The Babylon Rite

March 4, 2013
Knox’s greatest strength is coming up with original anthropological mysteries; his greatest weakness is stopping the action so his characters can expound at length—as shown in this intriguing science quest thriller. Anthropologist Jessica Silverton’s dig in Peru has discovered evidence of human sacrifice in the ancient Moche civilization. The Moche had a bizarre culture, as suggested by erotic pottery depicting “Sex with animals. Sex with the dead. Sex between skeletons.” In Scotland, journalist Adam Blackwood witnesses the strange death of Knights Templar researcher Archibald McLintock. Adam teams with McLintock’s daughter, Nina, to investigate her father’s death. Many people die while the characters search for a mysterious drug that explains the barbaric oddities of both the Moche and the Templars. Knox (The Lost Goddess), the pseudonym of British journalist Sean Thomas, provides a surfeit of gruesome detail, but readers with strong stomachs and who don’t mind the lectures will be satisfied. Agent: Jay Mandel, William Morris Endeavor.

February 15, 2013
Another thriller about the Knights Templar results in a disappointing and amateurish effort to emulate a best-selling novel. It's a hair-whipping race to figure out who the bad guys are and what they're really after in Knox's (The Lost Goddess, 2012, etc.) latest offering. Anthropologist Jessica Silverton is a member of an archaeological team in Peru studying the Moche, a pre-Columbian civilization. She's convinced the murals and other artifacts depicting violence, carnage and erotic activities actually occurred, but she wants to discover the underlying cause and is skeptical when her boss (and lover) believes the behavior was probably caused by el Nino. Across the ocean, investigative reporter Adam Blackwood watches in horror as noted historian Archibald McLintock ends his life in a fiery car crash outside Rosslyn Chapel, a Scottish tourist attraction associated with the Knights Templar and popularized by Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. But McLintock's daughter, Nina, refuses to believe her father committed suicide and convinces Adam to help her uncover the truth. Armed with a bag of her father's old receipts, the two track his last movements among Templar sites in Western Europe, where they discover one of her father's secrets. Meanwhile, Detective Mark Ibsen is tasked with investigating a series of gruesome autoerotic deaths in London, and what he uncovers is pretty far-fetched. He crosses paths with Adam and Nina after a horrific attack, and they share what they know. Told in short cliffhanging chapters, the story becomes more convoluted with each chapter as the author adds layer upon ridiculous layer to the mix. The characters experience repeated flashbacks about their lives; countless feelings of ominous foreboding; lots of menacing looks from tattoo-sporting men associated with drug cartels; liberal doses of gory murders; and endless encyclopedic information to explain every supposition or twist. When the heroes finally assemble for a boat trip on the Amazon (except for Ibsen, who wisely chooses to participate by phone) to put together the final piece of the puzzle, don't get too excited: The trip takes forever. Knox begins with an interesting premise, which he first attacks with enthusiasm; unfortunately, he drags the story out well beyond tolerable limits and literally stomps it to death.

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April 1, 2013

Adam Blackwood interviews Archibald McClintock, the world's most famous Templar historian, at Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh, but the conversation is odd. The historian seems to refute all he has ever said about the Templars. Minutes later McClintock's speeding car crashes into a stone wall. By all appearances, his death was a suicide. But Adam would swear the historian was smiling as he sped by. Refusing to believe her father's death was a suicide, Nina McClintock convinces Adam to help her follow her father's trail to find the "secret that will get you killed." But dangerous forces are seeking her father's secret and will stop at nothing to get it as in Peru a young archaeologist finds evidence of mass suicides, amputations of hands and feet, and prisoners fed to flesh-eating insects in the tombs of the Moche civilization, and in London young, wealthy people involved in an underground sex-party scene are killing themselves in gruesome ways. VERDICT Knox (The Lost Goddess; The Marks of Cain) has written a fascinating mystery blending archaeological facts and suppositions into a plausible explanation for the vicious, bizarre behaviors of the Berserkers, the Templars, the Conquistadors, and the bloodthirsty tribes of Central and South America. His thriller is often gory, occasionally disgusting; definitely NOT for the weak of stomach.--Cynde Suite, Bartow Cty. Lib. System, Adairsville, GA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2013
In Knox's latest thriller, an anthropologist and a journalist stumble upon a conspiracy that unravels a deadly secret involving the Templars. Adam Blackwood writes fluff pieces for a newspaper. When a noted historian tells him something shocking and then kills himself a few minutes later, Blackwood smells a story without a hint of fluff. The historian's daughter asks for his help because she knows her father's death was not suicide. In Peru, anthropologist Jess Silverton uncovers a sealed tomb that appears to be built by the Moche, an ancient civilization that practiced gruesome sacrifice. The two worlds collide, and what is eventually uncovered connects to a string of murders in which the victims were beheaded. But are these murders really suicides? Knox weaves a compelling, violent tale, peppered with plenty of sex, that will appeal to ancient conspiracy fans comfortable with the graphic content.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)