The Foreign Service Journal, November 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2018 45 Chase the Sun Charles Ray, Uhuru Press, 2018, $12.50/paperback, $3.99/Kindle, 308 pages. This book is an historical novel set dur- ing theWar of 1812 and is the sequel to Vixen. U.S. Navy officer ColinWorth reports to the Caribbean, where hemust workwith pirate captain Elizabeth Parker and the Vixen crew.The plan is simple yet proves difficult to execute: disrupt British forces so that they cannot invade the United States from the south. With plenty of plot twists and family intrigue, Ambassador (ret.) Charles Ray once again offers an engaging take on a piv- otal time in U.S. history. Body of Evidence: An Ed Lazenby Mystery Charles Ray, Uhuru Press, 2018, $7.50/paperback, $2.99/Kindle, 140 pages. Ed Lazenby’s friends pull him into a week of camping on a remote island off Maine’s coast. While ferrying to the island, he begins to notice some potential conflicts between fellow campers. Once on the island, tensions rise, and one of the campers disappears. With a young police officer to help, Ed seeks out the killer and attempts to get to the bottom of this sinister mystery. Buffalo Soldier: The Lost Expedition Charles Ray, Uhuru Press, 2018, $7.95/paperback, $0.99/Kindle, 157 pages. Sergeant Ben Carter is sent to find geologist William Heatherton and his researchers, who are assumed to be lost deep in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. On the way there, he and his special detachment stumble upon a boy who tells them the story of a xenophobic and racist prophet who fears that Carter’s detachment is the devil’s army. Carter must face these strange circumstances while simultane- ously searching for the geologist and his team. Conquistador Ryan Peterson, CreateSpace, 2018, $2.99/Kindle, 294 pages. Central Africa, 1957. Carlos Cortez has always been a man out of place. Born in Texas to Mexican parents, he has never truly fit in anywhere. Least of all in colonial Africa, a land plagued by political turmoil and brimming with ten- sion between the ruling colonizers and the oppressed local population, with Cortez caught some- where in between. On the run from his own violent past, Cortez accepts a job to join an expedition into the deepest reaches of the Congo. Unbeknownst to him, he is embarking on a journey filled with ghost stories, danger, deceit, old enemies from the Second World War—and a treasure greater than he could ever imagine. Conquistador is a rip-roaring adventure though central Africa during the waning years of the European colonial age and featuring a formidable Latino protagonist who struggles to stay alive while living as a perpetual “outsider.” At its core, however, the novel is a poignant reflection on coming to terms with one’s past and identity that is embedded in a journey through some of the most dangerous, exotic locales on earth in search of peace of mind as much as treasure. First-time novelist Ryan Peterson joined the Foreign Service in 2011. He has served overseas in Ciudad Juárez, London and Bucharest, where he currently lives with his wife and two chil- dren. Originally fromMesa, Arizona, he worked as an attorney in public health care in Washington, D.C., prior to joining the Foreign Service. Eastern Wind Michael A.G. Michaud, CreateSpace, 2018, $9.49/paperback, $1.99/ Kindle, 218 pages. Robin Fjordane, an accomplished scientist, has been fired from her prestigious research job at an oceano- graphic institute for insisting on telling the truth about climate change. Unable to find equivalent work, Robin discovers an ally: Alan Concarneau, a sailing captain who is leading an expedition to recover rem- nants of a wooden ship that sank centuries ago.