Midnight in Syria: A real-world Pentagon-approved tale of courage, romance, and resilience

By Jacek Waliszewski

"A modern day American romance set in the deserts of Syria during a civil war captures the human spirit of grit, determination and the unyielding heart as it finds love."

This fast paced, page-turning story is best read on a weekend so you don't have to put it down. Jacek, himself a US special forces green beret, draws from his own experiences to take the reader through a fictional account of a risk taking female journalist's determined attempt to get another high end news story. It lands her in an unknown hotel in the middle east where she is trapped from escaping to safety while the city is under attack.

Told from the point of view of both the journalist, Dakota, and a well trained special ops soldier, Owen, whom she meets along the way, they barely pull off a complicated getaway to flee a country under seige. Their tumultuous relationship tips back and forth between withholding and testing each other, to curiously and cautiously moving toward each other. Strained by life threatening barriers and relying on their own smarts and audacity, the couple finds an eventual pattern of survival in the desert, culminating in the tents of a Bedouin community that takes them in at the final hour. We are privy to the modern insecurities in Dakota as she tries not to fall in love and the philosophic soldier who blends his logic with his openness to love in a "I've got nothing to lose" situation.

The author softens the harshness of the situation with narrative interludes that describe the animal life on the ground scrounging around to get by, despite the invasion of war machines and the violent doings of the human beings. Interspersed in the story of destruction are heartfelt human vignettes of a Syrian family's love for each other, and the kindness of the Bedouins toward outsiders. It reminds us to stay true to our humanity above all else.

Midnight in Syria is an homage to the double life of a trained warrior who seeks to find a way to hold on to his purpose in the opposing realities of survival and destruction, making the best of both worlds without censure or self deprecation. The journalist learns to release stoic ambition and keep her self respect in the aftermath of a harrowing journey that yields to finding sanity again back home.

"Story telling at its best with fast paced adventure, doses of hubris, head nods toward kindness, and playful tenderness in the throes of danger."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CFWVV9G5
• ISBN13: 9798389371101
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"