The Genesis Secret is an interesting history of Moslem, Christianity and Judaism dating back to Gobekli Tepe and the Garden of Eden. In the process of explaining the Genesis secret, a lot of anti Jewish racism is imparted. In fact there is a lot of racism ranted in this book. Nevertheless, the story is good, and compelling. The story gives the reader a lot to think about with regard to the origins of religion and man's murderous instinct. Four stars were awarded to this book. ( )

An archeological dig at Gobekli Tepe in Turkish Kurdistan reveals evidence of a building which may be 5,000 years older than any previous known structure. The dig also reveals evidence suggesting that the site may also be the location of Eden. Yet, underlying these finds is a seeming antagonism or hatred against the scientists by the locals working on the dig and living in the area. All of this makes for a strong hook into an intriguing storyline. To cap the efforts of the scientists, the lead archeologist is found impaled at the site.

Unfortunately, Tom Knox, the pseudonym for Sean Thomas, a London-based journalist (like his central character, Rob Luttrell) goes off on a tangent by introducing a series of brutal murders in the British Isles. The murders appear to be the work of psychopathic killers. Ultimately, they are connected to a group of privileged Upper-Class college students, linked to a society of the social elite known as the Hellfire Club. This club has a centuries-old history of decadence, depravity and debauchery. Its membership included leaders of society in England and America.

In his efforts to blend these two story lines, Knox strains credulity. Its seems that, despite their history of brutish and brutal behavior, the members of the Hellfire Club may only be acting that way because the leaders may possess a certain genetic strain which results in their behavior.

The book is well written, and although there were murders, the first couple of them were violent but bearable. I read primarily murder mysteries and usually they don't bother me, but after the first few,they became increasing violent. Though the murder "sacrifices" may have been based on actual historical accounts of early human cultures, there were just too many and most were unnecessary as the author had established a story line that would have worked beautifully. ( )

I tagged this book as horror due to the well done, very gruesome, and scary torture/human sacrifice scenes. They were difficult to get through, especially with the knowledge that they may have actually happened to people in the past. The writing was very readable, the characters and dialog were enjoyable, but the plot? I was disappointed. You could see what was going to happen. Because the characters have high IQ's you'd think they would see it too - or at least take some precautionary measures. But I guess they didn't really have to because the "last minute save" at the end was disappointingly predictable also. ( )

Not a bad adventure but I thought the ending could have been a little more exciting.

I was warned in advance before reading this that there were some pretty unpleasant scenes. I was still shocked by the graphic violence though. And I consider myself pretty unshockable. The story itself is fairly generic, something has been dug up in the desert that indicates that world religion is built on a foundation of lies and deception and it's up to our unwitting hero, a journalist in this instance, to stop the world from finding out. If it wasn't for one or two frankly sickening scenes then I would have given this three stars for being a fairly interesting story. In honesty I only finished it out of sheer bloody mindedness. ( )