The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry

The plot of Steve Berry’s most recent novel, The Paris Vendetta (New York:  Ballantine Books-Random House, 2009), didn’t seem as complex as those of his previous novels.  He didn’t tie together so many different elements, and the characters weren’t spending as much time jetting from one part of the globe to another.  The majority of the action took place in Denmark, England, and France–mostly in France, which made sense since the historical focus was on Napoleon, with some references to the Merovingian kings and the Nazis.

The Doomsday Key by James Rollins

I didn’t like The Doomsday Key as well as some of Rollins‘ other Sigma Force books.  I don’t know if I’m getting burned out on this genre or if this book was more depressing or its plot less complex than the others.  It’s still a good read–just not as good.

The Sword of the Templars by Paul Christopher

I didn’t like Paul Christopher’s The Sword of the Templars as much as I have James Rollins‘ and Steve Berry’s novels, but it was worth reading.  I’ll probably read more of his work, including the sequels to The Sword of the Templars:  The Templary Cross and The Templar Throne.  Both are scheduled to be released next year.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I think Dan Brown’s best novel is Angels & Demons followed by The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol, in that order.  His first two rank far behind the others.  I don’t want to spoil things for people who haven’t read The Lost Symbol yet, but I was disappointed.  I’m probably spoiled after recently reading so many novels by James Rollins and Steve Berry.

I wonder why it takes Brown so much longer to finish a novel than it does Rollins or Berry, when their plots are more complicated and require a research on more subjects.

Results of Google Alerts Test 11-9-09

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The Last Oracle by James Rollins

James Rollins intertwines the Oracle of Delphi, the Punjab region of India, Gypsies, Chernobyl, intuition, and autism in The Last Oracle (New York:  Harper Collins-WilliamMorrow, 2008).  I’m amazed at how he ties these disparate threads together in an entertaining and exciting yarn.

In the “Author’s Note to Readers:  Truth or Fiction,” Rollins lists some of his sources that might be worth reading (431-34):

• Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures
• Daniel Tammet, Born on a Blue Monday *

The only book in the Sigma Series that I haven’t read is The Doomsday Key.  It came out in June of this year, and I’m number 32 of 34 holds at the library.

* The real title appears to be Born on a Blue Day.

The Templars’ Secret Island by Erling Haagensen and Henry Lincoln

I learned about The Templars’ Secret Island (New York:  Barnes & Noble, 2002) from watching “Holy Grail in America.”  In this book Erling Haagensen and Henry Lincoln try to tie together medieval churches on the Danish island Bornholm, the Knights Templar, the Holy Sepulchre, the Temple of Solomon, and the Ark of the Covenant.

They hypothesize that “Bornholm was laid out [by the Knights Templar] with absolute precision as a teaching aid. . . . Here would the student come to learn, and to learn not merely the mathematics and the gemoetry.  Here also could be taught the underlying symbolism” (132).  In other words, the student would learn the secret knowledge the Knights Templar uncovered and retrieved from Jerusalem.

While their hypothesis is intriguing, I think their extrapolation of geometric figures from the positions of the churches on Bornholm is based on too few points and requires more evidence.

They do list some interesting books in their “Bibliography”:

• Louis Charpentier, Les Mysteres de la Cathedrale de Chartres (Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral)
• Laurence Gardner, Bloodline of the Holy Grail
• Henry Lincoln, The Holy Place
• Henry Lincoln, Key to the Sacred Pattern

More Suspense Novels To Read

The last few months, I’ve been reading, and enjoying, suspense novels by Steve Berry and James Rollins.  Unfortunately, I’ve read all of Berry’s novels except The Paris Vendetta, which will be available in about a month, so I’ve been looking for other authors who write the same type of books, which remind me of The Da Vince Code and Indiana Jones–maybe with cutting-edge science and technology thrown in.

I’ve found the following authors, who seem to write in this genre, and requested the indicated books from my county library:

• Will Adams, The Alexander Cipher
• Tom Harper (pseudonym used by Edwin Thomas), The Lost Temple
• Paul Christopher (pseudonym used by Christopher Hyde), The Sword of the Templars
• David Gibbins, Atlantis

The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry

In The Charlemagne Pursuit (New York:  Ballantine Books-Random House, 2008), as in The Alexandria Link, Steve Berry included a lot of politics, which I didn’t enjoy very much.  It was fascinating, though, how he tied together a first civilization, Charlemagne, the Nazis, submarines, and Antarctica.

In his “Writer’s Note” (505-09), Berry lists some books that might be interesting:

• Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill, The Voynich Manuscript
• Christopher Knight and Alan Butler, Civilization One

Berry’s latest book, The Paris Vendetta, is due out December 1.  I’m number 19 of 35 people who have requested it from the Jefferson County Public Library.

The Lost Colony of the Templars by Steven Sora

As I mentioned in a post on Oct. 1, I learned about Steven Sora’s book The Lost Colony of the Templars: Verrazano’s Secret Mission to America (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2004) while watching a documentary about the Knights Templar in America.  It was the only book referenced in the show that was available through the Jefferson County Public Libraries.  After slogging through it, I can only wonder why the library system bought it.

I actually used The Lost Colony of the Templars in my on-campus ENG 1020 classes Metro as a not-credible source for the following reasons:

• The title misrepresents the content of the book.  What little information there is about the colony and Verrazano’s voyage appear more than halfway through the book.
• The book is poorly organized.
• The information is not adequately documented.
• There are no visuals in the book at all.  Maps would have been particularly appropriate since Sora spends so much of the book discussing various sea voyages.

However, there are some books listed in the bibliography that might be worth looking at:

• Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge
• Michael Bradley, Grail Knights in America
• David Ovason, The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital:  The Masons and the Building of Washington, DC