The Moses Legacy by Adam Palmer **Review**

The Moses Legacy by Adam Palmer

Series: No
Pages: 416
Publisher: AVON
Release date: 26th May 2011
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Waterstones

Goodreads synopsis:

When fragments of Stone with ancient writings are found in Sinai, the Egyptians call in expert Daniel Klein. But when Daniel’s decipherment of the ancient text threatens to reveal the origins of the Bible, others are determined to prevent the truth from seeing the light of day. 


Framed for murder, Daniel and the beautiful Viennese archaeologist he is working with, find themselves pursued across Sinai by a deadly female Mossad officer and a ruthless killer from a shadowy organization in Washington DC. But as they try to stay one step ahead of their pursuers and follow the trail of clues, they are forced to ask themselves how many more secrets are waiting to be discovered? 


The trail leads them all the way back to the Samaritans – an ancient sect who claim that they are descended from the true Israelites – and a sacred mountain shrine that may hold the answers… or cost them their lives.

Conspiracy thrillers are not a genre that I have read much of in the past, and so this was a nice change of pace for me. Daniel Klein was an absolutely fantastic protagonist - I found him instantly likeable, and I found that I got to know his character really easily and quickly - and there was definitely something attractive about his character too, which is always a bonus!
The other characters in the novel were also absolutely fantastic. It's obvious that a lot of time was taken to develop the characters properly, and to create a variety of different personalities. The only character that I might say I was disappointed in was Senator Morris, simply because he was supposed to be the head of the 'evil corporation' (for want of a better word), but when it came down to it, he went down with a fizzle rather than the bang that I might have expected. Goliath (so-called simply because of his enormous height and strength), though was definitely the antagonist that I hoped he was going to be - without him the novel would not have been nearly as exciting as it was!

The reason that I have rated this four stars rather than five, is mostly due to my own lack of understanding in the religious and ancient historical topics in the novel. I do not know a great deal about either of these things, so when there were large conversations about the religious/historical theories surrounding Moses, I confess that I did find myself a little lost. I don't think this would be as much of a problem for someone who has more knowledge of religion than I do though - and that is certainly not difficult!
However, the thriller element of the novel more than made up for my lack of understanding in others. The chapters were the perfect length for me - the longest chapter only being around 8 pages - and that they jumped from character to character and scene to scene, really gave the novel a racey, fast and exciting pace - I just couldn't put it down!

The end of the novel (don't worry, I won't give anything away!), was nothing like I really expected it to be. There is a ENORMOUS twist in the last 10 pages that will have your mouth hanging open in shock - not at all what I expected, and definitely an interesting yet sad revelation!
But I am saying no more - you will have to read it for yourselves!