Ark Of Fire [Paperback]

I really love good political thrillers that are based on events or artifacts from the distant past (ala Greg Loomis and Clive Cussler), or science (ala Michael Crichton and James Rollins). I bought this book because it looked to be just right up my ally, and could not wait to sit down and start reading it.

I made it through 24 pages.

The first rule of fiction writing is that you have to get your readers to suspend their disbelief. You do that by including enough verifiable facts along with your story line that will help to suck your readers in--while avoiding glaring factual mistakes and anachronisms. You also have to avoid preaching. If you have a message it better be subtle, if at all.

Unfortunately MS. Palov broke both rules within the first 24 pages.

Right off the bat I had trouble with the "Hopkins" museum of Near Eastern Art in D.C., because there is no such thing, though Hopkins University in Baltimore might have such a museum. Then I had trouble with a "breastplate" being only 4 inches by 6 inches. Even a Hobbit would have trouble getting into a breastplate of that size. Had she called it a medallion or a portion of a breast plate it would have gone down easier. But then came the modern square Hebrew characters on an artifact that, according to her story, was buried nearly a thousand years before those square Hebrew characters were used. A little research into ancient Semitic scripts would have clued her as to which alphabet was in use at the time her supposed artifact was (actually even a good Hebrew-English dictionary would have told her that).

However, I was willing to forgive her all of that since she is a first time writer, and after all, this is a thriller, a genre where fans are generally forgiving of illogicalities. But then came the preaching. It sounded like Janet Napolitano ("the only real terrorists we have to worry about are American troops returning from Iraq") married to Margaret Atwood (gotta watch out for those evil Bible-reading Christians).

No matter whether one is an agnostic, as I am, or a Hindu, or what, and no matter whether one was for the Iraq war or not, I found this book to be a premeditated smear of our troops who have put their lives on the line for a very thankless job.

Also, the bad guys were so over-done in the "Christians are such evil creatures" theme that they were nothing more than card board cut outs from an Atwood fantasy cartoon.

So, that's where I stopped. Usually I donate unwanted, or no longer needed, books to charity. But this one will have to go in to the fireplace.

When cataloging rare artifacts for the Hopkins Museum of Near Eastern Art, photographer Edie Miller witnesses a murder of the chief curator. Just as she bends down to check on some loose cable wires the murderer walks in and shoots the curator with no questions asked and steals an ancient Hebrew relic. Saved by her convenient hiding place Edie just makes it out of the museum alive where she sees the killer meet up with a D.C. policeman.

Fearing for her life she refuses to turn to the police because of what she saw. Instead she turns to the historian, Caedmon Aisquith who the curator was about to send Edie's pictures to.

Together with Caedmon they realize who the killers are working for and what they are after... The Ark of the Covenant. But if Edie and Caedmon can find it first they'll stop the killers from seeing their plans through to the deadly end.

Reading the endorsements on the cover of this book had me really looking forward to Ark of Fire. On the front cover is a blurb by Steve Berry one of my favorite action thriller authors and a blurb on the back cover from Karen Dionne describes the book as "Part Dan Brown, part Indiana Jones and part James Bond..." With the two things I was expecting a lot more from Ark of Fire.

It was a good story but a little too over the top. I can't exactly explain some of the major aspects that bothered me without giving any spoilers away but a couple of small things that made me roll my eyes where just how many times Caedmon and Edie were saved by the killers being out of bullets or their gun jamming and how many times they escaped death and other horrific acts just in the nick of time. Not to mention the whole escaping from Washington D.C. to Europe. I found it hard to believe it was really that easy to flee the country with only $3,000 and a conveniently remembered passport with a killer breathing down her neck.

With those vents out of the way the storyline was pretty good and there was obviously a lot of action. I would recommend this one as loaner or library read for anyone who loves a good suspense thriller.

ARK OF FIRE is yet another thriller that rigidly follows Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE formula. While this book has some good points, the negatives outweigh the positives.

This novel deals with a male-female duo who are racing against time to find the Ark of the Lost Covenant. Our heroes must hustle to find the Ark's hiding place before a right-wing fundamnentalist Christian extremist, who wants to use the Ark to hasten the coming of Armaggedeon.

On the plus side, ARK OF FIRE has a lightning fast plot, some decently written action scenes, and a lot of interesting religious history. If you like the work of Dan Brown or Michael Crichton, this book might engage you at the intellectual level. ARK OF FIRE contains a lot of fascinating historical trivia, such as a possible link between the ancient Jewish and Egyptian religions.

On the minus side, Pavlov's characters are two-dimensional and exaggerated. Much of their dialogue sounds forced and even silly. Particularly unconvincing is the romantic banter between the two main characters, which often made me roll my eyes. A lot of their exchanges are supposed to be funny, but instead come across as sophomoric.

The over-the-top plot of ARK OF FIRE is also quite predictable, and contains no real surprises. It's mostly one long chase scene, as our heroes race from one life-or-death situation after another. I've read this type of story more times than I can count, and this novel adds nothing fresh to the well-worn formula.

In short, ARK OF FIRE is an okay read, but there are much better written novels in the genre, such as Steve Berry's work, or THE SACRED BONES by Michael Byrnes.

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