Overview
A lost treasure, a Nazi war criminal, and an expedition to find a legend . . .
After fifty years in hiding, the Nazi war criminal known as the Butcher of Spiegelgrund has finally been tracked down by Father Anthony Fowler, a CIA operative and a member of the Vatican’s secret service. He wants something from the Butcher—a candle covered in filigree gold that was stolen from a Jewish family many years before.
But it isn’t the gold Fowler is after. As Fowler holds a flame to the wax, the missing fragment of an ancient map that uncovers the location of the Ten Commandments given to Moses is revealed. Soon Fowler is involved in an expedition to Jordan set up by a reclusive billionaire. But there is a traitor in the group who has ties to terrorist organizations back in the United States, and who is patiently awaiting the moment to strike.
From wartime Vienna to terrorist cells in New York and a lost valley in Jordan, The Moses Expedition is a thrilling read about a quest for power and the secrets of an ancient world.
Synopsis
A lost treasure, a Nazi war criminal, and an expedition to find a legend . . .
After fifty years in hiding, the Nazi war criminal known as the Butcher of Spiegelgrund has finally been tracked down by Father Anthony Fowler, a CIA operative and a member of the Vatican’s secret service. He wants something from the Butcher—a candle covered in filigree gold that was stolen from a Jewish family many years before.
But it isn’t the gold Fowler is after. As Fowler holds a flame to the wax, the missing fragment of an ancient map that uncovers the location of the Ten Commandments given to Moses is revealed. Soon Fowler is involved in an expedition to Jordan set up by a reclusive billionaire. But there is a traitor in the group who has ties to terrorist organizations back in the United States, and who is patiently awaiting the moment to strike.
From wartime Vienna to terrorist cells in New York and a lost valley in Jordan, The Moses Expedition is a thrilling read about a quest for power and the secrets of an ancient world.
Publishers Weekly
In Gómez-Jurado's unoriginal, intermittently exciting religious thriller, two characters from the Spanish author's internationally bestselling first novel, God's Spy—Fr. Anthony Fowler, who works for both the CIA and the Vatican secret service, and Andrea Otero, a plucky El Globo journalist—become involved in a secret archeology expedition to Jordan. Raymond Kahn, the eccentric and reclusive chief of Kayn Industries, hopes the team will recover that elusive treasure beloved by many school-of-Dan-Brown writers, the Ark of the Covenant. Several terrorist groups are targeting the expedition, and one by one people turn up dead. U.S. readers who just can't get enough of the Ark would be better off watching yet again the first Indiana Jones flick, The Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Mar.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
In Gómez-Jurado's unoriginal, intermittently exciting religious thriller, two characters from the Spanish author's internationally bestselling first novel, God's Spy—Fr. Anthony Fowler, who works for both the CIA and the Vatican secret service, and Andrea Otero, a plucky El Globo journalist—become involved in a secret archeology expedition to Jordan. Raymond Kahn, the eccentric and reclusive chief of Kayn Industries, hopes the team will recover that elusive treasure beloved by many school-of-Dan-Brown writers, the Ark of the Covenant. Several terrorist groups are targeting the expedition, and one by one people turn up dead. U.S. readers who just can't get enough of the Ark would be better off watching yet again the first Indiana Jones flick, The Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Mar.)Library Journal
Indiana Jones meets The Da Vinci Code in this fast-paced thriller by the Spanish author of the successful God's Spy. After extricating a map hidden decades ago in a candle by a Nazi war criminal, Fr. Anthony Fowler—an agent of both the CIA and the Holy Alliance—joins an archaeological dig called the Moses Expedition. Financed by the eccentric agoraphobic Raymond Kayn, this expedition aims to unearth the Arc of the Covenant. Soon, we learn that a key member of the expeditionary team is an Islamic terrorist whose fellow terrorists intend to abort the mission. The plot is full of ironic twists, including the identity of the turncoat and the reason for Kayn's obsession with the mission. To create tension, Gómez-Jurado digs into a panoply of cinematographic devices. The characters are assaulted by sandstorms, scorpions, and vicious red ants, to name a few, and just when the reader thinks the author has exhausted all possibilities, he conjures up something equally startling. Readers familiar with God's Spy will delight in the reappearance of Father Fowler and Andrea, two of only a handful of survivors of that book's debacle. VERDICT A well-written thriller with an exciting plot and well-drawn characters. For thriller fans, what's not to like?—Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OHKirkus Reviews
The Ark of the Covenant represents a tantalizing prize (yes, again!) in this suspense melodrama from the Spanish author of God's Spy (2007). There's an echo of Raiders of the Lost Ark in the Nazi who opens the story, the "genocidal monster" who performed lethal experiments on Jewish children, one of whose brothers escaped to America. Years later in 2006, Raymond Kayn, now a reclusive New York billionaire, sends Father Anthony Fowler (ex-CIA, now Vatican Secret Service) to Austria to retrieve a family heirloom from the ancient Nazi. It contains a scroll that details the location of the Ark in the Jordanian desert. Kahn also commissions a Spanish journalist, Andrea Otero, to cover the top-secret expedition. (Fowler and Otero are holdovers from God's Spy, and Kahn needs them both at the site. Exactly why is murky.) There are so many characters they all but trip over each other, and there's no one narrator to hold everything together; curiously, it's the brash lesbian Andrea who gets the most attention. The unwieldy expedition arrives in the desert, unaware that Islamic terrorists have preceded them. They are following the orders of shadowy mastermind Huqan, a double agent; when his identity's finally revealed, it's sheer unforeshadowed silliness. But he keeps it moving! If the author knows nothing else, he knows how to do that, cross-cutting between the desert and Washington, where a sleuth is on Huqan's trail. Too bad he dispels the suspense with a chapter heading proclaiming the expedition a disaster. Still, the intrigues continue. Kahn, Fowler and the Vatican-they all have their hidden agendas. Then there's the irrelevant melodrama: the evil Colombian security guard who sets scorpions onAndrea and killer ants on Fowler, the jihadist in Washington who tortures the sleuth with skewers. As the team closes in on the Ark, bombs go off and bodies pile up and a horrendous sandstorm claims the rest. A second novel that has the trappings of suspense fiction but none of its substance.From the Publisher
"Better take a deep breath before opening this novel—Gomez-Jurado leaves no time for a second one until you finish the last page."—Javier Sierra, bestselling author of The Secret Supper and The Lady in Blue
"The Moses Expedition delivers the best of the literary suspense and international intrigue genres with breakneck thrills and twists, and Gomez-Jurado enriches every page with a sophisticated portrayal of characters and a deep respect for history. This fantastic novel will have your brain working overtime and your bedside lamp on into the night."
—Matthew Pearl, New York Times bestselling author of The Dante Club and The Last Dickens
"History, secrets, conspiracies, action, adventure, this is my kind of story. The Moses Expedition is fraught with intrigue and plot twists galore. Juan Gomez-Jurado is a writer who knows how to deliver exactly what readers want. He's in the top echelon of the world's thriller writers and well worth a look. Settle back and savor this perfect piece of entertainment."
—Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Vendetta
"A thrilling quest novel by a terrific new talent... this tale is going to cost you some serious sleep."
—Stephen Coonts, New York Times bestselling author of The Disciple
"Nazis, Israelis, archaeologists, terrorists, a reclusive billionaire, a mysterious Vatican priest, hidden treasures, secret maps, the Lost Ark, the Dead Sea Scrolls... A heart-pounding thriller, jam-packed with two thousand years of Middle Eastern intrigue."
—Katherine Neville , New York Times bestselling author of The Eight
"A perfectly balanced, fast-paced, and compelling thriller.... Already an international bestseller, it’s also certain to draw the American wing of the still-unsatiated Da Vinci Code crowd."
—Starred Booklist review
"Juan Gomez-Jurado has created a true masterpiece. The Moses Expedition is a brilliant thriller —sharp, suspenseful, and engrossing. This is what great thriller writing is all about and why Jurado has vaulted to the top of my list of must-read authors!" —Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Foreign Influence
"A book that Dan Brown must surely wish he had written.... Tense, rollicking and atmospheric, this is a book not to be missed." —BestThrillers.com
Booklist
Starred ReviewA perfectly balanced, fast-paced, and compelling thriller.... Already an international bestseller, it's also certain to draw the American wing of the still-unsatiated Da Vinci Code crowd."--