Product Description

This work presents a blisteringly high-concept serial killer thriller combined with delicious religious conspiracy theory from a hot new British talent. It shows two murders at opposite ends of America, one in the backstreets of New York City, the other in the backwoods of Montana. It presents a series of killings in every corner of the globe, from the crowded slums of India to the pristine beaches of Cape Town. There can't possibly be a connection. That's the instinct of Will Monroe, a young, British-born reporter for "The New York Times" - until the morning his beautiful wife Beth is kidnapped. Holding her are men who seem ready to kill without hesitation. Desperate, Will follows a trail that leads to a mysterious sect right on his own doorstep - fervent followers of one of mankind's oldest faiths. He will have to break through multiple layers of mysticism and ancient prophecy, unearthing riddles buried deep in the Bible - until he finds the secret that is said to have animated the world for thousands of years, a secret on which the fate of humanity may depend. But with more murders by the hour, and each clue wrapped in layers of code, time is running out...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2864 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Review
'The best thriller I've read in years.' Piers Morgan 'The biggest challenger to Dan Brown's crown ! a highly charged, theologically accurate tale' Mirror 'Compulsive reading ! successfully blends ancient teachings with the highly charged ways of the 21st century ! bears all the hallmarks of a blockbuster' Daily Express 'More readable than The Da Vinci Code -- the sense of menace is darker and the characters more believable' Esquire 'A turbocharged thriller' In Style 'Will be compared, inevitably, to The Da Vinci Code. The similarities are difficult to ignore, but it's far better written ! will thrill any conspiracy-theory fans ! a highly enjoyable read' Psychologies

A kitchen sink of arcane elements-twisted biblical prophecy, Oedipal complex, computer-hacker sabotage-together with such thriller staples as kidnapping and serial-killer psychodynamics makes this one messy whodunit. But it's a riveting mess. The concept's hot: One-by-one, three dozen are targeted for killing, each corpse to be laid out carefully, swaddled in a purple blanket. Bourne, a London journalist aka Jonathan Freedland (Jacob's Gift, 2005, etc.), cribs from Dan Brown's well-thumbed manual on mystic atmosphere, and creates a nefarious sect, the Church of the Reborn Jesus, who madly masterminds the murders. Those homicides are head-scratchers for the police-among them, a Manhattan pimp with a heart of gold, a Wild West, right-wing militiaman who's also a kidney donor, and a Baptist pastor in Brazil. Will, a New York Times reporter, is drawn into this blood-spattered web when his pregnant wife, Beth, is abducted by Hasidic zealots. What connects Beth's disappearance and the dead men, dropping nearly daily like dominos? Even Will's adored dad, a federal judge, can't seem to aid his son, who turns to a Jewish ex-girlfriend to penetrate the heart of Hasidism. Together, they decode the Torah passages the kidnappers send and negotiate a maze that leads, shockingly, back to Will's own father. Turns out he's none other than "The Apostle," high priest of the Reborn Jesus cult. Their mission? To bring the End Times, the Rapture, by knocking off the 36 righteous men Jewish tradition maintains are necessary, at any given time, to keep life on this dark planet alive. Turns out, too, that the Hasidic perps are actually good guys, and the Reborn vicious anti-Semites, adherents of the ultra-fundamentalist doctrine of "replacement theology"-that the Jews, as chosen people, have been replaced by Christians.Murder mystery meets conspiracy theory meets theological commentary. (Kirkus Reviews)

Norther Echo
‘Da Vinci aficionados will love every page’

Daily Mirror
"READ IT."

Customer Reviews

Enjoy !
This did'nt get me from the first page but once I got into the story I could'nt put it down. I did guess though who the baddie in the book was long before the end and having studied theology I did know where this book was going but that did'nt spoil it for me, I was gripped !
If you are a thriller ( with a theological stance ) buff, just enjoy this for what it is, a fine good read !

Yom Kipp-er......z z z z z ! ! !
Another wannabee Da Vinci Code which misses the target by a long way I'm afraid....

This book was lying on my desk at work, a colleague picked it up and said "Ah. Dan Brown's written another book at last". An easy mistake to make, with the identical title font and background religious symbols. Even the author's name, Sam Bourne, is short and monosyllabic, easily mistaken for Brown's as happened with my colleague. A cynical marketing ploy that grates with me and no doubt many others. I thought pseudonyms had gone out with Lewis Carroll. Why not put your own name to your own work, Mr Jonathan Freedland ? Name not "catchy" enough?

If you think I'm banging on about Dan Brown/DVC comparisons that is because the blurb invites it and insists it is "more menacing" and better. Comparisons are made on the front and back covers and several times on the inside page. See my point..?

Anyway, Dan Brown gripes aside, this is not a very good book. It has an ok plot that is dragged out across over 500 pages, with few twists and turns and little intrigue. Our "hero's" quest to find his kidnapped wife makes little sense and is convoluted in the extreme. The bad guy is easily guessed before half way and as for menace, well the Andrex puppy is more menacing than the "sinister" assassins in this. Afraid, to offend any religious groups, Freedland misses opportunity after opportunity to create fear and suspense; even the murderers are humane and pray for their victims. The "blue eyed" killer is no match for Brown's albino monk and the other characters all fall into neat stereotypes. When Will Monroe discovers who his kidnappers are very early on, rather than call the police or point a gun to their head he skulks off on his own following a trail led by ridiculous text messages from a "friend". His (stunningly attractive, naturally) sidekick is close to the kidnappers and suspects their motives all along also but keeps it from him for some reason.

Freedland insults our intelligence with junior school coded messages to crack which eventually lead the charisma-free Mr Monroe back to where he started from. With time running out, why "the friend" did not just send him there in the first place beats me. You feel like you've driven 20 miles to visit your neighbour by the time you arrive at the climax. The ending redeems the book somewhat but the journey there is unexciting, overblown and frankly dull in parts.

Dan Brown's publishers will not be losing too much sleep about Jonathan Freedland, oops I mean Sam Bourne.

Not bad at all
I wish that people would stop touting books as "successor to Dan Brown". Dan Brown is still alive and writing. Sam Bourne is somebody else (actually he really is someone else, Sam Bourne is a pen name) and has a different style of writing.

This book was not bad at all. Shortish chapters for those of us with short attention spans, believeable characters and, although the plot turns out to be a bit far fetched, a good yarn.

I get bored with novels quite easily but this one went right to the end, one of those where you really do want to know what happened.