Customer Reviews

Faith Among Shadows

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Just finished this book yesterday. I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it. As Malcom goes through hell he is always aware there is something more. The spirituality of his grandmother was amazing. She knew exactly what truth was, and with incredible detail. Her spiritual insights were amazing. When Malcom found it, he knew he had found exactly what she had been teaching him his entire life. This is an amazing search, and how it comes to a conclusion is heart warming and sincere.

My daughters heard Malcolm Leal speak and after hearing their stories, my teenage son asked for his book for Christmas. He loves it! Very inspirational. It was a good price in great condition. Thanks!

I happened to meet the Author at a book signing and was intrigued by him and his story so I bought the book. Being a former Marine sniper myself with two years in Nam, I wanted to check this out as a product of the Cold War from the US side. I was not disappointed and found this book to be an amazing story of an individual and his grandmother and the love they shared. The lessons she taught him as a child and continued to reinforce throughout his life. It gives tremendous insight into life in Cuba and how similar we are and how different. It also throughout gives you a glimpse of life under communism, the dirty little wars around the globe we and they were involved in and an upfront and personal view of the fall of the Berlin Wall and its aftermath and the change it brought immediately. And it ends with the Author finding Christ in a most unlikely place. Outstanding read!

I picked this book up a few months ago thinking that it would be a fairly light read. I had no idea how compelling this story is and how it would impact my life in so many ways. What an incredible woman his "Abuela" must have been. I regret that I did not have the opportunity to know her. I had the opportunity last week to listen to Malcolm Leal speak for an hour and a half and wished it could have been much longer. I will never forget this story. I have loaned my copy and it doesn't look like it will make it's way back to me very soon so I am ordering myself another copy today. I ordered copies for each of my adult children for their birthdays this year. I have been encouraging everyone I have a chance to talk to about this book to read it. Worth every minute.

Sonja Hansen

This is an amazing autobiography by Malcolm Leal, who was born in Communist Cuba during the cold war, raised in a fishing village by a very religious and wise grandmother who instilled in him faith, values, and honor, served in the Cuban Special Forces throughout Central America (against US-backed militias)where he survived numerous battles and events that he shouldn't have, became Cuban Intelligence and was posted in East Berlin and was there when the Berlin Wall came down, defected to the U.S. via a harrowing escape as he was being transferred back to Cuba, and finally settled and accomplished the things, both religious and personal, that had been taught to him by his grandmother as a youth. You may think I just gave away the story, but you would be wrong!!! There is so much to this man's history that you simply must read the book and be amazed. And he will not be the only one to amaze you--I promise!! Read this book if you like edge-of-your-seat adventures, larger-than-life characters (all real!), and miraculous, rags-to-riches, feel-good outcomes! My copy is now making the rounds of my family and co-workers, all of whom have LOVED it so far. READ THIS BOOK!!

I was afraid that this story was going to be depressing and mostly about war stories. NOT SO. Most of the book is not about war experiences, but rather about the author's life and the way his wise grandmother influenced him for good. A terrific opportunity to better understand what life was like in Cuba at the time (don't think it's changed much since then), and gain an appreciation for those who can be faithful to correct principles as his grandmother was in spite of great difficulty. I liked this so much that I purchased copies for each of our five adult children and their families!

I just finished reading this book and my emotions are still reeling. This true story takes the reader on a physical and mental rollercoaster through the lives of Malcolm Leal and his grandmother. This young man endured some of the worst depravities of the human soul and came through it wanting to understand the God he'd been taught about by his dear grandmother. Through a series of near-death experiences, from which he was often the only survivor, he began to feel his life was being preserved...and yet for what, he did not understand. This led him on a journey around the world that eventually brought him to the United States where he ultimately found the gospel of Jesus Christ as it had been taught to him in his youth.

This is not a preachy, religious book, rather a beautiful, heart-breaking story of the realities of life, pain, death and eventual triumph, related through the experiences of a young man and the wise words and lessons of a woman who believed desperately in the words of the Bible. This is a book I will never forget!

I love reading conversion stories, so when I purchased this book, I certainly had not an inkling how truly amazing and inspirational it is. Malcolm's writing is eloquent, enlightening, and mesmerizing. His Grandmother was absolutely blessed with the gift of tremendous spiritual wisdom and insight I never imagined existed in anyone living in Communist nations. But it is clear that such individuals do exist who are searching for truth and a closer relationship with God. I was so impressed that her doctrinal and spiritual conclusions--based merely on extensive Bible study and revealed to her by the Lord's Spirit--were point on. The author's experiences as a soldier reveal a perspective from the other side of the Cold War that was fascinating. Thank you, Brother Malcolm Leal, for sharing your story. Your diligence and devotion to the truth makes the rest of us--speaking for myself, anyway--who are raised in the Church seem like cruisers and slackers. It makes me want to do better. I highly recommend this book.

When I heard about this book I figured it would be an inspirational story about this man's journey to the LDS church... well it is, but it focuses on the journey. It reads like a spy novel, giving account after account of missions with flashes back to his grandmother while he was growing up and wisdom she learned from the Bible.

If you are LDS, it might not be for you... he sees some 'crazy brain-washed' Elders through a sniper rifle scope, then you don't hear about the LDS church again until the very end of the book and then it's just a brief mention with a few pages of testimony to end the book.

Great read either way!

This book pulled me in and wouldn't let me go. Forget the housework, the hungry kids, the hour at night kind of book. It was warmly written and touched my heart. Thank you to the author for sharing his story with the world.