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The Nestorian Alliance, A Jack Trader Adventure
The location of Noahs Ark has been one of historys most intriguing mysteries. Believed to be on Mt. Ararat, it still eludes all seekers. The year is 1952 and a well worn amulet has been discovered in a collection at the Denver Museum of Natural History with etchings on its back indicating the true location of the Ark. Jack, a geologist/archeologist and avid Ark enthusiast, is made aware of the discovery and wastes no time in preparing for an immediate departure to Turkey with his two best friends and partners.
Through a network of agents, Joseph Stalin also learns about the discovery. He is determined to find the Ark first and destroy it. Stalin is still vengeful from being kicked out of seminary school many years earlier. Major Anna Petrova volunteers for the mission to Colorado with orders to retrieve the amulet at all cost.
The Nestorian Brotherhood has been protecting Noahs Ark for centuries in a location known only to them and they will do anything to keep it safe and hidden. They are well prepared. The man in black is their first defense and possibly their last.
Through a network of agents, Joseph Stalin also learns about the discovery. He is determined to find the Ark first and destroy it. Stalin is still vengeful from being kicked out of seminary school many years earlier. Major Anna Petrova volunteers for the mission to Colorado with orders to retrieve the amulet at all cost.
The Nestorian Brotherhood has been protecting Noahs Ark for centuries in a location known only to them and they will do anything to keep it safe and hidden. They are well prepared. The man in black is their first defense and possibly their last.
- GenresAdventure
Nook
First published September 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 14, 2016
The adventures of Jack Trader Series kept me going. After the first one, I read them all. Jack is a good character, and I love the intimate description of the area. Good fast reads
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December 31, 2019Please see blog for [K]'s review: https://thepturnersbookblog.wordpress...
May 29, 2023
Read this a while ago. It's a really clever story and kept me entertained. Highly recommend this especially if you like Indiana Jones type characters.
March 14, 2025
Stopped reading at 20%.
The writing was pretty bad, dialogue was way off, and to top it off spelling errors.
The writing was pretty bad, dialogue was way off, and to top it off spelling errors.
October 23, 2011
Disclaimer: A friend gave me a copy of this to review after running a charity auction for indie authors on her review blog (donate to Reading is Fundamental and move to the top of the review list!)
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This had good bones. The his/tory of the search for the Ark of Noah (as opposed the Ark of the Covenant) is not one I’m familiar with and, despite having read a fair amount of thrillers, not one I’ve read before.
The book that was hung on the good plot idea needs work, though, and perhaps the author will update it in the future :-)
I read, particularly indie books because they are notorious for issues that a good editor could have eliminated, like the editor that I am.
Pluses:
Like I said above, not much fiction that I’ve seen dealing with Noah’s Ark – props for something new-ish
Nice choice of era — I haven’t read much Cold War thriller material since I read Fleming’s Bond in junior high
Plausible plot with plausible (mostly) bumps in the road
Minuses:
#1 – SHOW, don’t tell. This book lapsed into random exposition a lot. Sometimes it was to give the reader info needed to follow the story (not ideal, but acceptable, especially in a first book). All too frequently, though, it was just to give us info we didn’t need. i.e. If you use a character worksheet when fleshing out your people, do NOT give us every scrap of information on it. I do not need to know the vital statistics (age/height/weight/hair color/eye color/occupation/hobbies) of each character as they are introduced or when they speak.
Tense, not tension. The narrative kept switching between between present and past tense, sometimes in the same paragraph.
Getting perspective — the story shifted from first person to third person seeming at random – if you are going to do this (and it is hard to do well) make sure you clearly define the boundary for the reader, usually by starting a new chapter when the shift occurs.
Action up! For an adventure/thriller this one took way to long to get to the action in general, and in particular the action involving the MC. It’s billed as “A Jack Trader Adventure” but poor Jack doesn’t start actually adventuring til chapter 8, then a lull, and it doesn’t really pick up again til around halfway through the book.
Needs character. Okay, granted, character development isn’t really a strong element in adventure fiction, but some change would be nice. Knowing the characters physical specs is not the same as knowing the character. Everyone in the book was a little flat — if Jack is going to carry a series, he needs some depth, as do his two main supporting characters.
Research. Outside of the geology (the author is a geologist) and the Noah’s Ark bits, research seemed lacking, in particular stuff on Cold War USSR and the geopolitical climate of the early 50′s as well as military protocol in general.
Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Lots of simple errors that a new reader will see where someone familiar with the material will not. Dialogue tags, in particular were problematic.
Despite the seemingly endless list above, I did like and enjoy (when the editor in my head shut up!) the book.
I admire the author’s passion for his topic and his bravery in not only actually writing his book (something many of us, me included, have not done) AND in putting his book out there for the world to see, read, and occasionally pick apart.
I really hope he doesn’t think I’m being mean. I’d like to see more from him, and I hope my review might help him see some things he needs to work on for the next one.
=======================
This had good bones. The his/tory of the search for the Ark of Noah (as opposed the Ark of the Covenant) is not one I’m familiar with and, despite having read a fair amount of thrillers, not one I’ve read before.
The book that was hung on the good plot idea needs work, though, and perhaps the author will update it in the future :-)
I read, particularly indie books because they are notorious for issues that a good editor could have eliminated, like the editor that I am.
Pluses:
Like I said above, not much fiction that I’ve seen dealing with Noah’s Ark – props for something new-ish
Nice choice of era — I haven’t read much Cold War thriller material since I read Fleming’s Bond in junior high
Plausible plot with plausible (mostly) bumps in the road
Minuses:
#1 – SHOW, don’t tell. This book lapsed into random exposition a lot. Sometimes it was to give the reader info needed to follow the story (not ideal, but acceptable, especially in a first book). All too frequently, though, it was just to give us info we didn’t need. i.e. If you use a character worksheet when fleshing out your people, do NOT give us every scrap of information on it. I do not need to know the vital statistics (age/height/weight/hair color/eye color/occupation/hobbies) of each character as they are introduced or when they speak.
Tense, not tension. The narrative kept switching between between present and past tense, sometimes in the same paragraph.
Getting perspective — the story shifted from first person to third person seeming at random – if you are going to do this (and it is hard to do well) make sure you clearly define the boundary for the reader, usually by starting a new chapter when the shift occurs.
Action up! For an adventure/thriller this one took way to long to get to the action in general, and in particular the action involving the MC. It’s billed as “A Jack Trader Adventure” but poor Jack doesn’t start actually adventuring til chapter 8, then a lull, and it doesn’t really pick up again til around halfway through the book.
Needs character. Okay, granted, character development isn’t really a strong element in adventure fiction, but some change would be nice. Knowing the characters physical specs is not the same as knowing the character. Everyone in the book was a little flat — if Jack is going to carry a series, he needs some depth, as do his two main supporting characters.
Research. Outside of the geology (the author is a geologist) and the Noah’s Ark bits, research seemed lacking, in particular stuff on Cold War USSR and the geopolitical climate of the early 50′s as well as military protocol in general.
Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Lots of simple errors that a new reader will see where someone familiar with the material will not. Dialogue tags, in particular were problematic.
Despite the seemingly endless list above, I did like and enjoy (when the editor in my head shut up!) the book.
I admire the author’s passion for his topic and his bravery in not only actually writing his book (something many of us, me included, have not done) AND in putting his book out there for the world to see, read, and occasionally pick apart.
I really hope he doesn’t think I’m being mean. I’d like to see more from him, and I hope my review might help him see some things he needs to work on for the next one.
February 9, 2012
Note: I received my copy of this book from a friend who held a charity auction on her blog, for which Michael Watson was the winner, in exchange for a review. She then gifted a few of us with copies as well so that we could provide additional thoughts and reviews. Thank you Mr. Watson for the opportunity to review your book, I can tell it is very important to you, a labor love and I hope you can take my comments with a grain of salt as the constructive criticism they are meant to be.
I'll start off by saying I'm a tough audience for this book because I want a lot from anything archaeology related as it's one of my interests. I liked the premise of this book, the search for Noah's Ark, the secret Nestorian Brotherhood charged with it's guardianship, the desire to keep it's location secret from the rest of the world. I think those are all solid ideas to build a story around.
I feel there were a number of weaknesses, the first is character development. I have to agree with other reviewers in that Jack and his friends did not have a lot of individuality, they seemed kind of flat to me though I did detect attempts at making Rudy out to be a ladies man, I didn't see a lot of other distinguishing traits. They also did not react realistically in a lot of the situations they found themselves in, either under or over reacting. I feel like the author wants us to view Jack as this larger than life adventurer (a la Dirk Pitt, Cotton Malone, some examples from my own reading) but then he never really does anything hero worthy, aside from inexplicably sleeping with the spy after just meeting her and then rejecting her at the very end because of the kind of person she is. He's also a little wishy-washy, "I'm staying, no I'm going, wait up! Of course I'll keep it a secret! Oh Mr. Benefactor I will tell you all about it, you deserve to know!" ;)
Another weakness to me was plot line development and execution. While the ideas at the core are sound, the execution fizzles out. The draw to this story for me was Noah's Ark. There is a big build up to finding it, and then when they do, it's very anti-climactic. They all stand there and stare at it with their mouths open in awe, but that's about it. I would have loved some additional scenes centered around the Ark, some mysticism, some additional description and history, a feeling of presence, after all we are talking about one of the most legendary of relics, and the central point of the story. There is a ton of description about aircraft and guns, but next to nothing about the main reason they are there. Also the plot line for Major Petrova had the potential for a lot more than was delivered. She's a fantastic spy, except that she's careless enough to leave some of her equipment behind to be found? I don't think so, or if so, the reason why needed to be a part of the story. If her father is part of the Nestorian Brotherhood, then why in the world is she a Russian spy? Her own story woven through out could have been much more.
My last point is on the style or method of the narration. For the most part Jack is the narrator of the story except when he isn't around, and that's kind of disjointed to me. In my experience if a story is written in first person it is because they have a lot of additional information, thoughts or asides that cannot be delivered to the reader in any other way, and I didn't really get that from Jack. Out of necessity the style flips from first to third person depending on the characters involved and my personal opinion is it needs to be one way or the other.
I do applaud you for writing the story from beginning to end, and for publishing it and putting it out there for people to read, that takes courage, and I certainly don't want to discourage you from continuing Jack's adventures! I am interested to know what he might be tackling next!
I'll start off by saying I'm a tough audience for this book because I want a lot from anything archaeology related as it's one of my interests. I liked the premise of this book, the search for Noah's Ark, the secret Nestorian Brotherhood charged with it's guardianship, the desire to keep it's location secret from the rest of the world. I think those are all solid ideas to build a story around.
I feel there were a number of weaknesses, the first is character development. I have to agree with other reviewers in that Jack and his friends did not have a lot of individuality, they seemed kind of flat to me though I did detect attempts at making Rudy out to be a ladies man, I didn't see a lot of other distinguishing traits. They also did not react realistically in a lot of the situations they found themselves in, either under or over reacting. I feel like the author wants us to view Jack as this larger than life adventurer (a la Dirk Pitt, Cotton Malone, some examples from my own reading) but then he never really does anything hero worthy, aside from inexplicably sleeping with the spy after just meeting her and then rejecting her at the very end because of the kind of person she is. He's also a little wishy-washy, "I'm staying, no I'm going, wait up! Of course I'll keep it a secret! Oh Mr. Benefactor I will tell you all about it, you deserve to know!" ;)
Another weakness to me was plot line development and execution. While the ideas at the core are sound, the execution fizzles out. The draw to this story for me was Noah's Ark. There is a big build up to finding it, and then when they do, it's very anti-climactic. They all stand there and stare at it with their mouths open in awe, but that's about it. I would have loved some additional scenes centered around the Ark, some mysticism, some additional description and history, a feeling of presence, after all we are talking about one of the most legendary of relics, and the central point of the story. There is a ton of description about aircraft and guns, but next to nothing about the main reason they are there. Also the plot line for Major Petrova had the potential for a lot more than was delivered. She's a fantastic spy, except that she's careless enough to leave some of her equipment behind to be found? I don't think so, or if so, the reason why needed to be a part of the story. If her father is part of the Nestorian Brotherhood, then why in the world is she a Russian spy? Her own story woven through out could have been much more.
My last point is on the style or method of the narration. For the most part Jack is the narrator of the story except when he isn't around, and that's kind of disjointed to me. In my experience if a story is written in first person it is because they have a lot of additional information, thoughts or asides that cannot be delivered to the reader in any other way, and I didn't really get that from Jack. Out of necessity the style flips from first to third person depending on the characters involved and my personal opinion is it needs to be one way or the other.
I do applaud you for writing the story from beginning to end, and for publishing it and putting it out there for people to read, that takes courage, and I certainly don't want to discourage you from continuing Jack's adventures! I am interested to know what he might be tackling next!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2011
The author won a charity auction bid on my blog. He was generous enough to donate to one of my favorite charities so I read and reviewed this book during a read-a-thon for him. I will say that I went into this book with pretty low expectations. You see, I'm one of those folks that judges a book by it's cover. And the current one just doesn't grab me. It's a book I would have completely skipped if left to my own devices because of the cover. It really needs something more interesting and less... what it is. It doesn't do the book any favors or enough justice because the book is WAY better than the cover would lead you to believe... so ignore the cover if the description sounds interesting because it's quite good.
The book centers around the search for Noah's Ark and a man by the name of Jack Trader. It looks like the author intends for this to be a series, which I totally get and I can see how this work well for what he's created here, but I also think this book may have suffered a bit because there was a huge amount character set up in the first half that could have really been woven more into the book itself and less in the beginning. I think that while around 15%, it does really well, it drops back off again until the halfway point.
The plot is really well done. So many authors in this genre of mystery/adventure get so wrapped up in the action that they forget that there's an actual story they are supposed to be telling. The author does a really remarkable job of staying on point with the whole Ark and Nestorian thing. Honestly, the plot really was interesting and super well done.
Sadly, while the plot is SO good, the book itself really needed a good content editor. There are large chunks of text with paragraphs that are just too long and there are times when the author really should have made the characters tell us about something instead of narrating large portions of it. It is almost too descriptive in parts and others feel a little disjointed. I think just pulling all the points together and making a cohesive book would have easily made this a four star book (it's not bad! It's still a 3 star, which means I liked it, don't get me wrong!)
Where I think the book really shined is in the dialogue in the last half of the book. It felt like the author had settled in to his characters and they had some really good dialogue going back and forth between them. The first half is a bit stilted as they aren't really sure where this whole thing is going to be meander to. But the later chapters are so well done that I felt myself getting sucked into their conversations and world because it was so natural feeling.
As I said, it took us way to long to get to our final destination, but once we are there, the author's writing really shines. He is able to describe the area and the people and their beliefs and everything that surrounds that place with such detail and imagery that I felt like I could easy picture this as a real place in my head. The location was perfect and really made a wonderful backdrop for the plot.
Overall, I would recommend this book for those that enjoy a good adventure or thriller/suspense. It is well done and the plot alone makes it worth reading. The ending had a little surprise or two for me, I wasn't expecting the very end to happen that way. Hmmm....
The book centers around the search for Noah's Ark and a man by the name of Jack Trader. It looks like the author intends for this to be a series, which I totally get and I can see how this work well for what he's created here, but I also think this book may have suffered a bit because there was a huge amount character set up in the first half that could have really been woven more into the book itself and less in the beginning. I think that while around 15%, it does really well, it drops back off again until the halfway point.
The plot is really well done. So many authors in this genre of mystery/adventure get so wrapped up in the action that they forget that there's an actual story they are supposed to be telling. The author does a really remarkable job of staying on point with the whole Ark and Nestorian thing. Honestly, the plot really was interesting and super well done.
Sadly, while the plot is SO good, the book itself really needed a good content editor. There are large chunks of text with paragraphs that are just too long and there are times when the author really should have made the characters tell us about something instead of narrating large portions of it. It is almost too descriptive in parts and others feel a little disjointed. I think just pulling all the points together and making a cohesive book would have easily made this a four star book (it's not bad! It's still a 3 star, which means I liked it, don't get me wrong!)
Where I think the book really shined is in the dialogue in the last half of the book. It felt like the author had settled in to his characters and they had some really good dialogue going back and forth between them. The first half is a bit stilted as they aren't really sure where this whole thing is going to be meander to. But the later chapters are so well done that I felt myself getting sucked into their conversations and world because it was so natural feeling.
As I said, it took us way to long to get to our final destination, but once we are there, the author's writing really shines. He is able to describe the area and the people and their beliefs and everything that surrounds that place with such detail and imagery that I felt like I could easy picture this as a real place in my head. The location was perfect and really made a wonderful backdrop for the plot.
Overall, I would recommend this book for those that enjoy a good adventure or thriller/suspense. It is well done and the plot alone makes it worth reading. The ending had a little surprise or two for me, I wasn't expecting the very end to happen that way. Hmmm....
October 3, 2014
In "The Nestorian Alliance," we have Jack Trader instead of Indiana Jones, Noah's Ark rather than the Ark of the Covenant, and Soviet black hats rather than colorful Nazis, but the action-filled plot is cut from the same cloth as its cinematic counterpart. This is the first in a series of novels telling the story of adventurer Jack Trader, who comes upon puzzles in which the ancient world protrudes into the modern world, or, more properly, the world of a mid-century America gripped by traditional American mores and the Cold War.
Though the book is not without its share of research flaws, such as two people flying in a French plane built for one, or literary sins, misspellings and grammar glitches, its main problem lies in its characterizations, particularly of the Russians...the speech patterns are colloquial American and their villainy is muted to the point that they seem bland and uncommitted to their own evil deeds. Neither the protagonists nor antagonists seem able to push the story along, to be the motivators of events; both are reactive rather than proactive, and when the Russian spy (the most proactive of the characters) does take a hand, it is with reluctance, timidity and regret, negating the venality of her actions. The author also brings in the Nestorians, but not only fails to explore their duality of their theology but does not tell us why or how a Christian cult that did not rise till centuries after the Crucifixion would be the caretakers of an Old Testament relic.
Despite all that, however, "The Nestorian Alliance" is an exciting and fast-moving story that will surely interest and delight those who enjoyed not only the adventures of Indiana Jones but also the small screen's Relic Hunter. Since this is the first volume of a series, generally a time of exuberance on the part of any author, a certain narrative awkwardness is expected, as well as details that should have been edited out prior to publication; none of its flaws are fatal, though, and most people these days, products of the modern education system, might breeze right by, but I hope that in succeeding volumes we will see a growth of character, more attention to detail, and a firmer control of storytelling technique.
Though the book is not without its share of research flaws, such as two people flying in a French plane built for one, or literary sins, misspellings and grammar glitches, its main problem lies in its characterizations, particularly of the Russians...the speech patterns are colloquial American and their villainy is muted to the point that they seem bland and uncommitted to their own evil deeds. Neither the protagonists nor antagonists seem able to push the story along, to be the motivators of events; both are reactive rather than proactive, and when the Russian spy (the most proactive of the characters) does take a hand, it is with reluctance, timidity and regret, negating the venality of her actions. The author also brings in the Nestorians, but not only fails to explore their duality of their theology but does not tell us why or how a Christian cult that did not rise till centuries after the Crucifixion would be the caretakers of an Old Testament relic.
Despite all that, however, "The Nestorian Alliance" is an exciting and fast-moving story that will surely interest and delight those who enjoyed not only the adventures of Indiana Jones but also the small screen's Relic Hunter. Since this is the first volume of a series, generally a time of exuberance on the part of any author, a certain narrative awkwardness is expected, as well as details that should have been edited out prior to publication; none of its flaws are fatal, though, and most people these days, products of the modern education system, might breeze right by, but I hope that in succeeding volumes we will see a growth of character, more attention to detail, and a firmer control of storytelling technique.
March 13, 2012
**This was received in a Goodreads Giveaway**
I liked this book and the authors version of what has happened to Noah's Ark. The story flowed well and was easy to follow. Though the main character Jack wasn't a typical gung ho style action character he didn't fade into the background, even though there was other strong characters in the scenes. At the end of the story it did leave me wondering what will be next for Jack and his friends.
I found this a very refreshing read and will definitely be recommending it to like minded readers.
I liked this book and the authors version of what has happened to Noah's Ark. The story flowed well and was easy to follow. Though the main character Jack wasn't a typical gung ho style action character he didn't fade into the background, even though there was other strong characters in the scenes. At the end of the story it did leave me wondering what will be next for Jack and his friends.
I found this a very refreshing read and will definitely be recommending it to like minded readers.
June 5, 2016
If you love adventure, you are going to want to grab up this book. I am an avid Clive Cussler reader and Michael R. Watson is a writer in that vein and highly talented in bringing a mystery from the past to life. Who hasn't had questions about Noah's ark? For Jack Trader, an amulet is going to take him on an adventure of a lifetime in search of the ark, if he can avoid all those standing in his way. The author does a great job with this story, adding just the right amount of history, suspense and adventure to keep readers turning page after page.
June 5, 2016
Great adventure, grab up this book. Michael R. Watson is a writer like Clive Cussler and highly talented in bringing a mystery from the past to life. For Jack Trader, an amulet is going to take him on an adventure of a lifetime in search of Noah's ark, that is if he can avoid those standing in his way. The author adds in just the right amount of suspense, history and adventure to keep readers happily turning the pages
April 1, 2012
I won this book from Goodreads First Reads and I liked it very much. I liked the plot and the characters. I found that I couldn't remember who was who with Jack's friends. I liked the adventure the book took you on. A good read overall.
April 4, 2015
So yes I'm a little biased, but it's a clever story and is well written.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews