Elisha's Bones [Paperback]

Elisha's Bones is the first book of Don Hoesel. Having the chance to read first books by new authors is much like trying a new restaurant for me. I love being able to see the writer's style, his method, his first baby. It is such a privilege to hold in your hand an author's first book and know that it was such a labor of love for them.

Fans of Dan Brown's DaVinci Code will definitely love this book. It has all the fast paced intrique without the controversy that Brown's book brought to it. However it is quite thought provoking as this college professor leaves his quiet life behind to traverse the world to find the bones of Elisha. The trip is financed by a man who has a limitless amount of money, but not a limitless amount of time because he is dying. His willingness to finance this college professor's search means many Indiana Jones type adventures around the world. However, Hoesel does a great job of keeping this realistic and not hokey sounding at all.

"And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet." (2 Ki 13:21, ESV)

Is it conceivable that the power of God surging through Elisha's bones could be harnessed yet today? What if your life and the lives of those you care about depend upon you finding them first?

Jack Hawthorne was well settled into the quiet and routine life of an archaeology professor at Evanston University in Ellen, North Carolina. It was only six years previous that a personal tragedy in Egypt had caused him to trade in the spade and meter stick of the field archaeologist in favor of textbooks and classrooms, the seemingly safer tools of the archaeology professor. Christmas break is just around the corner and Jack has every intention of spending it watching ESPN, eating frozen cookie dough out of the wrapper, and doing anything else he might wish to pass the time. That is, until his plans are suddenly derailed by a visit from a mysterious man claiming to represent billionaire Gordon Reese. Jack can't help but wonder what use a man like Gordon Reese would have for an archaeology professor like him. As it turns out, Reese wants Jack to take up what seems a fool's quest; finding the bones of the prophet Elisha. This quest is anything but new to Reese, who has been pursuing the bones for some time. As a dying man, Reese has more money than time and time is running out. Intrigued by the prospects of a little adventure, Jack can't help but agree to Reese's proposal. At worst, a fool's quest funded by a blank check backed by a billionaire would be more exciting than three weeks of ESPN and frozen cookie dough.

Jack soon finds that he got much more than he bargained for. The quest for Elisha's bones will take Jack across the globe to the likes of Venezuela, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. Throughout this adventure, Jack must contend both with others who are intent on finding the bones and those who intend to protect them. In the process of searching for the bones of the prophet, Jack must face many of the skeletons that have suddenly come back to life right out of his own closet. He is finding, real or not, the power of Elisha's bones appears to be alive and well, if only figuratively. As the quest progresses and the stakes rise increasingly higher, the focus of the quest becomes less and less about finding the bones and more about finishing or getting out of the quest with his life. As fate would have it, finding the bones may be the only way to do it.

I had a hard time putting down this book. The non-stop adventure and excitement kept me on the edge of my seat. It can be hard to find a comparison for this type of novel, as the Biblical archaeology / adventure genre is a pretty narrow part of the Christian fiction market. From a comparison standpoint, I would put Elisha's Bones in league with the Biblical archaeology / adventure titles, A Skeleton in God's Closet and More than a Skeleton by Paul L. Maier. Fans of Maier's books and similar titles will definitely want to pick up their own copy of Elisha's Bones. It is not very often that I do this, but I so thoroughly enjoyed this book, I am going to give it five stars. Hats off to Don Hoesel for writing such an enjoyable book and hats off to Bethany House for publishing it!

First let me say that Don Hoesel is an excellent writer. His use of the English language is fantastic. His pros, articulation and overall style made reading this book a joy. If I were to give stars solely on the writing this book would get an easy five. Don writes the story through the eyes of a PhD who uses words some of us don't hear very often but it's smooth none-the-less.

However the book was not what I had expected. Some compare it to Indiana Jones but to me it was much more of a academic look into archeology then a fast-paced adventure of thrills and suspense. Don't get me wrong, there are sections of suspense (and great sadness not expected) but they are few and far between. The dialogue is extremely slow (and if I had to say why this gets 3 starts it would be for this reason). Short conversations would take five pages instead of one due to the main characters thoughts taking up most of the exchange. This made for very slow dialogue and therefore slowed the book down terribly. The action sequences were very well-written and fast paced but as I said they were far too few. Another issue was the lead female character. For some odd reason, even though she was there throughout the entire book, she seemed to disappear as the story progressed. She ended up saying very little in the last quarter of the book and her strong character seemed to just fade.

Biblically the story was based on a possible Old Testament find but most of the book had little spiritual significance at all. The main female lead professed to follow Christ but no attributes of a Christian were present. In the end the question of the existence of God was asked and therefore the book redeemed itself a bit. This book could be good for those who are asking the big question... Does God exist?

Over-all I enjoyed the book. It should (and could) have been faster paced. This genre of book cries for adventure, thrills and suspense.


1 Star = Pathetic
2 Stars = Fair
3 Stars = Good
4 Stars = Excellent
5 Stars = Life changing

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 107 reviews  3.7 out of 5 stars