Martin Roth is a veteran journalist and foreign correspondent whose reports from Asia have appeared in leading publications around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and The Guardian. He is the author of many books.
His Brother Half Angel international thrillers focus on the persecuted church. They feature Brother Half Angel, an abrasive former military man who heads a clandestine new military order that is dedicated to fighting for the rights of persecuted Christians around the world.
The five books in the series are “The Coptic Martyr of Cairo,” “Brother Half Angel,” “The Maria Kannon,” “Military Orders” and “Festival in the Desert.”
He is also the author of the Johnny Ravine private eye series, with “Prophets and Loss,” “Hot Rock Dreaming” (Australian Christian Book of the Year finalist) and “Burning at the Boss,” and the Feisty Ferreira series of financial thrillers – “Tokyo Bossa Nova” and “The Kalgoorlie Skimpy.”
He lives in Australia with his Korean wife and three sons.
Brother Half Angel
A military operation gone tragically wrong. An elite commando loses his forearm. The angel tattooed onto his arm is sliced in half. And the man acquires a new nickname.
Brother Half Angel is the leader of a secret new church military order, dedicated to helping Christians under attack around the world.
In this book, the first in the Brother Half Angel series, he is dispatched urgently to China, where an underground seminary is under siege from fanatical sword-wielding members of a local cult who still pay homage to the bloodthirsty extremists who tried to expel all foreigners from China in the nineteenth century.
But at the same time the seminary has its own internal divisions. The director, Uncle Ling, a hero of the underground Chinese church, holds secrets that he cannot reveal.
And now the tensions are threatening the marriage of idealistic young American missionary Daniel Westloke and his wife Jenny.
Relentless suspense is the hallmark of this gripping thriller.
But it is also a book that raises serious questions – how far can Christians go to defend themselves? When should they turn the other cheek? What happens when a Christian kills in self-defense? And should those who live by the sword really expect to die by the sword?
Q&A with Author Martin Roth
Martin Roth is the author of numerous books. The Kindle edition of his novel “Brother Half Angel” is part of a special promotion from December 1 to December 16, reduced in price from $3.99 to $0.99.
* Please tell us about “Brother Half Angel.” In particular, where does the title come from?
Brother Half Angel is the name of the book’s hero. He’s a very abrasive Korean-American military man who lost his forearm in a mission that went tragically wrong. The angel tattoo on his arm became just half an angel, and hence his name.
He is now the leader of a secret new church military order, dedicated to helping Christians under attack around the world. In the book he is dispatched urgently to China, where an underground seminary is under siege from fanatical sword-wielding members of a local cult who still pay homage to the bloodthirsty extremists who tried to expel all foreigners from China in the nineteenth century.
* And this book is part of a series, is that right?
Yes, it’s the first in a series of international thrillers. So far there are five in the series, each taking place in a different part of the world.
* Are they just an exciting read, or are they something more than that? Do they have a message of some kind?
They definitely have a message. I am very concerned about the issue of the persecution of Christians, and the books focus on that. I am trying to show readers that persecution is a living reality for Christians in many parts of the world.
So the first book in the series, “Brother Half Angel,” looks at China. The second, “The Maria Kannon,” is about North Korea. The third, “Military Orders,” is not so much about persecution, though it does discuss religious freedoms in Tibet. And the fourth and the fifth books are about Muslim persecution of Christians in Africa and in Egypt.
* Do Christians in the West care about all this persecution that is taking place?
A lot do. But sadly I also think that some Western Christians really do not understand how many of our Christian brothers and sisters – particularly in the Muslim world – are facing levels of persecution that are almost as bad as at any time in history.
In countries like Egypt and Syria, where the church has existed for many centuries – long before the Muslim religion even came into being – Christians are being forced out of their homes and are being forced to flee. I hope my books might raise awareness of these issues.
* Please tell us a little about your own background?
I’m a long-time journalist. I lived in Tokyo for 17 years, much of that time working as a foreign correspondent. It had always been my dream to write novels, and now I’m living in Melbourne, Australia, with my family, and I’m fulfilling that dream.
* How can people buy your books?
I have an Amazon page (https://www.amazon.com/author/martinroth) and my own website (http://www.authormartinroth.com).
But “Brother Half Angel” is part of a special promotion being organized by a writers’ group of which I’m a member, the John 3:16 Marketing Network. Not only is it reduced in price, but if you go to a special landing page between December 1 and December 16 (http://www.john316marketingnetwork.com/christian-book-launches/) you have the chance to win prizes.
Christian Authors: Book Launches 