Publisher: Westbow Press

ISBN:0-7852-6176-1

The following review was contributed by:  SHELDON (SHELLY) WAXMAN:  Click to view Shelly's  reviews.

This book almost qualifies as NewPulp fiction, the requirements of which are related at www.newpulp.net . It doesn’t have any sex and it is too long and complex. But with these and other shortcomings, it is still a good, exciting and worthwhile book in the action/suspense genre.

The complex plot revolves around two rogue FBI agents (man and woman) who find themselves involved in a weird and bizarre non-stop action in a quest to find an imposter Anti-Christ and the cult that backs him. He is a murderer, who kills all who get in his way.

The duo needs to kill the Anti-Christ in order to save themselves and humanity. They have also been falsely accused of murder themselves and are being hunted by their own FBI.

It is an exciting romp and we are treated to a literate travelogue through Rome and Jerusalem, learning many things. It is action filled and the reader is on a non-stop roller coaster ride. Because it is so fast-paced one is only slightly put-off when something totally unrealistic comes up. The mind quickly skips these parts to continue on with the quest.

The story could be called incredible but the way the world is anything is possible. Anyway it is fiction. The protagonists get beat up pretty bad, but that doesn’t stop them. It would you or me. The battle scenes are a little overdone and sometimes difficult to follow.

The length of the book (478 pages) was a put-off for me. I realize that many publishers have required a certain word count and writers have to conform to it. But I believe a book is finished when it is finished and it should be done without word padding. This book could easily have dropped a hundred pages and the reader would be left at the end exhausted and excited. I found myself losing interest toward the end—enough is enough. There is too much detail, such as the unnecessary explanation on p. 299 of how a phony gun silencer was made.

Still, it is a compelling, clever, fantastic book and worthwhile read with literate writing and it is well researched. The author has ingeniously put together a real thriller and he has kept it together without flaws. It has many elements of Sci-Fi in it. The dialogue is excellent.

The ARC I received could use some corrections. First of all, the word “arcing” is overused and other typos, as follows:

At p. 118, top paragraph—“case” should be “cause”.

303, top line—“an” should be “a”.

427, third line—after “keep” should be “it”.

464, mid page—“yell” should be “yelled”.

The book title really has little connection to the book. It is tangential. The painting, “Rider On A Pale Horse” by Blake hooks up with the Book of Revelations—therefore, the Anti-Christ and the secret cult??