★★★★☆

By Jeremy Kroeker, RMBooks.com

Rocky Mountain Books

ISBN: 978-1-927330-74(-6) paperback (-3) epub (-0) epdf

Paperback: $20.00 (CAD) Kindle: $14.99 (CAD)

Fans of the book, Motorcycle Therapy, will look forward to Jeremy Kroeker’s latest work, Through Dust and Darkness, currently being readied for distribution. It’s a damned good read, but I hope the publisher rewrites the cover notes, because the prerelease version somewhat misleads one into thinking it’s a religiously slanted story. Although the author examines and debates certain Muslim and Christian behaviors along the way, his dialog is that of a journeyer… an observer struggling for objectivity who is, if anything, re-examining life and the prepackaged answers of his upbringing.

Indeed, like many travelers who leave the comfort of their native lands to explore the world, Kroeker seems to inherently understand that one must shock the conditioning of his childhood by immersing himself into other cultures—the more foreign the better.

This book ostensibly covers a ride from Germany to Lebanon on the author’s trusty KLR650 (who beckons to the name, “The Oscillator”), and then a belated trip from Tehran to Mashhad in northeastern Iran. But, it’s really more of a raw look at life from an on-the-road-traveler perspective, that can’t help but be honest and rewarding to the reader. This is good stuff—“Stranger in a Strange Land” material—like being plopped into a completely alien environment, where few things seem familiar. It’s also a very well written and coherent account, mixed with Jeremy’s self-deprecating sense of humor carrying the story in a way that keeps you chuckling with the turning of almost every page.

Through Dust and Darkness is yet another in a series of well-written and insightful reads that have been rolling off the presses as of late. Do yourself a favor, pick up a copy, or load one onto your Kindle. You’ll thoroughly enjoy it.