Like most books written about a family member, this book in the end is at least as much about the author than his brother. While discovering his estranged brother's newly religious life, the author inadvertently (advertently?) really tells you a bunch about himself. And he does not come across as a particularly nice guy, at least as a younger man. As someone else mentions, the first half the book is inferior to the second, full of his whining.
Another intersting facet is how rarely the authors of such books relfect on their own lives. The author's father comes across as rigid and intolerant (typical of those on the left who preach tolerance for everything but are intolerant for those who disagree with them), a sometimes financial and marital failure. The author comes across at times as selfish and self-absorbed, lacking any roots of his own. Only the mother seems to be a decent person where her children are involved. In the end, who has the better life - Tuvia or Joshua or Joshua's father?

Joshua Hammer's book is revelatory - both of himself and his brother Tuvia. I got a real sense that Hammer's trips to Monsey were as much to define himself as it was to describe his brother Tony's move into ultra-orthodox Judaism.

Tony's move from Marxism to Chasidism was a change from one authoritarian system to another. He could just as easily become a Moonie, Catholic monk, Bahia depending on who found him first at that turmoiled time of his life.

The author's own journey was from complete scepticism and hostility to an examination of a life, at first totally ailen, and them understanding, and finally acceptance. He still, however, could not accept the complete rigidity of his brother's life.

Had it not been for his sister-in-law's Jewishness by choice and her, finally succesful attempt to bring Tuvia to an understanding of his role as a father and husband, the entire structure could have come crashing down. She also helped Hammer find some rationale for Tuvia.

In the end, however, the author realized that in finding his brother,he found more of himself and a deeper understanding of the dysfuntion in part of his family.

Joshua Hammer's journey is not yet complete. I'm looking forward to his next book

To understand his brother's flight to the outer fringe of fundamentalist Judaism, Joshua Hammer explores his own soul, and inspires his readers to explore theirs. Chosen by God is a remarkably objective reporting job: one can imagine how difficult it is to be objective about one's own family. It's an odyssey of sorts in which the author travels from Israel to Hassidic enclaves around New York City; from his teen years with his theatrically talented brother, Tony, to later visits with the bearded, dovening Tuvia his brother has become. Along the way the reader is taken into the environment that affected the two boys as they grew up: the divorce of their parents; his father's remarriage to a non-Jew; the loss of their little half-sister to a rare disease. Readers' lives will in no way resemble those of Joshua or Tony (Tuvia) Hammer, but they will gain insight into the ups and downs of their own lives, a better understanding of themselves, and perhaps some understanding of those friends or relatives who abandoned the secular world for fundamentalism. And they'll do so through a compelling story that's almost impossible to lay aside

I have been a fan of David Hagberg and Kirk Mcgarvey since High Flight. This book is slightly off the caliber of the previous efforts, but not enough to cause one to change their reading habits. The character of Osama bin Laden is well drawn and the insights one gets into the psyche of one of the world's great terrorists is compelling. Kirk McGarvey is still dealing with those in our own government who wish him no particular well, but there is always Otto Rencke, McGarvey's secret weapon, who manages, barely, to keep our hero on mission. I thought the story was fascinating and plausable until the action at the end when McGarvey attempts to stop the terrorists from setting off a small neuclear weapon at a very inoportune time and place for the President of the United States and his daughter, Elizabeth McGarvey and several thousand others. I will leave each reader to make his or her own judgement on that. One thing is for sure...as we learn in the last words of the book...there WILL be a sequel....and I will look forward to it.

Since I first read Critical Mass, Hagberg has had me hooked as a reader. I read Clancy, Bond, and others, but Hagberg seems to have more of an edge, like he's actually lived this life of covert operations. When I read Joshua's Hammer and the plot unfolded to involve Osama Bin-Laden, I was again hooked. When I learned that Bin-Laden indeed was thought to have cancer, it hit me that either Hagberg had this information through his intelligence circles well before us, or he just made a really good guess.

I believe that his dynamic, realistic writing style owes a great deal to credible research done in the field by either Hagberg or some of his unnamed associates. The Bin-Laden storyline gives further credibility to this and in my mind establishes Hagberg as the pre-eminent author of this genre.

During the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabian billionaire Osama bin Laden becomes a leader of the resistance. He uses his vast funds and charisma to fight the invaders. When the Soviets depart, the heroic bin Laden calls for a Jihad against the west. He finances terrorist activities that have killed thousands, but now prepares his most horrific scheme to date. He bought a nuclear device from one of the former Soviet Republics, planning to use the mass destruction weapon in the United States.

The CIA knows he will strike soon, but surprisingly bin Laden instead asks, through a circuitous path, for a meeting with a high-ranking agent. Deputy Director of Operations Kirk McGarvey goes to meet with the terrorist in Afghanistan, but a foul up occurs. The Americans launch a missile strike that kills bin Laden's precious teenage daughter. There is no room left for discussion as the stricken father sends an emissary to kill Kirk's daughter as well as the child of the President. Only Kirk stands in the way of an eye for an eye.

David Hagberg is one of the more interesting writers of thrillers in the new millennium. His works rival that of Clancy, Koontz, and Cornwell. With JOSHUA'S HAMMER, he probably surpassed these notable authors. The heart thumping story line is a chilling thriller that gets inside the heart and soul of its cast, humanizing a terrorist and a CIA operative. Mr. Hagberg turns the genre into his personal playing field with this realistic drama that never eases up the throttle.

Harriet Klausner