The Foreign Service Journal, November 2022

42 NOVEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Foreign Service Officer Hadi Deeb is currently posted in Kuwait with his family. He has served in Mexico City, Moscow, Baku, Manila, and Tashkent. Deeb is also the author of The Black Forest (2019), A Banker’s Tale (2018), and The Haven (2017). The Negotiator’s Cross Kenneth Dekleva, independently published, 2022, $17.99/paperback, e-book available, 150 pages. Diplomacy, crime, and mystery combine in Kenneth Dekleva’s debut novel about a Catholic priest caught in the cross fire of an international geopolitical conflict. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Father Ishmael “became a priest both by accident and by calling” after serving in the military. When one of his parish- ioners goes missing, Father Ishmael’s past vocational skills are called upon by the local authorities in Mexico City, where he has been preaching to a community of primarily ex-patriots. Before long, he is swept up in the thrilling pursuit of information and individuals linked to a complicated array of criminal activities fromMexico to Russia. Bestselling author Paul Vidich calls The Negotiator’s Cross a “magical story … [that] speaks to the emo- tional wisdom of listening to one’s heart while moving through a dangerous and uncertain world.” Kenneth Dekleva, a former member of the Foreign Service, is a practicing psychiatrist in Dallas, Texas. From 2002 to 2016, he served as a regional medical officer/psychiatrist with the State Department in Moscow, Mexico City, New Delhi, Vienna, and London. He is also a senior fellow at the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations and a professor and director of psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Kansas Kaleidoscope Mark G. Wentling, Wild Lark Books, 2022, $19.99/hardcover, e-book available, 186 pages. Growing up in small-town Kansas has its charming moments—community turtle races and soap box derbies, little league games, and Western film matinees. But for young “Marky,” adolescence also comes with a series of confusing and harrowing experi- ences that test his courage and conviction as a young man. Years of explosive altercations between his parents lead his mother to abruptly uproot him and three of his six siblings. Ulti- mately, the boys find themselves in the foster care system and a life of indentured servitude on a desolate farmstead. Marky weathers this with uncompromising fortitude, maintaining his academic performance and involvement in school sports against all odds, until one day, an iconic acquaintance from his past catches up to him by surprise. This coming-of-age novel offers a stirring portrait of an individual, a place, and an era. Mark G. Wentling retired from the Senior Foreign Service in 1996. During his career with USAID, Wentling served as mission director in six African countries and has spent time in all 54 countries across the continent. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he both volunteered and held leadership positions with the Peace Corps. Wentling is a regular contributor to The Foreign Service Journal and has published eight books, including a three-volume Africa Memoir (2020). He now resides with his family in Lubbock, Texas. Writ Reveal: A Clayton Haley Novel Ethan T. Burroughs, Morgan James Fiction, 2022, $16.95/paperback, e-book available, 288 pages. The 2022 winner of a Silver Literary Titan Award, Writ Reveal is the second installment in Ethan Burrough’s Clayton Haley series. The novel picks up where Messianic Reveal left off, with Haley entering a new phase of his diplomatic career in Kuwait. The exhumation of human remains near the Iraqi border leads him on a challenging journey to salvage ancient writings hidden during the Mongol siege of Baghdad in 1258. With the aid of longtime Green Beret and intelligence colleagues, Haley skillfully evades angry mercenaries in his determination to uncover politically and religiously inconvenient truths. “In Writ Reveal , Ethan Burroughs weaves a web of real history and smart fiction, with captivating action, and a professional’s eye of how governments and societies work in the Middle East,” says Clifford Smith, Washington director of the Middle East Forum. Ethan Burroughs (a pseudonym) is a U.S. Army veteran, political consultant, former teacher, and current member of the Foreign Service. He has studied and served in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories. His interest in the history and cultures of the region as well as his appreciation for the unsung patriots he has worked with there are driving forces behind his writing.