book. While working on a top-secret mission, his unarmed aircraft gets shot down. Open being captured, Kelly has to use his training to withstand torture and, ultimately, escape from the both the compound and country of his captors. It’s an action packed book, which left little room to be bored. Despite his amazing skills, Kelly struggles with the act of killing people. Although he feels he must, his conscience often pricks and prods him, telling him that it’s wrong. This internal struggle is vital throughout the entire novel.

Despite my overall enjoyment of Falcon Down, there were some minor aspects about the book that I hope will be resolved for any subsequent parts of this series. First off, the format of the book was tiresome; within chapters there are numerous dividing lines that section off different ‘scenes’ or ‘narratives’. This is a stylistic aspect, without question, but I firmly believe that Cobb would have had a more effective story had he elaborated on many of the scenes to form their own chapter and or nixed some of the shorter scenes. The many divided sections within a chapter, though at times useful, became too abundant and created what felt like unnatural breaks within the story. Even without that reason, however, I would still vote for fixing this up somehow just to keep the story more fluid and less choppy.

Secondly, it is evident that Cobb is a pastor and he is aiming to talk about Jesus in some way within the novel. It came as a pleasant surprise, however, when I barely noticed any talk about Jesus or religion. This is not to say that I do not advocate talking about Jesus; rather, I believe many fictional works written by Christians could become more successful and effective if they do not overtly talk about Jesus (think, for instance, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S Lewis). Eventually, Cobb did talk about Jesus through some of his characters dialogue. But, it really did seem forced into the story. I’m not creative enough myself to think of a way in which Cobb could have subtlety made his message about Jesus clear, but I’m sure there is one. Sometimes, as an author, the best thing you can do is show instead of tell. It is clear that Kelly has an internal moral struggle, so maybe a more effective way of communicating the gospel through this book would be to probe into the characters heart and mind more deeply, showing how he comes closer to a conversion to Christ through his actions and internal debate. All in all, it’s a minor issue, but one that would have gone a long way for me had it been resolved from the beginning.

It’s with happiness that I recommend Falcon Down to anyone who enjoys an action packed story. You will be excited and on the edge of your seats throughout the entire book. For myself, I’m looking forward to the next part of the series and would enjoy reading the sequel!

Michael Krauszer is the owner/founder of Christian Literature Review. Currently he is a senior at The College of New Jersey, working to complete his BA in English, along with attending Veritas Evangelical Seminary for his MA in Theological Studies. If you’re an author and would like him to review your book, contact him at [email protected]

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.