Kabul24 - Arnold and Pearson 2009

9/11 is a date fixed indelibly in the mind of the world. Millions throughout the world stood transfixed at the horror that unfolded before their eyes. Two days earlier the West's great hope for Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, was assassinated by a bomb built into the video camera of a fake cameraman. While the world and Afghanis reeled the repercussions were impossible to guess for a much smaller group.

Eight western members of Shelter Now, a Christian relief agency had already spent more than a month as the abducted prisoners of the Taliban which then ruled Afghanistan. As the declared intention of the US to launch a punitive strike on Afghanistan became clear their status changed from prisoner to hostage and part of the Taliban's human shield. Another two months would pass with the dangers mounting day by day before their story concluded. Time after time like those on Paul's shipwreck they gave up all hope of being rescued, and yet time after time, hope arose as they prayed.

They had put a complex prayer before God. They asked for a perfect rescue in which no life, either of hostage or captors would be lost. The intricate way in which God answered this extraordinary prayer is the story of Kabul24. Eight Christian westerners, two men and 6 women were kept, for the most part, in separate parts of various prisons and contact was very sparse. 16 Muslim Afghan employees of Shelter Now were also arrested and incarcerated in even more hideous conditions. Eight westerners and 16 Afghans - the Kabul 24.

This is a gripping story expertly told and will have you on the edge of your seat as you read and yet is by no means theatrical in the telling. I read this book at a single sitting and when I put it down my wife picked it up and read it a single sitting. The skill of the writers never obtrudes into the story but carries the story faithfully through the captives personal descent into a modern equivalent of Dante's inferno.

We see, said Paul, that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and and are the called ones to his purpose. That "working all things together", synergy in Greek, is the distinctive fingerprint of a sovereign God. This book will frighten you and encourage you. "God" said the Puritans, "only gives dying grace in the dying hour." I know of no modern equivalent to illustrate that truth to compare with Kabul24. This is a 'must read' modern missionary classic.

As a blogger with a book review blog, I review books for Thomas Nelson. I am required to review them honestly and receive no incentive to review them positively. This book was provided free of charge by Thomas Nelson.