The Messiah Secret

By James Becker

Penguin

From the back of the book:

“Asked to help assess the contents of a lavish English estate, museum conservator Angela Lewis is surprised to discover an unopened crate full of sealed pottery jars. But what she discovers within one of the jars shocks her: a parchment with writing by a noted first-century Jewish scholar that describes the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. For Angela, the find is a miracle: the first written reference to Jesus outside the New Testament. But her discovery draws her into a centuries-old race for the truth, with a field of competitors driven by both ruthless avarice and fanatical devotion. And if Angelo survives, the truth may prove to be more than she can bear.”

This is a book full of intrigue, legend and action. As the main characters hunt for a hidden treasure, using ambiguous clues, they are followed from England to Egypt to India by others who are in search of the same item – what they believe to be the Ark of the Covenant. And those who are watching them are definitely not nice people. In fact, they intend to kill them once they have been led to the treasure.

Angela is being assisted by her ex-husband, who has a background in law enforcement, specifically detective work. At the beginning of the book, he notices anything out of the ordinary and because of that, they are able to thwart those who wish to do them harm. However, as the story progresses, he seems to lose his ability to sense they are in danger. He doesn’t realize his own cell phone and their rental car have been rigged with GPS, even though he wonders about seeing some of the same vehicles and people no matter where they go.

So, what happened to that sixth sense he seemed to have? It bothered me throughout most of the book as I wondered when he was going to realize they were being followed. To me, it was pretty obvious because the bad guys didn’t stay that far behind.

But, all in all, it was an interesting story and the author obviously did his research into the subject before writing the book. If you enjoy stories along this line, you’re sure to like “The Messiah Secret.”