Born in the United States to an Iranian father and Jewish Christian mother, Joseph knows little about his father's home land until, as a young teen his father decides to move the family back to Iran. Once there Joseph finds himself in an environment that is hostile toward women, Americans, Christians and Jews. He learns quickly to keep is citizenship and his faith to himself or face imprisonment, torture or death.

Friends begin to disappear. There are reports of the girls being tortured and murdered and the young men - as Joseph soon finds out - being abducted into the militia. One afternoon Joseph and a friend are thrown into the back of a car and forced to become "volunteers" in the Hezbollah.

(Hezbollah is Arabic meaning Party of God. It is a military organization formed in 1982 to fight the Israelis and financed by Iran. The United States regards it as a terrorist group.)

Joseph is forced to endure mental and physical torture and to witness horrific acts against those considered the enemy as well as against those chosen to be martyrs. This is all in an attempt to indoctrinate him and the other young men into becoming devoted followers of the Hezbollah cause. The only thing that keeps Joseph going is his secret faith in God and his love for a woman whom he is determined to protect.

Escape The Hezbollah is the story of Joseph's life in the Hezbollah, his fight to maintain his faith in God and his daring escape and harrowing journey back to the United States to safety.

I was carried off with Joseph's story from the first chapter to the last and very impressed by the amount of research involved in the writing of this book. Every scene is taken from actual events. It is both educational and inspirational. Every American Christian who is comfortable in his faith and in his home should read this book.


Escape The Hezbollah is the winner of the 2010 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year. Its author Pola Muzyka is an accomplished award-winning television, commercial and corporate writer. She researched and translated work for four-time Academy Award-winner Danilo Donati, who described her work as the most extensive research ever done on a film. This is Ms Muzyka's debut as a novelist and combines her talent as researcher and dramatic writer.

This book was supplied to me by the author for review, free of charge.
It can be purchased through Amazon.com.

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