The 13th Tribe

June 25, 2012
As chief of security at an archeological dig on Mt. Sinai, Jagger Baird finds himself pitted against a tribe of immortals, descending upon the world with powerful technology and a determination to punish sinners in the name of God. Questioning his faith, protecting his family, and trying to determine what is right, Baird must make hard decisions and deal with the fallout as he goes toe-to-toe with this 13th Tribe of God. Narrator Daniel Butler’s deep, raspy voice sounds like a long growl throughout this audio edition, and while he shines during climatic and action-packed moments, his one-note performance can wear on listeners. Additionally, the voices he provides the characters are limited. He rarely creates female voices well, and his male characters are often hard to discern from one another. A Thomas Nelson paperback.

January 30, 2012
Liparulo (Comes a Horseman) opens the Immortal Files series with a bang: an intruder is shot at MicroTech, a supplier to the Pentagon. That intruder is a member of a team of vigilantes, who have amazing technology and even more amazing history: they go back to a time when they worshipped a golden calf while their leader Moses was away. Immortality as the 13th Tribe is the idolaters’ punishment, and in subsequent centuries they try to attain God’s forgiveness—and end their earthly existence—by righteously killing sinners. In present-day Egypt, maimed former Army Ranger Jagger Baird provides security for an archeological dig on Mt. Sinai, and when the Tribe shows up in search of a defector, Baird’s family gets caught in the crossfire. Liparulo has concocted a fast-moving, imaginative narrative that examines moral questions. Not everyone will get or care about the scriptural framework, though it will resonate for the biblically literate, but every reader is in for roller-coaster action, competently done, with a late-breaking major plot curve that leaves the door open for more.