The Brotherhood of the Rose

Re-read, Aug/Sep 2025:

While looking for a new read from a formidable TBR heap, I was again drawn to this excellent action thriller. It was as excellent read as it was when I first read it. While my opinions on Mossad have changed to a degree, it seems that this agency and country it serves will only be remembered as an origin place for modern assassinations and killing. This was true in time when the novel was written and is true today. Which is sad since even Sparta was actually a state first and military society second.

in any case excellent book, highly recommended.

Re-read, June 2024:

This is one of the books I like to come back often. It is interesting how book is about intelligence community but characters remain independent. This is show more something that today is possible only in a one-off book or first book in the series, after which main character becomes member of freedom-defending-intelligence-service (khm, khm).....

Excellent story and excellent characters, for a spy story very realistic (and deadly) turn of events. And I always forget the ending, which in my opinion is much better and punchy than tv series ending.

Highly recommended.

Original, 2017:

I read this book 10 years ago and decided to re-read it again. Book did not lose anything with passage of time and that says enough about it - it is still one of the best action books and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in "dark arts" of espionage and murder. Characters are believable enough and not "all mighty" as is currently the case with majority of new books on similar subject.

Highly recommended. show less

I read a scanned copy on my Nook, and the format was something awful. So I KNOW that affected my reading. Mainly because with all the jumping around the story does I had to pay over-attention to make sure which/who/what storyline I was following.

I saw this as a movie/miniseries for tv back in the early 90's when it was a rerun. I don't think I saw the whole thing, just enough to burn the idea of it into my mind.

The idea is awesome! 2 orphans, now brothers, superbly trained as the best of the best, carrying out covert missions for their father figure. And then, betrayal, backstabbing and the harsh reality of the intelligence gathering world.

Sadly, I wasn't as enamoured of the carrying out of this idea in this book. It was pretty cool, show more but there were quite a few times where I was wondering when the action would start up. There is a sequel, [b:The Fraternity Of The Stone|21837|The Fraternity Of The Stone|David Morrell|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1167323742s/21837.jpg|2130076], and I'll read it to give Mr. Morrell another chance. show less

In The Brotherhood of the Rose, two orphans, Chris and Saul, were raised in an orphanage in Philadelphia until Eliot, their mentor and father figure took them in as adopted sons. From an early age, he trained them to be his personal assassins. After things go awry, he is now trying to have them killed.

This thriller is loaded with action and takes place at a very fast pace, making the reading of the novel enjoyable. Chris and Saul are well-developed characters. I also enjoyed the concept of the novel about boys who were raised to be assassins, and operate together so well that they are almost like a single entity. The novel has its down points. There are significant logic and believability issues that can be hard to overcome at times. show more All the same, the action and thrilling nature of the novel make it well worth reading.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street show less

David Morrell, better known as the writer of the novel the first Rambo movie was based on, wrote a spy trilogy in the early 1980s that has just been released in ebook format.
The first, Brotherhood of the Rose, follows two orphans that have been raised as brothers and trained to become expert operatives for a secret branch of the CIA.
One of the things that sets this book apart from other spy novels is a great concept – on the eve of WWII all of the directors of the various intelligence organizations banded together to create secret spy safe havens. A spy could go to one of these safe houses to retire in peace without worrying about anyone settling old scores. Not only is this an intriguing and semi believable idea, Morrell milks all of show more the twists and turns that are possible when two spies that are mortal enemies become trapped in the one place where they are prevented from harming each other.
Last words: Brotherhood is not that convincing if you are hoping for a look at real tradecraft. However, when viewed among other spy thrillers this ranks very high with not only interesting and unique characters, but a really neat concept.

More spy news and reviews at http://www.spywrite.com show less

I picked this one up along with a bunch of others for ten cents each at the permanent booksale on the Boothbay Harbor Public Library porch.

It was okay. A bit reminiscent of all the other thriller/potboilers that inevitably litter the best-seller lists. But The Brotherhood of the Rose wasn't particularly intelligent or well-written. It wasn't painfully stupid either; just a tolerable thriller, a bit predictable, rather shallow, and not particularly memorable or well-written. A tolerable way to kill an hour or two on a commute, but I won't bother to read it again.

For the record, The DaVinci Code is rather similar to The Brotherhood of the Rose; they're both rather simplistic, somewhat insulting to the intelligence of the reader, and show more awkwardly-written. It you're looking for a superior potboiler of the same general type, try Marathon Man. show less

Saul Grisman "Romulus" and Chris Kilmoonic "Remus" are foster boys raised by their so called foster father Eloit, the only real masculine figure that they ever knew. They both were trained by United States military elite forces to become two of the most highly trained assault fighters. After Saul carryed out a co-op order to assassinate members of the Paradigm Foundation, the organization turns against him and wants him eliminated. Chris on the other hand was captured in S Vietnam and tortured for trying to stop the flow of cocaine from Loas into S Vietnam, his face was crushed and spine fractures, but he managed to escape captivity to join forces with his foster brother, Saul. Now the two go after the individuals involved in their show more removal orders and the drama begins. Great novel, fast action, the pages would not stop turning. show less

Very good, interesting and well paced. Enjoyed it more than the last Morrell I read.