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Rating: 
Summary: New Beginnings
Review: From the very first page the reader is drawn into this first person account of the life of Jorge Valdez, former drug smuggler and money launderer.This is a compelling story of intrigue, corruption, power, and greed.Valdez describes the culture, family life and values of a Cuban family trying to find their dream in America. Valdez emigrated from Cuba with his family when he was 10 years old. He was an honor student and was planning a career in banking and accounting.
A series of events changed his life. He became involved with a drug cartel. By age 20, Valdez was in charge of the entire U.S. operation that included smuggling, distributing drugs, and money laundering.
Valdez eventually got caught and spent a total of 11 years in federal prison. The account of his family's support during his trial and imprisonment is especially touching. The story is written by author Ken Abraham. The reader is given insight into the world of drug dealers, the prison system, and Valdez's personal ethical values. The book is a well-written account of the dramatic change in the life of Jorge Valdez. This is the testimony of a man freed from the power of sin by the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Vignettes of fellow prisoners help the reader understand the consequences of bad judgment and wrong choices. The story takes you behind prison walls. The contrast of life in prison before and after Jorge's conversion give solid evidence of a man changed by the power of Christ.
While in prison Jorge earned an undergraduate degree from Southeastern Bible College and most of his credits for a graduate degree from Wheaton College. After his release Valdez completed his graduate studies at Wheaton College and went on to Loyola University to earn a doctorate in New Testament theology.
Valdez has made himself vulnerable in this honest portrayal of his strengths and weaknesses. It is a story of depravation, faith, forgiveness, and a new start. I am looking forward to another installment relating the miracles of Coming Clean Ministries in Tyrone, a nondenominational Christian ministry. This ministry seeks to intercept youth who are on destructive paths by redirecting their lives to become productive members of society.
Rating:
Summary: Very Spirtual
Review: I am not a book reader, George gave me a copy of the book when I visited him in Atlanta and the following week I was on vacation in Florida picked up his book and read the entire book could not find a stopping point may God continue to bless his works as he is now touching so many lifes. It took Jesus Christ plus a lot of courage George to write this book.
Rating:
Summary: Real Page Turner
Review: I couldn't put it down once I started reading! I learned so much about the Cocaine business and Governments too. What a testimony this guy has! WOW!
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Summary: Excellant...
Review: I had saw him telling his story on TV, a Christian channel. I was moved because I came from a drug family with my own ideas of having my own empire and rulership. I have experienced my own drama and blows in life because of it. I was shocked to see there was a book. Men like this need to stand up and tell the truth. Let it be known that the drug world is very real not some fantasy you see on TV and video games. Kids and teens need to know...this stuff is nothing to mess with. Don't play in an adult world and not think you won't have to suffer the consequences. Excellent story for those who lived it and know there not alone and for those who have no clue what the drug world is about. It's also great for those who have any plans on entering the drug world. You need to know the facts. This is a very good story from beginning to end.
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Summary: One of the Most Shocking and Intense Books ever Read
Review: I purchased the book as a way to learn more about drug dealers. My life long dream was to become a police officer, so I have read many true crime books and autobiographies. Right now, my faith in God and being a Christian is in question. Yes, this book has a lot to do with faith. But its not a bible book by any means.
The true accounts and actions of were amazing and how a man who had done so much evil in his young life could be blessed and given a second chance is amazing to me.
I encourage everyone who has ever challenged their faith whatever denomination to read this book with an open mind.
I would and will recommend this book to who ever will listen.
An AWESOME book.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting!!!
Review: I too could not put this book down! It has an awesome and inspiring message of hope! This book needs to be read by the young people in America who are being lured into the false trap of materialism. Someone, somebody, please, please make a motion picture out of this story! I know three people who also have read this true story and they too could not put the book down! Read this book for yourself and let the testimony of Christ's transforming power of Jorge Valdes' Life inspire you too!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Shocking and Intense Books ever Read
Review: This book was simply splendid, well worth the price! It is rare to find an autobiography as captivating as this one. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Valdes and found him as inspiring as his book. Certainly God has used the unparalleled events in his life to lead Jorge and many others to Christ. Pick up a copy and hold on tight!
Rating:
Summary: A compulsive memoir. Be prepared to lose a night's sleep!
Review: When I saw this book on the shelf at my local library, I assumed this would just be some preachy, manipulative work in which a drug dealer tries to make his past vanish by finding God. As a lapsed Catholic I found this concept rather weak, but I picked up the book with a (reasonably) open mind, and started reading.
By the time he was in his twenties Jorge Valdes was a cocaine dealer on the rise, dealing to the rich and famous, the living embodiment of wealth and power and luxury; leading a life most of us can imagine only in our wildest dreams. The life of the rich with all the negative excess that goes with it: drugs, pornography, prostitution, infidelity, murder, double-crosses, torture, kidnapping. Enough drama and suspense for a Robert Ludlum novel. The only difference is, this is the real deal. But, as Valdes soon disovers there is a price to all this; and he finds the courage and committment to steer his life onto a new, positive path.
Reading this stirred my intense interest in the good and evil that all human beings are capable of, what Karl Jung called "the shadow". Obviously some of the content of this book is tough to take (Especially Valdes' graphic account of him and an associate being tortured by police for refusing to leak info), but the honesty with which Valdes tells his story and the glimpse the reader gets into his former life makes for fascinating and sometimes horrific reading.
Even though I gave up my religious faith long ago, I still found myself moved by Mr Valdes's committment to his beliefs and how dramatically his life has changed for the better because of his faith. COMING CLEAN is quite simply a remarkable story. I challenge anyone to read this book and finish it without feeling affected. A very moving and powerful work that could only have come from the pen of someone who has lived and breathed the life... and survived to help prevent others from making the same mistakes he did.
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