Product Description

Tunnelling deep under one of the most holy cities in the world, an ambitious young archaeologist slowly works her way towards an unthinkable goal. Somewhere ahead is a chamber containing the collected fragments of an ancient scripture, a find of unimaginable significance. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, a covert military bunker holds a macabre secret. An elite special-forces officer seems to have been brutally murdered – but how, and more disturbingly, why? Any hope of solving the mystery rests on the grisly clues that remain. As the race to uncover the truth begins, a plot unfolds that could burn all of civilization in the fires of holy Armageddon. THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE SWORD...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2398 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

About the Author
Chris Kuzneski is the international bestselling author of Sign of the Cross, an acclaimed thriller that has been translated into more than a dozen languages. His first novel, The Plantation, introduced the characters of Payne and Jones, and received rave reviews. Although he grew up in Indiana, PA, he currently lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida. To learn more, please visit his website: www.chriskuzneski.com.

Customer Reviews

Rivetting reading
Having read Sword of God, The Sign of the Cross and The Lost Throne I have to say can't wait for the next book. Each one reels you into the plot with decent twists and turns. The interplay of the characters works very well. Chris knows how to keep the reader turning the pages as he draws them in. I just get so stuck into them that I don't put them down 'til they are finished. The fact that they are fact based fiction means you can also search for the facts online when you have finished the book, which then gives you even more reason to look out for the next book by this superb writer. More please Chris... Fran, Coventry (UK)

sword of god
a very good story, well researched, fun and action all the way. it has not got a hard plot to get along with and can be read in one go or by chapter, either way you don't get lost with whats going on, just what a book should be like. well done to Mr Kuzneski.

Kuznewski keeps his style - a fast running and entertaining thriller with shallow language & many stereotypes
I picked this book up by change as I like this genre of thrillers. And it follows the expected pattern: a religious secret, short chapters, different guys following the same story from different angels. As usual it is based on the feeling that religious groups are not honest and that believes are based on lies. The threat however merge very late in the book - more than half way through. And for a very long time one has not a clue why one is following these various lines.

However there are some changes to the "usual story": first it is not - again - another secret of the Catholic Church which is covered up. Here it is about the Islam. And a large part is therefore not set in Rome or the Vatican but in Mecca. Similarity is that the question is asked how the believe system came about (why is what in the Koran?). But one can feel that the author is not too familiar with Islam and explains a lot about the religion, a bit like a little schoolboy showing off what he has just learned. But this is actually not too bad as most in the West are indeed not familiar with the tradition of Islam. I suppose that is why the religious dimension is less evident here. It is never said with one word that the discovery might rock the Islam as in the usual story.

So the core is rather Islamic terrorism and the conflict West against Islam, hate, revenge and the various interests in keeping the conflict burning. Here I am afraid the picture is rather black and white.

Having said this the book is written with a great flow and indeed makes a gripping yarn, easy to read and not at all boring. The style is however very flat and the personalities are not very rounded. Compared to book 1 tehy have not at all develpped. They are and remain stereotypes. It is a bit like a film script and one can see the space for the commercial breaks. In his first book Kuznewski asked the question: Why did Americans have to make a joke out of everything? - yes, why indeed and why Kuznewski too. The book is plastered with this kind of lines. This gives the whole book a very, very shallow touch and puts in terms of language on the level on 3rd rate detective stories. Maybe I am just to European for it.

All in all, it is a book which clearly entertains the reader, it is fast running thriller, but in terms of language and style and personality rather shallow. Ideal for a long distance flight or train rides as one will not be bored while reading it.