The Heretic

Templar Chronicles #1

by Joseph Nassise

At the end of the First Crusade, the church created a monastic military order known as the Knights Templar. Now, rising up from the ashes of history, they are the Vatican's last defense in the war between good and evil.

AN ANCIENT ARMY REBORN
Cade Williams is no ordinary man. His ability to cross over to the other side makes him uniquely qualified to command the Churchs special operations division. As a modern-day Knight, Cade can use the curse that has scarred his soul as a weapon against the forces of darkness. But a new kind of unholy war is brewing and soon Cade may be the last man standing between the living and the dead.

AN ANCIENT MYSTERY RESURRECTED
The desecration of Templar cemeteries has sparked a full-scale investigation. Cade and his team suspect that a cabal of necromancers is behind it all. Their purpose: to claim the legendary powers of a lost holy relic for their own ungodly campaign. For Cade, there's only one way to stop them -  by tracking the dead himself, crossing the most sacred of battle lines and facing his own terrifying demons.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Fiction, Ebooks, Thriller

1 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

I'm the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty novels, including the Templar Chronicles series, the Jeremiah Hunt trilogy, and the Great Undead War series. I've also written several books in the Rogue Angel action/adventure series from Gold Eagle. I'm a former president of the Horror Writers Association, the world's largest organization of professional horror writers, and a multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominee.

When I'm not writing, I'm hanging out with dogs, practicing recurve archery, or off-roading in the desert around my home in Phoenix, AZ.

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Cade Williams, a member of the modern Templar Knights, who, in this book, are the secret combat unit of the Catholic church. They are charged with protecting mankind from supernatural-type evil. Cade leads the Echo Team, a combat unit known for their effectiveness in getting the job done. Cade is known by other Templar Knights as "The Heretic," due to his seemingly strange powers and his apparent lack of faith.

Five years earlier, his home is attacked by some sort of powerful demon. It kills his beloved wife and attacks Cade, leaving part of his face badly scarred and ruining the vision of one eye. The attack coincides with the appearance of strange supernatural powers that Cade suddenly develops, such as being able to see with The Sight, and the ability to travel to "Beyond," a shadowy realm related to earth but in a different, unseen realm. His attacker doesn't have a name and Cade refers to him as "The Adversary," and has made it his mission to find and destroy him to revenge the death of his wife.

In this book one of the Templars "Commanderies" has been attacked and every person killed. When no evidence is left behind, Echo Team is called in to solve the mystery. They must battle a group of sorcerers who are raising "revenants," corpses reaminated by evil, and who have an insatiable desire for the blood of the living. Yea, kinda gross.

This book was a little gruesome in parts, but not too bad. Cade is an interesting character - tough, yet vulnerable in his grief for his wife. I will probably read the rest of the trilogy.

[Maria Dimitrova · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start for a series, The Heretic introduces us to a new urban fantasy world filled with demons, specters and other supernatural beings. Knight Commander Cade Williams aka the Heretic and his Echo Team are an elite part of the Order of the Templars which is tasked with protecting mankind from all things supernatural. Cade is a strangely likeable character with his own peculiar charisma. Unlike most of the members of the Order he's not a blind believer and follower of rules and that makes him an outsider. But as we all know sometimes the only way to win is to break the rules and when the situation calls for it the upper echelons are more than happy to hang the dirty work to Cade and his team mates.

The last few UF series with male leads that I tried to read didn't resonate with me so I was a little apprehensive starting this one. But I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to get lost in ths world and how in such a short amount of time I came to care for Cade and company. The worldbuilding is good - enough to grasp what's happening without feeling confused but not too much so you don't feel overwhelmed. Instead of few huge info dumps it's spread out throughout the book with some awesome fight scenes in between. The ending leaves you curious to know what will happen next without being a cliffhanger. I hope the next instalment will be just as great!

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm beginning to get a feel for Nassise I think. I like most of the books I've read by him. There always seems to be a little flaw somewhere that keeps me from giving them the complete 5 stars. That said they are fast moving, exciting and interesting. He deals with interesting topics and the books deal with it in a "storyteller's" fashion. They are for the most part what I call "brain candy" but that's okay...I like good brain candy.

This deals with the idea that the Knights Templar were secretly cleared of the charges placed against them and reinstated as a secret arm of the Roman Catholic Church to fight "other-worldly" or "supernatural" threats.

Our hero here is a man known among the other Knights as "the Heretic". He has some...unusual power. There is disagreement as to his motives in joining the order as his wife was killed by a being he calls only "the Adversary".

This is frankly the first book in a series...and ends as such. I have the second book waiting, but as I own them and have a lot of library books waiting it will remain on my shelf, staring accusingly at me for a while longer.

I think I need to back off on some of the library reads as I have 9 or 10 more waiting...and I just bought 6 more audio books and have a back log of Kindle books and print books. So...time to read some of my own books.

That said this is a fast moving exciting read. I'm a non-Catholic Christian so I'll advise my Christian friends to realize this isn't really a Christian read. Don't read it for theology. Still I wasn't offended so just read it as an exciting story.

Recommended.

[David Caldwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Templars have become a secret organization that protects the world from supernatural threats. One of their members is known as the Heretic and is rumored to have strange powers. He and his team take on those cases when doing things strictly by the rules just won't cut it.

This story hit a lot of the buttons. A lot of action, a hero that can kick butt with some cool powers, and interseting bad guys. The writing is good and the plot flows well.

There are only a few negatives. A couple of scenes are flawed. In the first one, a character hangs from a balcony and may fall to his death. The problem is that it is a second story balcony which would put it about 10 feet of the ground and a 6 foot man hanging from it would only fall about 4 feet to the ground. The other serious glitch occurs when a character is carrying a gun in one hand and a sword in another. He proceeds to get into a fight and starts punching the guy which would be hard to do holding those items. He drops the sword a few seconds later and the gun just seems to be forgotten. But these are not that serious and could be overlooked.

The worst problem I had was that I never made a connection with any of the characters. Of course, I wanted the evil magicians beaten but I really didn't care who did it or how they were going about it. I just can't see myself reading anymore in the series since I didn't care about the characters in this one.

So, while the story was good technically speaking, it just didn't pull me into it.

The author provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book isn't horrible. The writing is coherent and it has great action and the characters are very... manly. I just couldn't get into it and finally decided that my time was worth more than continuing the book (from about the 67% mark). Despite the urban fantasy setting (and my shelving it there), this book is much more a mens action-adventure novel (along the lines of Max Bolan or Remo Williams). The men are dedicated, capable, and well-trained and they dominate their paradigm in no-uncertain terms. The villains are dastardly, numerous, and assuredly evil, so there's ample opportunity to indulge high-caliber hijinks. If that were all I asked for in a novel, this one would have gotten high marks. Unfortunately, I just couldn't maintain interest when that was pretty much all it had.

[Andy Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I may have only managed to finish this book through a combination of it being really quite short and a hope that at some point it was going to get better. It didn't.

It isn't an awful book but I struggle to find anything to recommend it. The plot is very simplistic; there are no real surprises. There isn't a single notable female character in this book, and the male ones are one dimensional. There's a guy; he's a strong and silent type. He's been wronged and now he's going to put it right using a combination of all the guns and some paranormal abilities.

If that sounds like something you would enjoy then it may still be for you, but personally I wanted a bit more.

I also have to say that the copy I read I was littered with errors. I can believe a typo check was run because they were all real words, just the wrong words, e.g. "know" instead of "no". There were so many that it's hard to believe this was proof read even once. At one point there was even a HTML entity (it was ‘). I'm having difficulty remembering or tracking down where my copy came from. I may have got it from a Humble Ebook Bundle as it doesn't seem to appear in my Amazon Kindle downloads. So maybe the source of the copy is at fault here.

[Paula Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heretic by Joseph Nassise takes takes two old storylines evil and and the Church and mixes them into one fantastic story. The Knights Templar are alive and well and protection the Church from evil in form of paranormal creatures.

Cade Willimas is a member of the modern day Knights Templars. He isn't what one would expect from a Templar. He no longer is much of a believer and is referred to as the Heretic. His world fell apart after his wife, Gabbi, was killed by a fallen angel. Cade was nearly killed. With his survival he gains a gift. By simply touching someone he can feel, see and hear what has happend.

Cade is the commander of the Echo team. They operate somewhat outside of the rules of the Templar. He is called when the highly secret Templar communities are being attacked and members killed by paranormal dark creatures who are after the legendary sword that pierced the side of Christ.

This first book in the trilogy ends with the reader wanting to know more.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/3/2020)! 🎁

[Dennis Piwo · Rating 4 out of 5]

War nicht wirklich das was ich erwartet habe, aber ist ein guter übernatürlicher Thriller

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Joseph Nassise's Templar Chronicles series features a modern-day Knights Templar organization that battles the supernatural bad guys of the world. Its hero, Cade Williams, is a member of the Templars but has an uncanny reputation among the order for his psychic abilities. The Heretic is the first in the series and revolves around a cabal of sorcerers who is attacking Templar commanderies, slaughtering the members, and desecrating the cemeteries in search of a holy relic. Cade and his unit are assigned to the problem. The Heretic could be described as urban fantasy by way of a paramilitary/religious thriller.

As is apropos for a thriller, The Heretic includes a lot of action and tough-guy heroics. There's also a great deal of gore, so the weak of stomach need not apply.

Unfortunately, character development is sparse. There are only two women in the book; one of them is horribly murdered before the plot begins and the other is horribly murdered early in the book. Perhaps a Templar-focused novel was destined to be a sausage fest, but I can't say the men fare much better. There are more of them, but they're not well developed. Cade is given a touch of humanity by his grief for his late wife, but this is mentioned only in a few key scenes. The rest of the time he seems like a machine. The narrative is rarely introspective, instead simply giving the blow-by-blow of his outward actions as he orders and shoots and enhanced-interrogates his way through the plot. The other characters are less developed than Cade is. Perhaps the absence I felt most keenly was that of humor; no one ever cracks a joke. I didn't realize until reading The Heretic how much I've come to count on a pinch of sarcasm and a dash of gallows humor in my urban fantasy.

The writing is unornamented and occasionally has issues such as abrupt point-of-view shifts and repetitive sentence structure. The Heretic was originally published in 2005, however, and from the snippets I've seen of Eyes to See, Nassise has grown in his prose writing in the intervening years. I would be willing to try another book of his one day.

The Heretic is not a horrible book; it just isn't for me. It could be a 3-star or 4-star book for a very different type of reader. This is a novel about manly men stoically getting the job done, with little in the way of stylistic or emotional frills. If that appeals to you, give this book a try. But for my own part, I must confess I like my frills.

See this and my co-reviewer Robert's review of Eyes to See at Fantasy Literature.

[megHan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny thing about this book. I received it last week as an r2r and was so excited to receive this book - Knights Templar + Demons, I mean, how could I resist? - and when I went to Amazon today to add my review, I found out that I had already purchased this book (I had found it for free on Amazon at one point and grabbed it) and had completely forgotten that I had done so. No wonder I was so excited haha. This is actually the third book that I have done this to. I guess that's proof positive that these books were books I would read even if I hadn't received them for free.

I really like the idea of a modern day Knights Templar and the story that went with it. The characters were great - they were well-written and likeable, even when the people around them were afraid of them. The Beyond was an interesting place that I hope to find out more about in the rest of the series. The action was non-stop (one of the things I love about books like this) and the bad guys, the demons, the fog, the Revenants - impressive.

[Cathy]

Read a story in Urban Allies anthology where the thieves were just blown away by the Templars, not because they were threatened, but upon approach to their hideout and as a matter of course, totally casually and with no thought to other options. Is theft an executable offense? What gave them the right? Not interested in this series at all after that. Usually anthologies get me interested in authors, and I was a bit intrigued until that insane level of violence for no good reason.

[Glen Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I found fascinating about the book–and I suspect the series–is how the author skirts the borders between Christian writing and horror writing. He has some pretty gory, creepy description of battle scenes between modern Templar knights and ghouls right out of the cemetery. Yet he counters that with references to their dedication to God and ends meetings with a round of prayer. The book is decidedly in the genre of military/horror and has a lot of fighting and blood. Inversely, there’s not a great deal of characterization. I will have to say, however, that I appreciated the backstory that the author provided about Cade and his wife, which added some real color and depth to the story.

On the bad side, I found that the book had some proofreading issues, including the lack of a copyright page, which shocked me. It’s the first book of a series that has been very successful, so I suppose the author has done very good for himself, and considering the genre, it fits right in.

[Ralph Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit surprised by this one. The story synopsis had sounded to me like the author was trying to combine too many elements in a story: ancient angelic weapons/relics, fallen angels, paranormal abilities, Templars, and necromancy ... I am sure I am missing a few others things, too. But it was free (at least at the time) through Amazon, so I downloaded it, and I finally got around to reading it.

I wished I hadn't waited so long. Nassise does a great job of keeping my attention as the story progresses. There are a couple areas where I questioned the reasoning behind some actions, or parts of the story, but am hoping that these will be revealed somewhere in the books that follow this one in this series.

[E.A. Copen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sucked me in from the start, beginning with the brand new cover (not pictured). I'm always game for a more action oriented urban fantasy, especially one that doesn't focus on the same old same old types of plots. This one was different, but had some familiar flavors of urban fantasy.

The prose was solid, very stark, which I appreciate. There's no fat to trim plot wise as the story moves quickly from one event to the next with just enough time for the reader to process what's happening.

It sort of reminds me of the the sort of story telling that is used in John Wick, but with a heavy dash of Constantine thrown into the mix. There are no brooding angels and demons with hearts of gold here.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not know what to expect when I started, but I found it to be a very engaging story that was well written. Reminds me of Constantine.

[L.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mix of action, the supernatural, paranormal fantasy, Templars and horror. I wanted to like this more. I thought that it was very predictable. I kept putting it down for several days at a time before continuing. I probably won't continue the series.

[Julie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Knights Templar, thought to have been disbanded in the 14th century, are alive and well - reborn with a military hierarchy as an arm of the Vatican. Their new mission is to defend mankind from supernatural threats and enemies.

Knight Commander Cade Williams, known as "The Heretic", is head of the Echo Team, a highly specialized unit whose members each have unique "gifts". Cade had been a highly-decorated Massachusetts police officer and a member of Special Tactics. An attack that left Cade disfigured and his new wife dead changed the course of his life and left him with the gift of psychometry (divining facts through physical contact). His personal mission is to locate and destroy the entity he calls "The Adversary".

When a Templar commandery is attacked, leaving all of the Templars there dead but without bullet wounds, Joshua Michaels, the Preceptor for the North Atlantic region, put Echo Team in charge of the investigation.

As one, then another, commandery is attacked, it is up to Cade and his team to find out who and why and to put a stop to it.

This novel is billed as "urban fantasy", which kind of had me knitting my brows. It is a rather unique blend of fantasy, horror, and even paranormal. For those who aren't familiar with the Templars, the author quite nicely takes the time to briefly but thoroughly explain their history and hierarchy near the beginning of the novel. It is rather fascinating, and, if you're like me, you'll be online Googling for more information.

The bad: There is a prologue that isn't fully explained in the novel. I "kind of" think I know who is involved, but at the end of the novel, I still wasn't certain. There also could be a bit more character-building (but that's just me; most of the book is centered on action, which usually doesn't leave a lot of time for character-building).

The good: Everything else. There is a lot of action, some surprises, a group of evil sorcerers, corpse hounds, revenants, mystery, and wonderful tension-building scenes. I fairly flew through the book, and, in many places, had no idea what the next turn of the page would bring. Unlike many first-in-series, the ending is a satisfying one - it closes up many important threads of the story while still leaving room for more to come. Cade is an unlikely protagonist, wrestling with his own demons while attempting to fulfill his Templar duties, and when the two lines cross, watch out!

If you like a touch of horror and paranormal, mixed with fantasy and adventure, pick this one up; you won't regret it.

QUOTES

Cade thought about his impulsive decision to use his Sight while in the Preceptor’s office and of the
resulting flash of Power it had shown centered around the new man’s hands. It would be interesting to see how the other men in the unit reacted to Duncan’s unique gift when they learned about it.

The air is heavy with impending rain and the electrical tension of the coming storm. In the slowly fading afternoon light the shadows around him stretch and move. He learned early on that they can have a life of their own.
He avoids them now.

Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Plot: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Characters: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Sensitive Reader: There is a blood sacrifice scene.

[Ginny Lurcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Jena, my partner in crime over at Pure Textuality, has been on me to read Joseph Nassise for like … ever. (I don’t remember when, so I’m going with forever) but I never got around to it.

Now I feel like a total jerk.

What I liked:
Mr. Nassise writes a pretty story. Well, okay, the story itself is actually gritty and involves a fair amount of insides that are now on the outside … but the actual structure of the story is so damn pretty. The way he used specific words to build a story is just an art form. Witness his use of horrendous:

“He glimpsed an indistinct shape of horrendous proportions in its depths, then the bars of the gate were peeled apart to create an opening large enough for a man.”

But enough fangirling over the English language and Mr. Nassise’s use of it.

The story is fast paced and chilling. Like, I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep tonight chilling. Which works out, since I stayed up WAY too late finishing the story ... So I guess all's well that ends well?

What I didn’t like:
It took me awhile to get into the book. Not that it was bad, or slow, or anything … I’m pretty sure it was just one of those things where having the attention span of a squirrel on meth works against me. But I just wanted to warn you. In case you’re a squirrel on meth.

Hey, I’m not here to judge, man.

Also, there was a thing with a dog that I did not enjoy …

Who I would recommend it to:
Anyone who enjoys UF. Seriously, anyone. It’s really well written. Okay, you should probably enjoy UF on the darker side of things, but still ...

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Order of the Knights Templar has persisted in secrecy through the decades, fighting to protect humanity from otherworldly evils most people would rather not know exist. Cade Williams, one of the most obscure amongst the Order, is also the most enigmatic and unorthodox, instilling fear even amongst his fellows; however, he might be the only person capable of saving the world from an evil so powerful that it threatens to destroy the divide between reality and a realm known as the Otherworld.

I enjoyed this novel, which thematically reminded me of a highly supernatural DaVinci Code. Structurally, it came together well, the storyline both sound and well-paced. Characterization was good, although I would have liked to have known more about Duncan, one of the secondary characters assigned to assist Cade. Technically, I found a few minor grammatical flaws, mainly the separation of compound verbs, some unnecessary prepositions, a few improperly used semicolons, and the undue capitalization of a couple of words, but those were the only reason this novel is not receiving a perfect five stars from me. The Heretic is entertaining, highly creative, and fast-paced, and I give it a solid 4.5 stars.

[Oni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fast paced urban fantasy, with hints of Dan Brown all over it, plus the special ops cast. You can read it in one sitting if you wish, because there aren't any to keep you to read it deeper.

The plot is predictable from the beginning, including the twist. The theme is overexposed already, especially after many books following the bandwagon of Dan Brown's type. So it is not that interesting, I would say. The characters are pure machismo and also predictable. Strangely, with all that downsides, I managed to finish the book without much grumpiness. Maybe because the author try to make it interesting, without adding any material that usually makes me puke such as unnecessary romance or love triangle; even though I would say that it is not that interesting.

Given that I get this book for free from Kobo, I am less inclined to feel irritated. I don't think it is a time waster also. But, if I continue to read the other books from the same author, then it will be a major time waster, because it doesn't worth that much, not enough for me to get the book using real money.

Read this if you want an easy read pistol wielding adventure. Avoid this if you want a serious reading with deep characters or complex plot.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast paced thriller with a strong supernatural element. The Templars were reformed and now work as a mostly military arm alongside the Church, protecting humanity from lurking nasties. Cade Williams, AKA The Heretic, leads a team of Templars assigned to some of the more unpleasant jobs. He joined after his wife was brutally murdered by something otherworldly, an attack which left him with some terrible physical and emotional scars, and some rather unexpected abilities.

The story moved along at a good clip, and there was certainly plenty of action. It was, perhaps, a bit too modern military for my usual reading preferences. The writing was good, though I did feel that the characters were a bit underdeveloped—they were strong in military matters, but otherwise somewhat weaker. There were a couple of nice plot twists, and there's certainly plenty packed in along the way.

It's a fairly quick and easy read, but if you're expecting romance, there isn't any, and some of the passages are a bit on the gory side, so probably not a good idea if you're of a sensitive disposition.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cade Williams didn’t do orders; he also didn’t do Rules - especially when they got in the way of his job as a Knight Commander of the Templars. Cade didn’t start out that way but having your wife killed in front of you tends to change your outlook.
Sean Duncan headed up the Protectors group of the Templars and is in charge of care of the Preceptor for North America. They are in Connecticut to investigate a Templar group left in ruins, all dead who were there at the time of the event. How did the bad guys get in? How did they create such chaos. Answers are needed and fast!
Which is when the Preceptor brings in Cade and Echo Team. Not a popular choice as Cade (aka The Heretic) is known to break any rule in his way to get to the source. He immediately drafts Duncan to replace a team member lost and there the real conflict begins. Good/Evil vs. Good vs Really evil. The winner? We shall see. The Loser? Us if things turn wrong.
An excellent beginning to The Templar Chronicles set of tales. Can’t wait for number two titled The Scream of Angels!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a high stakes thriller with religious elements. The pacing of this story was consistent and it kept me interested, reading from beginning to end without many breaks.

The Heretic is a fairly run-of-the-mill religious thriller - the Catholic Church has an underground special ops group devoted to fighting back the darkness and keeping humanity safe; powerful religious artifacts are in danger of falling into the wrong hands. The story was decent, but the characterisation was not. Sadly, even The Heretic himself seemed like a stereotype or a caricature - angry, isolated, driven, haunted by his past. I've come upon characters of that sort a thousand times, always written by men and always in the same sort of situation (militaryesque special ops). None of the supporting characters had any real distinguishing characteristics. They were cardboard cutouts whose names didn't even really matter, because all they did was shoot things and kick down doors.

Decent read. Lots of action. Poor characterisation, but the story was fun enough that I didn't care too much.

[Tiki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this one is hard to rate...I almost stopped reading because it didn't really grab me until about half way through. that's a little late in the book for me, but I really hate to give up on anything! I'm glad I continued because it did get better. The last 25% of the book I really enjoyed. So I'm giving it a 3 (first half, a 2; second half a 4)

For me it was a pretty dry read in the beginning - didn't feel any emotional connection, and I enjoy the military aspects, but appreciate a little humor, sarcasim, something thrown in - there is none of that. It's just a straight forward story. The emotional aspect ratched up a bit in the last half and the story itself became more interesting, so it did leave me curious about the next book. Will I read it? Maybe, probably... especially after the current events of the US Navy Seals rescuing hostages - kinda makes you dig the military stuff a little more!

[Jana Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up as a Kindle freebie, which generally means my expectations are fairly low, and was very pleasantly surprised. Heretic is a dark military urban fantasy. If you're looking for girls kick butt or vampire romance don't look here. Instead the focus is on the Knights Templar and their battle against sorcerers and demonic forces of the paranormal. It's not a perfect book, but it was a quick fun read and I'm intrigued enough by the plot and the characters to buy the rest of the series and see what happens to them, which is always a good sign in my mind. I want to know if Cade ever gets his faith back and why his wife, who is supposed to be dead, keeps appearing to him, not to mention the mythos surrounding the Knights is fun and something unique among the deluge of vamps, shifters and other such (Not that I don't love all of those things too, but a change of pace is a nice thing!).

[Rick Taubold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters are well defined, the story is very good, and the writing is good. Although the story isn't as good as The DaVinci Code (but how many books of this type are), it is superior in character development. The writing in a few spots was weak, but overall, it also surpassed DaVinci code (which had clean, but perfectly sterile prose). As some have mentioned, this book could have benefitted from better editing, but I didn't find it seriously lacking in that department. I've seen far worse in commercial fiction.
This book is worth picking up. It's a fast read with no significant slow spots.
Joseph Nassise

[Darcia Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sucked me in right from the beginning and held me there until the very end. The only thing I didn't like about this book was putting it down.

While The Heretic is about the Knights of Templar, a religious order, it is not preachy and does not force any particular belief on readers. The Heretic is nonstop action, a paranormal thriller filled with the intricacies of relationships, struggles with faith, love, vengeance and duty. The writing is vivid, the characters made me care and the plot kept me on edge. I can't wait to read the second book in this trilogy!

[Aya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Templar Chronicles: 1
This book suffers a bit from character bloat - the author introduces many side characters only for them to end up dead a few pages later. It's a little hard to tell who's important enough to keep track of. This book is pretty much entirely action, with teasing glimpses of character development. Carnage everywhere. High death toll in this story. There's a lot of POV switching, but with everything else going on, it's handled skillfully enough not to be an annoyance. At 253-some pages, a relatively short read.

[Sally Bisbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the beginning of a new author obsession for me. I love these books! They're about an elite group of Templars who are called into fight evil, and I mean true evil. They're right up there with the Harry Dresden novels and the John Taylor novels and I LOVE those!

Alas, the latest Heretic book is not yet available for my nook and it sounds like he may just write one more after that before ending the series. I'll be very sad if he ends Cade's adventures after only five books.