Fast paced thriller,grabs you from the first page. Characters are a little weak.Gives a decent, general history of the Templar Knights.Light,historical fiction. Good beach read.

Overall I enjoyed reading Khoury's book. It is nicely paced and does a good job of weaving together a storyline set in the 13th Century with the main story set in the present day. However, the last third was increasingly implausible as the plot moved to its conclusion. I picked this up at the library having just finished Robyn Young's very enjoyable 'Brethren', also about the Templars, but this book is not really in that league. The level of character development and fantastical plot feels more like a book tie-in with a movie rather than having the depth that I look for in a good novel. ( )

Very detailed plot and got me to thinking about the "illusion" of Jesus Christ. Very well done. I liked the action and kept turning the pages. I'll read another book by Khoury! ( )

Liked it until the very end - was kind of disappointed with the ending. ( )

Four men on horseback dressed as Templars raid an exhibition of Vatican treasures. Former archaeologist Tess Chaykin overhears one of them murmur a reverent phrase in Latin as he takes an encoding device. Soon she and FBI agent Sean Reilly are on the trail of a priceless artifact that may change the concept of the Christian religion forever.

I like airplane reads. I really like puzzle thrillers. And I approached this one hoping for a mixture between the Da Vinci Code and the Dirk Pitt stories. Unfortunately Tess seemed mostly to do incredibly stupid things - not telling the FBI that a psycho may have her daughter, stranding her FBI escort in the wilds of nowhere while snipers take potshots so she can scamper off with the Bad Guy to further her career. That sort of thing. So I was less than impressed with her as a heroine.

I was even less impressed that the book seemed to degenerate into a lengthy debate about whether the discovery that Jesus may have been a 'mere mortal man' would destroy ALL FAITH AS WE KNOW IT. Including all the religions that think that Jesus was a mortal man apparently... It doesn't make a lot of sense and it seemed to be a central point of the book. All told I thought the way it ended was both rushed and lazy, and the epilogue served to remove any interest and any last snippet of controversy. A shame that it turned out so irritating. I quite liked the snippets about the Templars.

More at my blog ( )

Its like davinci code, except every 3 paragraphs he make a 9/11 reference.Action packed and fun, but not exactly enriching. ( )

Synopsis: The book opens dramatically in 1291, with the fall of the Templars Holy Land (Acre). A group of knights are given a chest with the Templar secret to be brought to safety. The group was last seen going to sea.
In present day, Tess Chaykin is attending TREASURES OF THE VATICAN at the Met, when it is crashed by 4 masked horsemen dressed as knights, wearing white robes with red crosses. The knights leave after finding a geared device, leaving a wake of bloody destruction. Archaeologist Tess, and FBI agent Sean Rielly chase clues through NY, Rome, and Turkey.
PROS: The book started out strong and suspenseful.The plot was interesting, and similar to the DaVinci Code. Khoury threw in some new Templar secrets and interesting theories.
CONS: The ending was horrible! It seemed rushed, and the character development fizzled. The latter half of the book became some what ridiculous after the great beginning. ( )

Pot-boiling light thriller in the wake of DVC. The first chapters are excellent but it soon becomes unremarkable. ( )

Pot-boiling light thriller in the wake of DVC. The first chapters are excellent but it soon becomes unremarkable. ( )

Huh. Boy, I definitely read a different book than the majority of the reviewers on Amazon, who largely loathed it.

The story: there's a display on exhibit from the Vatican, and on the opening night, 4 horsemen dressed as Templars come riding up, decapitate one guard with a sword, then proceed to destroy the exhibit, terrorize the guests, and steal many of the treasures.

One of the witnesses was archaeologist Tess Chaykin, who notices the leader only took one item: a sort of machine. She teams up with FBI agent Sean Ryan and they discover that the machine was a code device, and its use may uncover documents calling into question the history of the Catholic church.

Then one by one the thieves are being killed, and it's a race to find the machine and the documents with the thief on the one side and the agents of the church on the other.

It's kind of like National Treasure (which I loved). Lots of action and intrigue and the irresistible lure of secret societies and behind-the-scenes manipulation. I'm a huge sucker for this sort of story. It even has a romance. What more could I ask? Seriously, I read most of this book with a huge grin on my face, it was just so fun and exciting.

So why the difference between my reaction and the Amazon reviews? You know I had to read through a whole bunch of them to try to figure it out.

* First objection: it's too much like The DaVinci Code. Well, only in the background premise that the Catholic church is covering up something and has agents who'll keep the secret at all costs. That's not an idea that originated with The DaVinci Code--any large and powerful organization is going to spawn stories like that. Besides, I enjoyed this one much more--The Last Templar was a more dynamic, action-packed book, more fun to read.
* Second objection: it's not factually accurate. Well, no, it's not. It's fiction. But I do have to agree in parts here--it's unrealistic the way Dirk Pitt books are unrealistic. There's a diving scene, for example. 100 feet of water over a town flooded by a dam. No diving lights, but they can go into a submerged church building and see what they're doing. And there's a convenient piece of metal sticking out of a pillar they can use to pry up the floor... and removing it makes the entire building collapse. Very Hollywood, I agree. It's why I gave the book 4.5 stars instead of 5.
* Third objection which only a few reviewers really outright said, but which you could read between the lines of quite a few of the reviews: the implied criticism of the Catholic church. Obviously, this didn't bother me a bit, not being a fan of organized religion. But to clarify things, I didn't think Khoury was writing about actual facts. Do I think that there's a document somewhere proving that Jesus wasn't divine? No, I don't. Even if there were, I don't think it would have as great an effect as the characters in the book feared--it's all about faith, isn't it? People have a great capacity to dismiss all kinds of facts in the face of faith, so why not that one, too. I do think there's probably quite a bit of truth in how the book describes the assembling of the Christian Bible, though possibly not in the details. And to tell you the truth, that part was surprisingly sympathetic to the church. But again, I didn't read this as nonfiction, and I don't really care whether or not it's true. It's plausible in the world of the story, which might as well be in a galaxy far, far away.

This is going on my keeper shelf, and I've put The Sanctuary in my Zooba queue. ( )

Fast paced and entertaining, but not very well written or as engaging as it could have been. ( )

The book opens in 1291, with a young Templar Knight fleeing with his
mentor from the burning city of Acre as the West loses it's hold on the
Holy Land. They are carrying with them a small chest that contains the
secret of all secrets and must carry it back to the Order's Grand
Master. But the ship they are sailing on vanishes without a trace.

Fast forward to modern day Manhattan, where the Metropolitan Museum is
having a black tie opening night for a huge new exhibit called
"Treasures of the Vatican." Amid all the pomp and circumstance, TV
cameras and celebrities, four knights in armor on horseback ride down
the street, up the steps, and into the museum where they brutally attack
anybody who gets in their way. Archaeologist Tess Chaykin dives for
cover behind one of the display cases and watches in fascinated horror
as one of the horseman breaks the glass of the case and steals one piece
in particular, an ancient geared device. He utters a cryptic Latin
phrase and leaves with his treasure while the other horsemen load their
bags with gold and jewels. Tess teams up with FBI anti-terrorist
specialist Sean Reilly to investigate. As the story unfolds, they learn
that the object of their quest will change the whole world as we know it
-- proof that the Christian religion is based on a lie.

This book is bound to be compared to "The Da Vinci Code" because they
deal with basically the same premise -- that Christianity is based on a
lie. Dan Brown writes with much more suspense than Khoury, but Khoury's
literary style is different. It's not nearly so fast paced, and he
weaves a tangible tale by jumping backwards in history to the 14th
century, then back to present day as his story unfolds. The ending
wasn't very satisfactory, IMO, but it was probably the only ending that
he could have come up with. After all, mainstream readers can only take
so much. I give the book a 4. ( )

Really horrible. I want my money back. ( )

This book is fairly obvious in its attempts to cash in on the The Da Vinci Code popularity by cloning the formula, complete with historical secret that will destroy the Catholic Church and fanatic Catholic hitman. The action is fairly by-the-numbers with the author throwing in just about every cliché he can think of, including the storm of the century just as the treasure is to be recovered. The romance is completely tepid and unbelievable...sort of, "Yeah, I know you drove off and left me at the mercy of the sniper so that you could become famous, but let's not let little things come between us." The moralizing interrupts the plot just as tediously as it does in Dan Brown's book—the only difference being that we get both sides of the argument and, thus, twice as much.

The ending of the thriller is not very fulfilling. Of course, given the previously-mentioned moral debate that occupies so much of the novel, it's hard to see the author ending with anything other than the very predictable resolution. The actual ending of the book in the epilogue was, however, enjoyable.

Even the basic premise of the plot...that exposing the Catholic Church as a fraud would somehow cause all mankind to abandon religious squabbling and unite in a rationalist world...somehow overlooks the fact that many of the world's religions would feel quite vindicated if this were so and redouble their fervor.

I did, however, enjoy the brief flashbacks to the Templars who fled the fall of Acre.

Another commuting audio book: Richard Ferrone was only fair as the narrator. He's one of those who thinks melodrama in the voice heightens the story. In my opinion, he was mistaken in this thought. ( )

All I can say is that I'm glad I got this book from the library and did not buy it. The story started out good but there was no mystery after the first couple of chapters. I thought it was entertaining but definitely not much of a mystery. ( )

What a wonderful opening scene. Keeps you guessing (for while) and I certainly didn't know what the secret object was. ( )

I thought this was a terrible book. A knockoff of the Da Vinci Code. ( I think I'll write a book like the Da Vinci code, only with a Monsignor, member of the Curia, hired assassin, and maybe a member of the CIA as well.) Gag, gag, gag ( )

If you're looking for something light and not too challenging this might be it. Reminded me a bit of 'The Walking Drum' because the adventure story pulls you forward right through some not too stellar writing. I got confused in a couple of places where the story wasn't very clear. Had me bamboozled to the end. I can see how the end was crafted- no, formulated - no, structured shows that this guy writes for TV. The basic premise was a bit of a yawn in the way Casauban's 'The Key to all Mythologies' - in'MiddleMarch' would have been a yawn - it's already been done! Loved the geography. I have a very low opinion of people who stoop to trickery and deceit to try and persuade you of their stance. If hard fact won't do it then maybe you should reconsider your position. ( )

Ok if you need a quick read at the airport, but don't expect too much. The book reads as if the author is trying to be Dan Brown meets Clive Cussler. Uneasy plot developments, undeveloped characters, tired story lines, a predictable ending, and unbelievable 'ancient technology' combine to damage what could have been an interesting story.

The worst part was the unavoidable ending. The author careens towards it from early in the story. You can see it coming from miles away, but you read on hoping for a last minute twist that will rescue you from the sappy ending.

The romance of the Templar's is a big draw, but the same old-same old as far as stories go and a weak finish pull this novel down. ( )

This book's rubbish don't buy it.

If you do buy it don't bother to read it. The characters are badly drawn and inconsistent. The story is non-sense. The ending is predictable and left me with the feeling "what was the 'effin point then". crap crap crap crap crap. That's alot of crap. ( )

I almost thought this was going to be an OK story before I got to the cheesy feel-good ending. ( )

Fantastic Book, similar to the Da Vinci Code but with a story all on it's own. I will look for more books from this author. ( )

Somewhat entertaining read if you don't mind predictability, though I'll give it points for a bit of a surprise ending. I guess it's okay if you enjoy the genre. ( )

The book starts off at a fast pace and catches your attention. But the further you read the more you can tell this is the first time the author has written a book. And he does not have a natural talent for it.

The story takes us back and forth between the present and the past as he tries to use the mysterious Templar History in both subplots. We start in present day as Knights ride into a Vatican exhibit at the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Knights takes an object with them. Our subplot is the flash back to 1291 Acre where the Templar's Stronghold is being destroyed by the Muslim onslaught. And one Knight escapes with a chest on the only ship left intact in the harbor.

This was a good try and I look forward to the next book as the author learns to keep his writing at the same quality as the first third of this novel was written. And he needs to not force plots but let them develop naturally. He tries to add a twist. The book is worth reading for the beginning if nothing else. ( )

Khoury is a screenwriter, and that becomes painfully clear as he includes just about every Hollywood cliche in a single chase scene: from the hero cop who takes (and makes) a leg shot to stop a suspect, to the chase car barely avoiding a delivery man but crashing through his crates of produce, to the too-fast car careening around a corner and bearing down on the oblivious innocent pedestrian.

But really, the worst part of the book was the Hollywood ending where the bad guy dies and our heroes live happily ever after, miraculously spared even the moral quandary they found themselves in through that death. ( )