Valley of the Templars

Templar #7

by Paul Christopher

From New York Times bestselling author Paul Christopher comes an international thriller delving into a Templar threat right at America’s doorstep.

Retired Army Ranger John Holliday and his friend Eddie travel to Cuba in search of Eddie’s mysteriously vanished brother—and find themselves desperately trying to stop a shocking plot of a secret Templar cabal that has been growing for five hundred years. As the conspiracy tightens the corrupt and dying Castro regime in an iron grip, Holliday must find Eddie’s brother before it is too late…and the secret horror of what lies in the Valley of Death is revealed.  

Genres: Historical Fiction, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Action, Mystery Thriller

379 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Paul Christopher is a pseudonym used by the author Christopher Hyde.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucked. The story sucked as much as it was confusing and dumb...the plot sucked and made me want everybody to die...It is not often I can't wait for a book to end...this was one of them. If you like things that suck...read this book. I will never read another paul christopher book ever again. Sucks.

[John Hanscom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the seventh book in the series, and I may stop reading them. The stories are getting sillier and the hero more bloody and less heroic. This is also the worst edited book I can remember reading.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read much of Paul Christopher's work, including two (up to now) series in which he has at least four books, I see a troubling pattern. He begins a series with great characters and stellar plots, but as the books progress, the plot suffers and we learn little of interest or value about his characters. It is as though they are (and in this series, they literally ARE) flying from one adventure to the next, but there is no growth and no real means to keep the reader learning any more. In Christopher's Templar series, the premise of the Templars was exhausted in the first few books and now mere mention of the group suffices to keep the book within the series. I would expect, though it may take some fabrication, that each book would tie in with something done by this famous group and have the reader wondering if it is truth or just fiction to entertain.

This book surrounds the goings-on in Cuba in the waning years of the Castro regime. While much could be done here, the main characters are more preoccupied with finding one of their own than playing into the main story line. That said, the main story line is hard to follow, as we have so many threads to follow and so much happening (but little of substantial interest). I felt as though the book was, at times, written and pieced together poorly, as a brief 'update' on another thread cut into a well-developed thread, which is then returned to mid-stream.

Alas, I am hooked on the series and am not so put off as to stop reading, but if you are looking for a series that blows you away from beginning to end, you will be sadly disappointed by the time you get to this book in the series.

Mr. Christopher... churning out too many books too swiftly may indicate you have James Patterson syndrome; you sell based on your name, not on your quality. I assure you, it is nothing about which to brag.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I've read this whole series in sequence. The Templar books have been getting progressively worse and this one is no exception. The story wandered without focus, ironically having nothing at all to do with a "valley of the templars." Characters from previous books in the series were present, it seems, only to participate in a random and incoherent series of events. No plot, no action and no reason to continue this series.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

A complete mess. There are huge editing mistakes, gaping plot continuity issues, and the ending is wrapped up in like 1/4 page, with a really obnoxious plug for the next book in the series. Way more complicated than it needed to be, given that half of the characters never actually mattered. It was fun, but it wasn't necessarily good.

[Patrice Blanchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Christopher s'y connait en armes, en armées privées et en politique. Il s'y connait aussi en petites histoires et manipulations qui se passent en coulisses. Et ce livre s'y prend à merveille pour exposer ces connaissances.
Le livre est prenant, plein d'action et de rebondissements, plein de morts très graphiques, un peu trop surement.
J'ai été assez vite pour parcourir les premiers chapitres mais j'ai trouvé les chapitres suivants plus complexes à lire, plus alambiqués dans l'action.
On y trouve beaucoup de personnages, un peu trop certainement, et pas toujours bien présentés. J'aurais aimé en savoir plus sur eux. et moins que les armes qu'ils utilisent.
Ne vous méprenez pas sur le titre "La légende des templiers", ce n'est qu'un prétexte. On ne parle des templiers qu'en 4ème de couverture, pas ailleurs. C'est même suspect et je me demande si le but n'est pas d'attirer des lecteurs de romans historiques qui ne se seraient pas attardés sur un simple livre de guerre.
La fin du livre est assez banale. Pas de rebondissement ultime qui en vaille la peine, pas de question laissée ouverte. Juste une introduction du prochain tome qui donnera au lecteur d'en savoir plus ... ou pas.
Reste une lecture distrayante et facile à appréhender si on ne veut pas trop s'attacher aux nombreux personnages.
Je pensais au début de la lecture, commander les autres livres. Je ne pense pas que ce sera nécessaire. Je les prendrai si ils se présentent à moi.

[Speesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complicated and rather unnecessary tale involving missiles, nuclear missiles I think and the blowing up half of Florida. Shadowy figures, people behind the scenes and modern-day Templar people, who aren't really Templars. But have names that are Templar-ish. And half of it is in bloody Spanish. Well, there are many exchanges between Holliday and Eddie, who is Cuban. That's a bit wearisome. All the while, we're getting further and further away from the 'world of the Templars' as stated on the front. As a story, as a book, it's ok, I suppose, not much more than that. Every problem is solved pretty much instantaneously, because one of them, or someone they meet under way, happens to be an expert in that particular field. And Holliday's encyclopaedic knowledge and total recall of just about everything he's ever seen or learned, comes in handy as well. The whole thing is easy on the eye, it's not the best in the series, the early books were better, there were more ancient secrets being discovered and ancient facts being told - so he may well just be running out of steam now.

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[William Bentrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valley of the Templars by Paul Christopher
Talk about a intricate plot, the Vatican, Cuban dissidents, the CIA, MI6, Blackwater Mercenaries, the Cuban government, a secret society and a couple of rogue retirees are all involved in the overthrow of the Cuban government and the installation of an American friendly regime.
Retired Army Ranger John Holliday and his psycho sidekick Eddie find themselves trying to find Eddie’s brother and save him and his country. Turns out a terrorist attack on southern Florida is more important.
Lots of action, mayhem and some sadism.

[Susana789 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pokleslá literatúra sa tomu voľakedy hovorilo, ale pejoratívne sa vzťahovalo na ľahké erotično pre ženy. Pokleslé mi ako označenie vyhovuje, ale je to kváziakečné pre mužov a bez tej erotiky. Kvitujem aspoň to, že ženy v tejto sérii aspoň niekedy myslia.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed the book I found the story line rather clunky. It didn’t flow well and the ending felt rather rushed.
I’ve enjoyed the series so far but the last couple I’ve read aren’t nearly as good as the earlier books in the set.
Hopefully the final two will be an improvement.

[Olivia Haselwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would give this book less than one star if possible. Dumb from start to finish. It was as if the author had a page number benchmark to meet so filled the book with mindless adjectives about everything not having to do with the story. Not worth the time!

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a good premise but somewhere along the way it got lost. To many different people, places and things going on. Hard to keep track of who was the good guy and bad guy. The hero seemed a little worn out

[Mitchell Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty action packed book. I didn't like the fact that if you didn't read the previous books in the series, there are characters and events you're not really sure about. Also, there is a very slim connection to any Templars at all.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these stories, and the background, even if I don't know how much of the history is true. I feel like there are too many characters though, all opposing each other, and it's hard to keep track.

[Serenity Chaotic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of ridiculous long names, bits of Spanish in almost all chapters, tons of food & everybody seems to die a horrid unbelievable death. Not my cup of tea nor what I thought book would be about from description.

[Karl Gros · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely lousy book!

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is getting tired.

[Simon Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best one of the series but if you liked the previous books you'll enjoy this one. More ripping adventure yarn than prize-winning literature, but entertaining with it.

[Fauzan Prasetya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good character building for such a short story

[Morag Lamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off well but seems I seem to lose interest as it progresses. Will need to think whether I continue to read the Templar books.

[Milton Fulghum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another exciting thriller. Apparently an error in calling silver oak leaf the rank for bird colonel.
Mention of low orbit satellite in synchronous orbit; all synchronous orbits are high orbits.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The search is on for Eddie's brother Domingo as the want to be powers at large vye for domination of Cuba when Castro(Fidel) dies.

[cheryl lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another corker

Loved the plot and the pace of the plot, keeps you on the edge of the seat, a page turner, taking you from one exotic place to another

[ffion · Rating 3 out of 5]

entertaining like an inflight movie but I doubt I’ll remember it

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I last visited Paul Christopher’s world of the modern Templars in 2010. Now I now why it took so long to return. I just finished VALLEY OF THE TEMPLARS (ISBN 978-0451237156, $9.99, paperback, 379 pages). It took a great effort on my part to finish. Army Ranger (retired) Colonel “Doc” Holliday and his Cuban pal Eddie go to Cuba to find Domingo, Eddie’s older brother who had been missing for a few months. Domingo had a position within Cuba’s intelligence community.

The trail takes them to The Valley of the Templars in western Cuba. Apparently there was an offshoot of the Knights Templar still active in Cuba. They secretly control most of what happens in that country. Blackhawk Security has a small army in place that is planning to assist in a new “revolution” in Cuba. Part of the plan involves the Vatican Intelligence Service conducting an assassination of mammoth international import. Nuclear weapons are buried in Florida that will also assist the new “revolution”. Agents of the CIA and British MI6 help Doc and Eddie figure out what’s going on.

I would not rush out to buy this book but if you can get it for free from your local library, it might be worth the effort to read.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel picks up the Rex Deus plot, as that cabal works to remove Castro and the Catholic Church from power in Cuba for their own nefarious ends. Using nuclear terror and private security firms (how timely are those?), Rex Deus hits one stumbling block:Doc Holliday and his friend Eddie.

Eddie's elder brother, a minor official in the Cuban government, has gone missing and Doc goes with Eddie to Cuba to seek him out. What they find is that Eddie's brother is working to stop the plot, and is trying to stay alive.

And in case you are wondering, yes, there is a Templar element to this, but only a limited one. Hint: ever notice that the red Templar cross looks an awful lot like the red crosses on the sails of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria? Would you be surprised to learn that those that rule Cuba now are descendants of some of Christopher Columbus' crew? No, I didn't think so; after all, this is a suspense book, these sorts of things happen.

Two new characters are introduced, agents of the CIA and MI6. Both are interesting but I'm not going to reveal much here. There is no point in doing so when they could very well be disposable. But then again, who knows? When book 8 comes out, I guess I'll find out.

[Eunice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving this a 2.5 rating. I bought this book from a sale. It was a big discount so I bought it at $2. And not to offend the author, but I was glad I didn't this book at its full price.

The first few chapters were boring in my opinion. I wanted to give it up, but I have a rule to finish any books that I bought. It was hard at times, though.

Here are some reasons why I didn't like this book. First, it was badly edited for a published book. I don't know how they missed out on it when they edited the book. Second, the dialogue. It's stilted and unemotional. Conversations were filled with few-word responses. As for characters, they're ok, I guess, except for the fact that all of the military men who have wives are divorced. Like, is that a thing? Not all men in the military have broken relationships.

And lastly, the chapters. I get that putting that element of mystery can be suspenseful, but too much of it and it will just give you confused readers. I think that there were too many events going on at the same time. I couldn't make much sense of what was going on.

But that was mostly from the first part of the book. As it progressed the writing became better, and I actually looked forward to reading it, which is why I didn't give this book one or two stars.

[Mark Muckerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want my 10 bucks back.

Just not a good book. I believe the actual templar reference may have lasted four paragraphs. Other critics have savaged this waste of tree pulp more eloquently than I so I shall summarize:
Weak story. Weak plot. Weak dialogue. Weak character development. Weak or no quality plot developmnent, and no resolution - neither closure nor a cliffhanger.

However, Christopher was able to weave in the Vatican, the Templars, the Military-Industrial complex, Kennedy, the CIA, Corporate America, mercenaries, and Castro, all as major players in a crap story, resulting in the loss of three hours of my life I'll never get back.

It's now been only 48 hours since I read it, and I can't really recall what much of it was about, so I guess that's pretty telling right there. Sadly, it is unlikely I'll ever read one of his books again. Even sadder is that I'll probably forget my resolution, and only when I'm three chapters into the next one I've bought at an airport will I remember, and be filled with self-loathing.

I want my 10 bucks back.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much potential, so little realised. This book takes us to Cuba to help Doc's friend Eddie search for his brother. We start out with a great premise of Templars in Cuba from the time of Columbus, and then the author drops the ball. He turns these Templars into a modern mafia family, and goes on with a tale of palace coups and attempts to take over Cuba. The Valley is barely touched upon in that a few nukes from the Cuban Missle Crises were hidden here way back when by the Mafia/Templar family hence the title Valley of the Templars. I guess Christopher had to get Templar in the book title somehow. This could be an excellent filler book if the next one is amazing. I guess we'll see.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE title of the book is a little misleading, and the cover notes in some cases seem to have little to do with the story inside.


The story was engaging enough, but not that gripping. It was also lucky I speak Spanish as the book is peppered with the occasional Spanish phrases without any real reason for them being there except because part of the action was in Cuba.
From the back cover I see there are several in the 'Templar' series. This one has not made me want to rush out and but any of the others.