Stone of Destiny

by Troy Hallewell, Thor Stonewell

ASIN moved from less recent edition here

Through an onslaught of gunfire a well known professor leaps to his death off the mighty Irish Cliffs of Moher. Discovering a buried secret was his last fruitless act; keeping hidden a far greater secret, a secret concealed by the Queen of England herself, was his sacrificial intention.

As cogs drop into play throughout the United Kingdom a young American in London finds himself caught up in the world’s greatest unknown conspiracy. With the life of his grandfather on the line, and the legitimacy of the British royal family in question, Trevor Emerson races against time and history in his shared quest to find the Stone of Destiny.

From Edinburgh Castle to Piccadilly Circus to King Arthur’s ancient Isle of Avalon, join our heroes down the rabbit hole of royalty where the right secret, sufficiently veiled, can ensure the lifelong reaping of billions of dollars, and worse, the lifelong ruling over billions of lives.

Is the Queen of England playing the world for a con? Where is the Stone of Destiny?

To answer one question is to answer the other.

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

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 5, 2011

Reviews

[Colleen]

Frankly, I couldn't finish this book. I was very interested in the idea of the Stone of Destiny having been stolen and the validity of the British Royal Family's rule being in doubt, but this is just bad. The "hero" is Trevor, apparently an American, and the book is set in the UK, but Katherine, an English woman, doesn't speak like she's English for one thing. The historic bits thrown in which the sadly weak plot are wrapped around are the only interesting and half-believable things in book. This book didn't pull me in and immerse me into its world. In fact, I had a hard time forcing myself to read and finally gave up. It was distracting to wonder why in the world Katherine was saying the things she said or acting the way she was acting. The character interactions are all very forced and unnatural. Very glad that I got this as a free Kindle book and I didn't spend any money on it because I certainly wouldn't pick it up again.

[Ken]

A fast moving thriller. It seems that the author has read some Dan Brown books and decided that he could do that too. Well he has and the result is quite enjoyable. But it is certainly not a five star result. The characterisation is rather shallow and it is hard to have much empathy with the main actors in the story.The book has endless twists and turns but these are at times predictable. My final complaint is that the book has far too many spelling errors. If the author writes further books he really needs a more professional proof reader.

[Prajna]

Honestly, this is the worst book I've ever read. Shallow characters, wrong word usage (than instead of then, for example), and full of misspellings. I tried to put those things aside and enjoy the story anyway, but there was just no getting around the fact that this read like a first draft that was going for word count rather than good writing. It is no wonder that the author decided to use a pen name rather than put his own on the cover. Next time, he should hire a professional editor and write a few more drafts before self publishing.

[Sumit]

The book’s title definitely stood out for me and got me to read it. Overall a good attempt of storytelling and using strong research as a base for weaving the story around it. But….
But the author needs to pay attention to grammar and spelling mistakes. It appears as if the book was never proof-read or reviewed by editor for that matter. Sometimes I felt like the grammatical errors were breaking the link and I had to take a break to be able to focus and get going from that point.

[Holden]

The plot was interesting but some of the dialogue was just terrible. The copy I read was also full of typos. It could have been a lot better, I think.

[Roberto Mattos]

This is a very entertaining book, with a beginning, a middle and an end! Different from the current trend of every writer, this author did not look for a trilogy or a series, but his whole story is delivered in this book. I love that! The plot is simple but very well developed in a fast pace. Our hero is running against time to save his grandfather, counting with the help of an unusual allies, the daughter of the man who is persecuting him, just because he stole a property of him, and an old friend that wants to kill him, just because he put his apartment on fire... And they are searching the Stone of Destiny to trade for the life of grandfather Archer. This plot would be an excellent story for a Hollywood movie.

I recommend this book for the permanent library of any reader who is fan of a fast pace thriller, Dan Brown style, but even better.
I bought this book from amazon.com in an electronic version and took me approximately 12 hours to read the whole book.

[Lawrence]

The premise caught my attention. The opening was action packed, but in the end it was like the opening of a James Bond movie, started the action but had not much to do with the rest of the story. Kept reading until the main plot line began and the history pulled me along to the end. Some plot twists seemed a little forced. Didn't hate it, but my final opinion was it felt like a novel based on made for TV movie, thin story stretched to this length. I agree with another reviewer, maybe it was intended for a young adult audience and I just missed that indication. At least it was a quick read.

[Steven]

I enjoyed this most for the historical aspect of its premise. It is Dan Brown-ish, no doubt, but Stonewell still had to break a sweat to make the plot bring the puzzle together. Ditto on the mechanical problems others have mentioned (usage, etc.) The characters are made to fit the plot, I suspect, and I never really figured out whether this was intended for young readers, because it would make sense if it were. I would give it only 3 stars, but Stonewell earned another star for the key poetic hint he so carefully crafted. Enjoy the romp, a few surprises, and a tour of Ireland's heritage.

[Mary]

Through an onslaught of gunfire, a well known professor leaps to his death off the mighty Irish Cliffs of Moher. Discovering a buried treasure- his last fruitless act; keeping hidden a far greater treasure- his sacrificial intention.
As cogs drop into play throughout the United Kingdom, a young American in London finds himself caught up in a legend far greater than anticipated. With the life of his grandfather on the line and with the help of an auburn-haired beauty, Trevor Emerson races against time and history in his quest to find the Stone of Destiny.

[Rick Jones]

Fun read.

As a person who has a Scotch & Welsh ancestry, I found this book to be very well done historically. It was well paced and had very interesting characters. Mix in some humor (Trevor), romance (Katherine), & suspence with a great twist at the end. I would give it 5* but it ended too soon. I would have liked to see what was in the tomb (unless that is the lead in for another Trevor book). Thanks for a fun read.
R.J.

[Debra]

Really really enjoyed this book; however, the typos really smack you in the face. Honestly, doesn't anyone proof these things? It was still worth reading though. Lots of adventure and bad guys.

[Ed]

Very well written, the combination of historical facts and the fictional action is on par with Dan Brown

[Jillian]

Good but it needs an editor.