After a tragedy at a dig site, archaeologist-turned-professor Jack Hawthorne has become somewhat of a hermit. Winter break is a time he looks forward to being alone, but this year he is presented with an adventure. The mission: find the bones of the prophet Elisha, which are said to bring the dead to life. Billionaire Gordon Reese believes he has found clues to their location and will fully fund Jack’s expedition. Things get frightening along the way as Jack and his old friend, Esperanza Habilla, are chased, kidnapped, and shot at. Jack’s mission eventually takes a personal turn. He continues to search for the bones even while doubting their existence, or the God who gave them their supposed powers.
I’m in the middle of the road on this one. The overall story was very good. I love archaeology and love reading archaeological fiction, but it took me awhile to get through this one. My biggest complaint is that it is written in first person, present tense. I don’t so much mind the first person, but I have yet to read a novel that’s in present tense that I love. There is something about present tense that just doesn’t let me sink into the story. The characters were well-written and distinguishable. The writing was good as well, but my other complaints fall here. First, $10 words. It slows down a story when I have to look up a word. Granted, I read this one on my Nook, which makes this task easier, but it still causes me to have to stop reading. There were also some places where I couldn’t follow the archaeological trail. I felt some things deserved a bit more of an explanation.
1) Overall Plot = 4
2) Characters = 4
3) Flow/Pace of the story = 4
4) Is the story easy to follow? = 3.5
5) Overall Enjoyability = 3.5
Average of score 3.8 Overall grade = C
Jess Boudreaux 