J. Robert Kennedy

This book is fascinating as an insight into the mind of a right-wing writer. This is how their world works: all the Muslims are murderers and rapists, the Christians their hapless victims. The UN is a useless and corrupt organisation, existing only to prevent the light of the American way illuminating the entire world. Being an American is the highest achievement a human being can strive towards and everyone at least secretly wishes to become one. Migrants and refugees are bad people, who show more only seek to undermine the culture of the host nation (never mind that this is in contradiction with the previous claim). The Russians are bad guys who secretly seek to restore the Soviet Union, along with communism. The British and the French are generally good guys, in the sense that they are useful idiots who can be used to achieve a goal, but it is definitely not even worth remembering their names.

But first and foremost, naturally, no character ever has any self-doubt or is plagued by moral ambiguity of their actions - that is obviously an undesirable weakness in a true right-wing hero, who doesn't lose any sleep over killing a platoon of men - they were the bad guys, don'tcha know? It is truly fascinating how black and white their world is.

It is a shame that these right-wing fantasies of the author spoil what is a fairly interesting pseudo-historical plot and semi-decent writing. You see, in Eritrea, a Roman ship loaded with gold is found, which sets in action interesting geo-political events, as well as changing the faith of the characters involved in its discovery.

The chapters dealing with the discovery of the ship are intermingled with historical fiction chapters that explain the Roman origin of the vessel. Now, these seem interesting at first, however, in the end these historical chapters don't really lead anywhere, have too many characters who are anything but memorable and by the last third of the book they are simply abandoned.

In conclusion, this is only recommended reading if you want a hard right view of current global political situation and enjoy stuff like a bunch of True Americans (tm) killing a whole army of Muslim terrorists. Otherwise, there's loads of better historical fiction to enjoy. show less

I found the story interesting and captivating. Although, it mimicked the Indiana Jones franchise. Instead of Germans chasing Professor Acton, it's an elite Delta Force contingent hunting him around the globe. I didn't like that the military group was portrayed as an organized group that followed the orders to kill innocents - there were many in the story. The group would have been better known as a rogue mercenary group hired by the president.

I also enjoyed reading about the skulls and the show more secret order to protect them. The history going back over 2000 years was interesting - even though it is fiction. I am also curious to understand if such groups are active and if a "list" of known terrorists (or considered to be on the list) is an actual secret document.

If you are interested in an action-packed story - there's stuff going on in every chapter. The final chase scene is one taken from the Willie Coyette and Roadrunner films. show less

SPOILERS
A white supremacist group in the USA chooses to start a war between Muslims and Christians. The group buys an old stolen nuclear weapon and attempts to set it off in Saudi Arabia at Mecca during the time of the Hajj. Fortunately, this plan fails so the group falls back to plan B - the Vatican City during a religious holiday when there are huge crowds in St Peters Square. Archaeologist James Acton and his girlfriend Laura Palmer are inexplicably pulled into these events after James show more rescues a friends son from the white supremacist group. show less

This is an amazing book that keeps you turning the page. J. Robert Kennedy is becoming one of my favourite author's The story is fast paced and thrilling but, really brings the horror of what can happen in a coup. The remembrances of the Tiananmen Square and the massacres that happened in 1989 still make you feel ill just reading about if it could happen again.