Christopher Hyde

I enjoy the occasional thriller, and I have an abiding interest in the medieval ordercalled The Poor Fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ and Solomon's Temple, or Knights Templar, for short. Since Dan Brown's silly little fairy tale, there have been many offerings in the thriller genre dealing with these Crusader-monks and their putative hidden purpose and succession down into the present. I enjoy these tales, as far-fetched and obviously ridiculous as most of them are, because they make for a show more pleasant adventure. Suspension of disbelief for the sake of the tale is usually easy.

UNLESS ... the writer begins his tale with such egregious errors in historical fact that it blows one completely out of the story. Such a book is THE SWORD OF THE TEMPLARS. It has the same faults that most of these ancient-conspiracy-hidden-treasure-world-changing-revelation type books: utterly improbable thesis, insufficient motivation, plot driven as much by coincidence as by the protagonist(s)' actions, omnipotent and omnipresent villains. All this can be forgiven, if, as I said, one enjoys the occasional dip into this kind of story, as I do. What is unforgivable is the plain errors in Templar fact on which the author grounds his plot. Here are a few:

**THE BOOK: Hughes de Payens, the Templars' founder, was said to have gotten the backing of Godfrey of Bouillon, who had seized the title of King of Jerusalem, for the creation of the Order of the Temple.
HISTORICAL FACT: When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they elected Godfrey de Bouillon to rule the City, but he, a pious man, refused to accept the title of king in the city where Christ was crucified. He would only accept the title, "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre." Further, Godfrey lived only one year after the capture, dying in 1100. The Templars did not form until 1118 or 1119, under the sanction of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem.

**THE BOOK:Attributes the pamphlet, "De laude novae militiae" ("In Praise of the New Knighthood") to St. Alberic of Citeaux. HISTORICAL FACT: De laude nova militiae was written in the period 1128 - 1131 to establish that the new order was justified in waging war and shedding blood. It was written by St. Bernard of Clairevaux. Alberic had died in 1108.

**THE BOOK( p. 273): "Innocent was Pope during the Crusades. He was the one who eventually ordered the Templars to be arrested and killed." HISTORICAL FACT: Innocent was A pope during the Crusades, which lasted for more than two hundred years, but he was not the pope that presided over the destruction of the Templars. That was Pope Clement V, who, because of a promise he had made to King Philip IV (called "The Fair") of France prior to his elevation as pope, colluded with the French king in the sordid charges against and destruction of the Order.

There are others. Mistakes like this rob the readers of the simple, escapist pleasures to be had in books of this ilk. show less

Intriguing and well paced adventure frustrates a bit with a slight promise of something more fantasy driven, but ultimately plays out as a subterranean survival fiction. The book communicates well the various dangers of the underground world; a place where it could be as vast as giant cathedral, to a narrow tight squeeze tunnel barely fit for a human being. Hyde exploits the terrors of being buried alive a number of times, ranging from the initial earthquake trapping the book's cast, to show more various near brushes with death. With a raging river, nicknamed 'Styx' by one of the team, the novel adopts many tropes of survivalist tales as one by one characters face death by drowning, falling rocks, quicksand, and worst of all a rather gruesome end at the hands of some strange poisonous centipedes. It should be no surprise that the cast of characters dwindles as the book goes on, among them only a few capture the imagination. The Zen-like geologist Izo is clearly the book's de-facto hero; not enough to be nearly flawless in character, he also harbors a strange psychic/hallucinatory connection with the former occupant of the underworld, a prehistoric man the modern day explorers name Khan. The spiritual connection Izu shares with Khan ranges from being a bit of spooky atmosphere at first but ends up being a rather ludicrous coincidence. The other character given plenty of attention is David, son of the famous archeologist leading the expedition. David seems always at the cusp of taking charge and being his own man, but simply never does. A rather disturbing turn of misogyny drains any sympathy from David's character and turns the resident asshole of the group into something far, far worse. The book's setup, with a long lost cave painting by what could be the missing link in man's ancient evolution seems to lead the reader to think something more extraordinary will take place just around the next ridge, but in the end, despite a tease with a "fresh" hand print late in the book, the novel never fulfills that intriguing promise. What is here is exciting enough and Hyde's prose carries the reader along at a pace as brisk as the currents of the underwater river that challenges the trapped team of explorers in the book. Worth a read if you're in the mood for an adventure with a twist. show less

The author of this book seems to think that for any written work of fantasy you need: stunning people, as many pop-culture references as possible, descriptions of as many exotic locations as you can find on wikipedia and most of all every stereotype in existence. Your readers will then fill in the important blanks and buy your next novel.

Paul Christopher gets as many details right as he gets them wrong. His research into Dutch culture is as accurate as his strange misspellings of words show more anyone using Google translate can figure out. Perhaps this is the very first novel completely spun from Wikipedia?

Besides the sloppiness of all the local cultural and physical details, the author didn't seem to have re-read his own story. At one point a crusty old curator and painting restorer uses the word Giggle to mention Google. A good approximation and it paints a nice picture of someone out of touch with reality. Basically a nice stereo type. Then a few sentences later this same character seems to be very familiar with the work of Quentin Tarantino. It's these strange hiccups all along the reader's path that makes this book so infuriating.

In the end everything plays out as you would have expected. After all the weird coincidences that seem to make this plot possible, the ending is as predictable as your basic chick lit mixed with some Indiana Jones themes.

Oh by the way, Rembrandt's ghost has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. show less

I've enjoyed some of Christopher Hyde's other books so I thought I'd give book one of the Jane Todd series a try. The book started out in an intriguing way and then kept the interest level going throughout the almost 400 pages. Jane Todd, Dan Hennessy, and Thomas Black are solid, likable characters.

Author Hyde does a wonderful job spinning a story that is firmly backed by accurate historical events and recognizable celebrities and authentic characters.

Set in 1939, the plot revolves around a show more plan to assassinate the King and Queen of England on American soil in order to drive a wedge between the two countries that would significantly lessen the chance that United States would enter the almost-certain war in Europe.

I enjoyed the accuracy of the story and addition of real historical players. My only criticisms stem from the unbelievable spunkiness of Hyde's heroine and a couple of plot implausibilities. Neither detract from the enjoyment derived from the experience.

Overall, this is a very solid, engaging read that will keep most mystery fans enthralled and wondering what comes next. show less