Writ Reveal: A Clayton Haley Novel by Ethan T. Burroughs is the second installment in a series. It is an action-packed historical work set in the Middle East. Clayton Haley is back as a United States foreign service officer assigned to the embassy in Kuwait, a country recovering from the 1990 invasion. His job is to cover parliamentary elections, tribalism as a motivating political factor, succession, other internal concerns, and some external issues like Kuwait’s relations with Iraq. He is also tasked with repatriating Kuwaiti soldiers killed in action and hopefully improving relations between the two countries. He finds himself on a mission to salvage ancient Islamic writings that are reported to predate the visions of the Prophet Mohammad. Still haunted by his last assignment, he becomes involved in a new conspiracy because these writings will certainly bring the current Islamic teachings into question and threaten the delicate balance in the Middle East. The target of various assassination attempts, Haley must depend on his instincts and his green beret friends for survival. His old nemesis, the wealthy Muhsin Bin Laden, and the treacherous Ali al-Sadr have dispatched two assassins who are doggedly pursuing him. They are also interested in getting their hands on the ancient writings. Will Haley find the artifacts before they fall into the wrong hands?

Ethan T. Burroughs’ Writ Reveal is thought-provoking and fast-paced. The author has captured the details of the period accurately, making the story a highly authentic and informative read. What follows is a series of adventures that will capture the reader’s undivided attention. The characters are well developed and believable since a lot of effort went into describing the social norms, manners, customs, and traditions. I particularly enjoyed the shift in tone and diction of the dialogues between the characters coming from different countries. Well researched and meticulously written, the book blends fiction with historical facts seamlessly. As the conflict unravels, we learn more about the region’s culture. The author is knowledgeable about the Middle East and its religious ideologies and reading this book is an enjoyable way of learning more. There is no lack of suspense in the storyline and between the twists and turns, we get to know the religious, historical, and political divisions that define the Middle East as it is today. Clayton Haley’s adventures not only entertain but also try to explain the different cultures and beliefs so that readers may better understand the conflicts that persist in the region. Highly recommended!”

— Maria Victoria Beltran for Readers’ Favorite

“Reading Writ Reveal feels very much like reading a mixture of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Much like Brown, Burroughs is adept at taking historical fact and blending it with modern-day fiction. However, unlike in The Da Vinci Code, the conspiracies in Writ Reveal are far less outlandish and far more believable. Nevertheless, Haley’s character will remind readers of Ryan, and much of Writ Reveal’s contemporary political story would fit nicely into a Clancy novel.

However, Burroughs sets himself apart from Clancy and Brown in how he writes. Burroughs knowledge of and respect for the Middle East and Islam is evident in every line of Writ Reveal. Even when he is challenging Middle Eastern governments and their religious ideologies.

Burroughs deftly teaches his audience about this religious, historical, and political boiling pot without his prose ever becoming too dry. Writ Reveal is still as full of the gunfights and chases as we would expect from a book of this genre.

Writ Reveal is an excellent blend of historical and political thriller. This riveting novel will have readers of suspense and thriller novels on the edge of their seats.”

— Literary Titan

“Clayton Haley is a US foreign service officer posted in Paris. While running some background checks of a visa applicant, he soon uncovers a massive international conspiracy. But that is just where the trouble begins. The story takes us deep into the Arab ethos; the world of the Shia and Sunni Muslims. What happens when there is a gory plot to establish the return of the Messiah, the Mehdi, with a hidden agenda of global domination? Incidents from the past and the present collide into one, taking readers on a spine-chilling and revelation-filled journey.

Written in the form of a historical fiction, this riveting narrative provides an intriguing insight into Middle Eastern culture. The ease and expertise with which the author has penned this novel is simply brilliant. The simple, lucid, yet engaging flow of language makes the chapters even more interesting. While the entire narrative puts focus on political, religious, and cultural aspects of the Middle East, it never feels like a boring history lesson, rather you are desperate to know more as the plot of this suspenseful action novel propels readers forward.

The action, the touch of humor, and the impeccably woven historical backdrop– each and every element of this novel deserve to be lauded. This book reminds me of the atmosphere Dan Brown creates in The Davinci Code, but with a bit more action. As the book comes to an end, readers will be left eagerly awaiting future installments in the Clayton Haley saga.

This book is a perfect read for anyone who enjoys action or spy thrillers, and for those who harbor a special interest in the history of the Middle East. With a high level of intrigue coupled with a good amount of violence and an enthralling conspiracy, adult fiction fans will easily be swept away on this whirlwind adventure.”

— Literary Titan

“Messianic Reveal is a Clayton Haley action-packed political adventure that should be high on the reading lists of anyone who would absorb the history, culture, and politics of the clashes between Shia and Sunni forces in the Arab world.

Because these encounters are key to understanding much of what drives and challenges the historical and modern Middle East, this novel’s backdrop and easy way of absorbing the personal impact of these conflicts is especially important.

Another facet to mention before the plot is revealed is that author Ethan T. Burroughs holds personal familiarity with the Middle East, having developed connections, friends, and personally lived and worked in the region. He bases his fiction on events which are either true or otherwise widely believed as being true in the Middle East.

Clayton Haley is fulfilling his consular duties when he meets a man he thinks could be connected to the 1979 Grand Mosque siege in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

When he investigates, he uncovers a host of political connections and a plot that moves from the Middle East through Europe to affect Western and Middle East interests alike.

The more that Clayton investigates, the more he learns of a convoluted history that underlies not just modern-day conflicts, but the special challenges of his own duties: “To understand current relations, you must know history, and if you don’t mind me saying, you Americans aren’t very good history students. I think you spend more time trying to make history than studying it.”

His ignorance as well as his increasing cultural and political savvy place him in the heart of danger as Clayton comes to discover that evolving crimes hold dangerous impacts and implications beyond their singular enactment.

As hot missions, interrogations, threats, and a new assignment as a political officer challenge his growth, experience, and evolution on personal and political levels, readers gain a vivid insight into the complex mire of Middle East politics that is spiced by conspiracy in a story which becomes hard to put down.

Given the complexity of Middle East history and relationships, it’s a real achievement to be able to describe all these undercurrents of controversy against a backdrop of so much information, yet tailor it in such a way that newcomers to these details still find them absorbing. This is an intrinsic part of why the thriller component plays out so strongly and smoothly.

Messianic Reveal is a powerfully-written, fact-backed suspense story that reviews the challenges of American diplomacy and perceptions, the realities of life in the Middle East, and the special assignments and conundrums of one man who finds himself caught in the middle of it all, acting as a pivot point in a series of extraordinary encounters.”

— D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Ethan Burrough’s Messianic Reveal is a tight, well-thought-out thriller that immerses the reader in the politics, ideologies, and theologies that emanate from the Middle East. While presenting many historical facts of the region, and discussing Islamic theology from Sunni and Shia points of view, it still reads much like a book by Tom Clancy or Joel Rosenberg. All while giving a fascinating account of what it’s like to be a U.S. foreign service officer. Definitely recommended.”

— Cliff Smith, Washington Project Director, Middle East Forum

“Messianic Reveal is a winner. The historical background sets the stage for understanding the story. I enjoyed the characters—Mr. Burroughs obviously has a lot of experience interacting with these types of individuals. Government activities both at home and abroad were real and believable. The author’s effort to inform his readers concerning the complexities and authentic problems associated with the Muslim communities and the pairing of real historical events with potential ones was awesome. I have to read book two and find out what happens to Mr. Haley. Mr Burroughs successfully baited the hook with Messianic Reveal.”

— Bob Riddell, High School Bible Teacher, Northside Christian Academy

“It can happen to you! Ethan Burrough’s Messianic Reveal presents a young foreign service officer of the United States State Department going about his normal business on an ordinary day, when his curiosity thrusts him into a compelling journey. This journey takes him right into an unfamiliar but exciting roller coaster, a thought provoking, intellectual and emotional ride, swinging through the areas of law, politics, history, the spiritual and international relations of the United States and the current Middle East. Clayton Haley is his name, and Burroughs keeps the reader riding alongside Clayton. When you have time to breathe, you find so many of your presuppositions exposed as “not true”. Messianic Reveal is a must read to set the stage for the ‘what next’. There is more to come. Can’t wait for the sequel!”

— Lauren Rohini Roberts, Retired Attorney UN International Relations

“In Messianic Reveal, Ethan Burroughs draws on a deep wellspring of expertise about the modern Middle East in all its extraordinary color and complexity to craft a tale of intrigue that is exciting and suspenseful. Though a novel, Burroughs writes about U.S. actors in the Middle East⁠—from soldiers on the battlefield to the men and women who staff our diplomatic missions⁠—from the perspective of one who has, himself, both worn a uniform and served inside an embassy or two. Messianic Reveal is a riveting read, but it’s also very much an insider’s guide to the people, places, cultures and institutions that drive events in the world’s most volatile region.” ⁠

— Peter O’Donahue, U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Retired

“Ethan Burroughs’s Messianic Reveal is a potpourri of culture, images, flavors, aromas, and sounds of the Middle East. Burroughs’s descriptive story-telling authentically and artfully transports the reader to the region and accurately depicts ex-pat and local life. I was delighted by the well-paced unfolding of the plot and stayed up late many nights reading on to discover how the pieces fit together. I have lived, worked and traveled in many of the countries depicted in Messianic Reveal; yet, Burroughs provides an insightful and thought-provoking hypothesis of how history, religion and cultural variations within the Middle East interplay that I found to be very innovative. Overall, Messianic Reveal was a page-turning, exciting and intellectual adventure. I can’t wait to see what trouble Clayton Haley unearths in the sequel!”

— Paula Winchester Rank, author of Best Interest of the Child: a Parker and Price Adventure

“Truly enjoyed [Messianic Reveal] and look forward to more to come. I enjoy historical fiction based books because I learn and am entertained at the same time. This book sheds light on facts from 300 C.E to present and how complex the middle east religious and geopolitical landscape is. The author’s military background certainly helped him capture an authentic glimpse at special operations interactions.”

— David. O

“‘Writ Reveal’ is a slow, progressive banquet of surprises. The successive courses include a body of evidence, an unearthed crate, a key, and a map, with a river running by. They entice the taste buds of the mind to eagerly await the next dish. There is great variety, ancient and modern, mundane and exotic, political and religious, all sprinkled with a generous mixed-spice seasoning of characters, cultures, scrolls, palimpsests, tombs, museums , veneration and venom. Ah, the Middle East! ‘Writ Reveal’ continues the story of the meddling of U.S. foreign service officer Clayton Haley, which began in ‘Messianic Reveal.’ It’s not over yet. I say to Haley, “as delicious as this banquet was, I need more. Meddle on. Open the crate and reveal.” Meanwhile the river runs by, preserving its secret. A must read!”

— Glyn Roberts

“Ethan Burroughs has written a top-rate thriller that pulls the curtain back on American Diplomacy and the complexities of the Middle East …and specifically the Sunni/Shia world and religion. A must read intricate spy novel that weaves in the author’s astonishing grasp of history and amazing clarity of the Muslim beliefs and strategies in the Middle East.”

— Peter R.

“Reading Writ Reveal feels very much like reading a mixture of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. Much like Brown, Burroughs is adept at taking historical fact and blending it with modern-day fiction. However, unlike in The Da Vinci Code, the conspiracies in Writ Reveal are far less outlandish and far more believable. Nevertheless, Haley’s character will remind readers of Ryan, and much of Writ Reveal’s contemporary political story would fit nicely into a Clancy novel.

However, Burroughs sets himself apart from Clancy and Brown in how he writes. Burroughs knowledge of and respect for the Middle East and Islam is evident in every line of Writ Reveal. Even when he is challenging Middle Eastern governments and their religious ideologies.

Burroughs deftly teaches his audience about this religious, historical, and political boiling pot without his prose ever becoming too dry. Writ Reveal is still as full of the gunfights and chases as we would expect from a book of this genre.

Writ Reveal is an excellent blend of historical and political thriller. This riveting novel will have readers of suspense and thriller novels on the edge of their seats.”

— Literary Titan