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The Genesis Secret
A gripping high-concept thriller for fans of Dan Brown and Sam Bourne.
In the sunburnt deserts of eastern Turkey, archaeologists are unearthing a stone temple, the world's most ancient building. When Journalist Rob Luttrell is sent to report on the dig, he is intrigued to learn that someone deliberately buried the site 10,000 years ago. Why?
Meanwhile, in London, a bizarre attack is baffling the police. When a weird killing takes place on the Isle of Man, followed by another in rural Dorset, DC Mark Forrester begins to discern a curious pattern in these apparently random murders.
What weaves together these two stories is the Genesis Secret: a revelation so shocking it may threaten the social structure of the world. Only one man knows the secret, and he is intent on destroying the evidence before it can be uncovered.
Spanning the globe from the ruined castles of Ireland to the desolate wastes of Kurdistan, Tom Knox's intense and compelling thriller weaves together genuine historical evidence, scientific insights and Biblical mysteries into an electrifying tale that grips the reader mercilessly from beginning to end.
In the sunburnt deserts of eastern Turkey, archaeologists are unearthing a stone temple, the world's most ancient building. When Journalist Rob Luttrell is sent to report on the dig, he is intrigued to learn that someone deliberately buried the site 10,000 years ago. Why?
Meanwhile, in London, a bizarre attack is baffling the police. When a weird killing takes place on the Isle of Man, followed by another in rural Dorset, DC Mark Forrester begins to discern a curious pattern in these apparently random murders.
What weaves together these two stories is the Genesis Secret: a revelation so shocking it may threaten the social structure of the world. Only one man knows the secret, and he is intent on destroying the evidence before it can be uncovered.
Spanning the globe from the ruined castles of Ireland to the desolate wastes of Kurdistan, Tom Knox's intense and compelling thriller weaves together genuine historical evidence, scientific insights and Biblical mysteries into an electrifying tale that grips the reader mercilessly from beginning to end.
516 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
97 people are currently reading
3023 people want to read
About the author
Tom Knox
21 books223 followersSean Thomas is a British journalist and author. As a journalist he has written for The Times, The Daily Mail, The Spectator and The Guardian, chiefly on travel, politics and art. When he writes under the name of Tom Knox, he specializes in archaeological and religious thrillers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 454 reviews
July 26, 2009
If you're looking for a book about a guy who agonizes over leaving his family as he trips about the world getting into trouble and picking up minor clues, friends, and a hot woman at archeological digs, punctuated by unbelievably squicky torture-murder scenes and interference from the usual protector/authorities, revealing essentially nothing until an Agatha Christie/Dan Brown-like 10-page monologue in the next to the last chapter explaining the entire mystery with some incredibly wild leaps in logic surrounding very key points, with no hope of ever proving it since most of the evidence has been destroyed, and ending with a happy-ending coda (minus those poor tortured souls) that, considering the narrator has just blown the entire world's belief systems apart at the seams and supplanted them with a morbid inevitability regarding our leadership, seems disengenuous at best, then, great, you will love The Genesis Secret. I would have given it 1 star, but I gave it an extra star for creative murders.
* WHY is it obvious that because of the skulls/history, the Yezedi worship a peacock? Why would they worship anything, since only they know the truth?
* The significance of the jarred sacrifices in the desert is not really revealed.
* It is highly unlikely that people would just allow all the evidence to wash away and not send divers after it. I mean, really. We are all to suffer in ignorance now because of the superstitious beliefs of the Yezedi?
* All these genius archeologists couldn't put the picture together, but a journalist could?
* If she's such a great archeologist, why on earth wouldn't she have documented the dig SOMEHOW and also not just cracked open a very ancient jar, already knowing what was in there? And really, the stuff was just, what, a foot down? And they just happened to randomly find the right spot in a mile area with no other equipment?
* So, if only we had resisted breeding with the superhumans, we would all be living in harmony with slightly dim but peaceful leaders?
And the best part of all:
Only a man would write a book in which the male protagonist sends his gorgeous and brilliant blonde French girlfriend home to meet his ex-wife alone and have the ex-wife love her instantaneously, trust her with her only child, and then not go on a murderous rampage when the girlfriend escapes alive while the child remains in danger, which she was in, thanks to the girlfriend. HAHAHAHAHA. Right.
* WHY is it obvious that because of the skulls/history, the Yezedi worship a peacock? Why would they worship anything, since only they know the truth?
* The significance of the jarred sacrifices in the desert is not really revealed.
* It is highly unlikely that people would just allow all the evidence to wash away and not send divers after it. I mean, really. We are all to suffer in ignorance now because of the superstitious beliefs of the Yezedi?
* All these genius archeologists couldn't put the picture together, but a journalist could?
* If she's such a great archeologist, why on earth wouldn't she have documented the dig SOMEHOW and also not just cracked open a very ancient jar, already knowing what was in there? And really, the stuff was just, what, a foot down? And they just happened to randomly find the right spot in a mile area with no other equipment?
* So, if only we had resisted breeding with the superhumans, we would all be living in harmony with slightly dim but peaceful leaders?
And the best part of all:
Only a man would write a book in which the male protagonist sends his gorgeous and brilliant blonde French girlfriend home to meet his ex-wife alone and have the ex-wife love her instantaneously, trust her with her only child, and then not go on a murderous rampage when the girlfriend escapes alive while the child remains in danger, which she was in, thanks to the girlfriend. HAHAHAHAHA. Right.
May 28, 2013
Terrible!!!! Can I please, please, please have those hours back?
The only reason I finished this book was remembering what Stephen King said in his book, On Writing, that you can learn more about writing from bad books than good books sometimes and I wanted to be able to think about why it was so bad. And it was baaaaaaaaaaaad.
Really wish I hadn't finished it because it was gruesome, grisly, and gratuitously horrifying!
Things that went wrong:
1) Neutral to unlikable main character. Seems like an idiot. Doesn't put his family first. Has little personality. He's a generic journalist. Yawn-fest.
2) Sagging middle of the book. Got boring and had to push through.
3) Characters making leaps of logic and connection that made absolutely no sense in order to advance the plot.
4) REALLY, REALLY awful torture/murder scenes that will leave you feeling yucky. I never want to be in the POV of the person being tortured and murdered. And if I was, at least make it realistic to the amount of pain they'd be in. Trust me, you'll feel sick and sorry for having read some of these scenes.
5) Speaking of unrealistic-this author must not have kids. He is SOOOO clueless about how people with children would really act. His ex-wife would NOT be happy his very new girlfriend showed up on his doorstep and wants to spend time with their daughter. She would be angry and protective of her daughter, not become chums with her. His daughter doesn't act right. He doesn't act in a very fatherly way and doesn't seem to put his daughter first.
6) Speaking of unrealistic part 2-one of the characters isn't traumatized by the end of the book. How could this be???? Unrealistic part 3-why does the character Christine even fall for the main character? She's too smart for him and he's not very redeeming!
7) The main character NEVER does anything to save himself. In fact, by being an idiot, he endangered everyone else. He doesn't figure things out, he doesn't act like a hero. He just stumbles around stupidly putting himself into dangerous situations and always and I mean every single time, getting saved by someone else. The police, a Kurd, his girlfriend, the police again, etc. Arggghhhh! He is good at checking his email and staring at his phone.
8) Lame, lame, lame "secret" at the end which is given to us in a massive info dump. Page after page of text in quotations (who talks like that?) with the main character monologue-ing. And monologueing to the person who actually saves him. Oooo, you figured out the puzzle dude. Who cares? The action/climactic scene is over. The puzzle was stupid and the other guy had to save you.
Unless you want to analyze the ways that books go wrong, (and I think I hit most of them here already for this book) do yourself a favor and RUN away from this book.
I agree with another reviewer. Pick up a James Rollins book if you want fun action/adventure.
The only reason I finished this book was remembering what Stephen King said in his book, On Writing, that you can learn more about writing from bad books than good books sometimes and I wanted to be able to think about why it was so bad. And it was baaaaaaaaaaaad.
Really wish I hadn't finished it because it was gruesome, grisly, and gratuitously horrifying!
Things that went wrong:
1) Neutral to unlikable main character. Seems like an idiot. Doesn't put his family first. Has little personality. He's a generic journalist. Yawn-fest.
2) Sagging middle of the book. Got boring and had to push through.
3) Characters making leaps of logic and connection that made absolutely no sense in order to advance the plot.
4) REALLY, REALLY awful torture/murder scenes that will leave you feeling yucky. I never want to be in the POV of the person being tortured and murdered. And if I was, at least make it realistic to the amount of pain they'd be in. Trust me, you'll feel sick and sorry for having read some of these scenes.
5) Speaking of unrealistic-this author must not have kids. He is SOOOO clueless about how people with children would really act. His ex-wife would NOT be happy his very new girlfriend showed up on his doorstep and wants to spend time with their daughter. She would be angry and protective of her daughter, not become chums with her. His daughter doesn't act right. He doesn't act in a very fatherly way and doesn't seem to put his daughter first.
6) Speaking of unrealistic part 2-one of the characters isn't traumatized by the end of the book. How could this be???? Unrealistic part 3-why does the character Christine even fall for the main character? She's too smart for him and he's not very redeeming!
7) The main character NEVER does anything to save himself. In fact, by being an idiot, he endangered everyone else. He doesn't figure things out, he doesn't act like a hero. He just stumbles around stupidly putting himself into dangerous situations and always and I mean every single time, getting saved by someone else. The police, a Kurd, his girlfriend, the police again, etc. Arggghhhh! He is good at checking his email and staring at his phone.
8) Lame, lame, lame "secret" at the end which is given to us in a massive info dump. Page after page of text in quotations (who talks like that?) with the main character monologue-ing. And monologueing to the person who actually saves him. Oooo, you figured out the puzzle dude. Who cares? The action/climactic scene is over. The puzzle was stupid and the other guy had to save you.
Unless you want to analyze the ways that books go wrong, (and I think I hit most of them here already for this book) do yourself a favor and RUN away from this book.
I agree with another reviewer. Pick up a James Rollins book if you want fun action/adventure.
September 4, 2019
This book starts fascinating, shedding light on little pieces of the world few haves heard of: the Gobekli Tepe, the politics of modern Kurdistan, and mythology’s origin in folk memories. But as the story continues, many factors, particularly the bloody and unending violence turned me off and left me disappointed.
April 22, 2016
Plot summary: Archaeologists in Turkey have just discovered a stone temple dating to 10,000BCE. But there is evidence that the temple was deliberately buried ten thousand years ago. Journalist Rob Luttrell is sent to report on the excavation, and gradually uncovers a shocking secret and a string of gruesome murders.
Thoughts: UGH. This book just never ended. It took a REALLY long time to get to the point. Prior to that, it was just a bunch of loose threads with very little sense of cohesion. Some of the sentence structure was really odd, especially in regards to punctuation. I'm sure it was all grammatically correct, it just didn't flow very well. Example: "As he sluiced the sleep from his face and hair, he thought about Christine: how it had happened. Them; the two of them; him and her." I mean, I love a semi-colon as much as the next girl, but really???
My main problem was the level of detail in regards to the murders, which generally . I'm sorry, but I don't want to read about how if you flay someone's skin off a bit at a time, you can keep them alive for hours. Or hear about all the straggly tendons and veins and stuff hanging out of the bottom of a severed head. Also, if dead babies make you sad, you should definitely steer clear of this book. There's a LOT of stuff about child sacrifice, as well as ancient jars filled with gloopy dead babies.
Other problems I had with it?
- Christine flashes her archaeology credentials to get something on a plane. Uh, I have an archaeology degree and worked on a bunch of digs. There's no such thing as archaeology credentials, short of hauling your degree around with you.
- Lizzie, Rob's 5 year old daughter, alternates between seeming like a toddler and seeming like a much older child. Also, she's kidnapped, witnesses several deaths (including one where the person's intestines are taken out and boiled in front of them), and is nearly killed by a psychotic madman, and yet in the end? "She seems to have, basically, forgotten it all. A little frightened of the dark. Think that was the hood."
- It's kind of obvious from the get go that a relationship is going to develop between Rob and Christine. But it goes from them being friends in one chapter to ten days later and they're sleeping together in the next, which was a) confusing, because the "ten days later" part came in at the bottom of the page, and b) stilted. There was no demonstrated change to the relationship or character development. It was just *BAM* they're sleeping together now.
So yeah. No. If you want an action adventure story with some kind of archaeology element, go read James Rollins or Will Adams or David Gibbins or Matthew Reilly instead.
Thoughts: UGH. This book just never ended. It took a REALLY long time to get to the point. Prior to that, it was just a bunch of loose threads with very little sense of cohesion. Some of the sentence structure was really odd, especially in regards to punctuation. I'm sure it was all grammatically correct, it just didn't flow very well. Example: "As he sluiced the sleep from his face and hair, he thought about Christine: how it had happened. Them; the two of them; him and her." I mean, I love a semi-colon as much as the next girl, but really???
My main problem was the level of detail in regards to the murders, which generally . I'm sorry, but I don't want to read about how if you flay someone's skin off a bit at a time, you can keep them alive for hours. Or hear about all the straggly tendons and veins and stuff hanging out of the bottom of a severed head. Also, if dead babies make you sad, you should definitely steer clear of this book. There's a LOT of stuff about child sacrifice, as well as ancient jars filled with gloopy dead babies.
Other problems I had with it?
- Christine flashes her archaeology credentials to get something on a plane. Uh, I have an archaeology degree and worked on a bunch of digs. There's no such thing as archaeology credentials, short of hauling your degree around with you.
- Lizzie, Rob's 5 year old daughter, alternates between seeming like a toddler and seeming like a much older child. Also, she's kidnapped, witnesses several deaths (including one where the person's intestines are taken out and boiled in front of them), and is nearly killed by a psychotic madman, and yet in the end? "She seems to have, basically, forgotten it all. A little frightened of the dark. Think that was the hood."
- It's kind of obvious from the get go that a relationship is going to develop between Rob and Christine. But it goes from them being friends in one chapter to ten days later and they're sleeping together in the next, which was a) confusing, because the "ten days later" part came in at the bottom of the page, and b) stilted. There was no demonstrated change to the relationship or character development. It was just *BAM* they're sleeping together now.
So yeah. No. If you want an action adventure story with some kind of archaeology element, go read James Rollins or Will Adams or David Gibbins or Matthew Reilly instead.
June 15, 2009
Cardboard characters, slow moving plot, and seriously gruesome murders combine to make a pretty crappy novel.
May 31, 2017
This is going to be a hard book to review. Overall it was an enjoyable book but I thought it felt short to my expectations half way there. And the ending was abysmal. The author really wanted to wrap things up and make all alive characters to live happily ever after. So unlike... life.
Praises
The Pace - The book really flows from chapter to chapter and the tale until the last 100 pages we follow two different characters. Our main protagonist and the DCI Forrester.
History - So much history and archaelogy in this book that really made me search the net about it. I really enjoy all the detailed information (I read in the net that the german diggers on the site that this book take place were a bit sad because Tom Knox strech the fiction). Nevertheless to me a book is a discovery. Everything they say about a culture I search to see if it is true or fiction. I learn a lot.
The lore - Most of the times the interpretation of the bible fails to achieve anything besides pure fiction and you dismiss it as a Dan Brown wannabe. (Not that I love him). Tom Knox made this novel about Genesis. How humankind is the way it is. Why they left the Hunter-Gatherer society to farming. Why humankind is so propense to violence and sacrificies. Why the similarities between several cultures that are quite apart. The Gigantopithecus relation and hominin. Enfin. Really enjoy it all.
The gore - The depictions of some of the killings are really good. It made me unconfortable. Yes indeed. If I wanted rainbows and pussycats I would read a romance novel. The reason we read thrillers is for a fast paced book with a lot of tension.
Criticism
Main Character Luttrell - He is quite frankly a guy that just do things. Why would the Yezidi tell him all the secrets? That just stupid. A religion that supposedly don't mix with other cultures and keep their secrets, well, secret. Why share it with a journalist? That's stupid.
Loveable Christine - That's a ridicolous good girl. She is almost perfect without flaws. The love with Lutrell just springs up from nowhere. Now a spoiler
Main Antagonist - What a heck was that??? He was the bad guy? So he knows he is a super inteligent psycothic and he talks and talks and talks... He has all characteristics of a comic evil mastermind.
We don't know if he has a cat but... you get the picture. At least he killed some people in some interesting ways...
The Child -
Police Forrester - His child had die (and when know it in the beginning) but it has no influence whatsoever in the tale. But in my opinion he was a better protagonist than Lutrell (even if Lutrell had twice the amount of chapters than Forrester).
The Ending -
Final Thoughts
The real question of this book remains. Why was a massive temple built, several thousand years before "civilization" was born, and then covered it up with rocks? Why humankind left the hunter-gathered way to follow a more ardous, less rewarding, time consming way (farming)? These two questions are quite good Tom Knox. Why why why?
Advisable
To someone who wants to read abot archaelogy and history. For a fan of thrillers... hmm maybe to a thriller afficionado.
Praises
The Pace - The book really flows from chapter to chapter and the tale until the last 100 pages we follow two different characters. Our main protagonist and the DCI Forrester.
History - So much history and archaelogy in this book that really made me search the net about it. I really enjoy all the detailed information (I read in the net that the german diggers on the site that this book take place were a bit sad because Tom Knox strech the fiction). Nevertheless to me a book is a discovery. Everything they say about a culture I search to see if it is true or fiction. I learn a lot.
The lore - Most of the times the interpretation of the bible fails to achieve anything besides pure fiction and you dismiss it as a Dan Brown wannabe. (Not that I love him). Tom Knox made this novel about Genesis. How humankind is the way it is. Why they left the Hunter-Gatherer society to farming. Why humankind is so propense to violence and sacrificies. Why the similarities between several cultures that are quite apart. The Gigantopithecus relation and hominin. Enfin. Really enjoy it all.
The gore - The depictions of some of the killings are really good. It made me unconfortable. Yes indeed. If I wanted rainbows and pussycats I would read a romance novel. The reason we read thrillers is for a fast paced book with a lot of tension.
Criticism
Main Character Luttrell - He is quite frankly a guy that just do things. Why would the Yezidi tell him all the secrets? That just stupid. A religion that supposedly don't mix with other cultures and keep their secrets, well, secret. Why share it with a journalist? That's stupid.
Loveable Christine - That's a ridicolous good girl. She is almost perfect without flaws. The love with Lutrell just springs up from nowhere. Now a spoiler
Main Antagonist - What a heck was that??? He was the bad guy? So he knows he is a super inteligent psycothic and he talks and talks and talks... He has all characteristics of a comic evil mastermind.
We don't know if he has a cat but... you get the picture. At least he killed some people in some interesting ways...
The Child -
Police Forrester - His child had die (and when know it in the beginning) but it has no influence whatsoever in the tale. But in my opinion he was a better protagonist than Lutrell (even if Lutrell had twice the amount of chapters than Forrester).
The Ending -
Final Thoughts
The real question of this book remains. Why was a massive temple built, several thousand years before "civilization" was born, and then covered it up with rocks? Why humankind left the hunter-gathered way to follow a more ardous, less rewarding, time consming way (farming)? These two questions are quite good Tom Knox. Why why why?
Advisable
To someone who wants to read abot archaelogy and history. For a fan of thrillers... hmm maybe to a thriller afficionado.
July 30, 2016
τέτοιος ιστορικός αχταρμάς δεν μου έχει ξανατυχει....καλή και γρήγορη περιπέτεια αλλά έλεος...έχει μπλέξει στην ιστορία οτιδήποτε....ρεπορτερ είναι ο τύπος και όχι συγγραφέας....και φαίνεται....πολύ όμως....πολύ μέτριο αποτέλεσμα
November 8, 2010
Written in a similiar manner as the Dan Brown books, The Genesis Secret is vague about what is real and what is fiction. At the beginning of the book is the disclaimer "The Genesis Secret is a work of fiction. However, most of the religious, historical, and archaeological references are entirely factual and accurate."
This book is a thriller set in various locations in Kurdistan, Iraq, England and Ireland. The main focus is the connection between ancient religions, the origin of mankind as told in Genesis, and modern day secret Satanic occultic groups. The starting point is the site of Gobekli Tepe. You can find information about Gobekli Tepe online, but its basically an archealogical temple site that predates every other similiar site in the world. What is fascinating is how advanced Gobekli Tepe is in relation to its age. It has sculptures and reliefs. There is artistry coming from an age that predates the invention of the wheel. The purpose of the temple is also a mystery and so the author creates a fictional story explaining the origin of man.
One of the key points of the story has to do with Human Sacrifice and the relationship between man's intelligence and his capacity for violence. First, I will talk about the capacity for violence. The book makes the assumption that the higher IQ a particular race or group of people have, the higher the propensity for violence they will have. The book uses Hitler, Pol Pot, Napoleon, and various other well-educated and intelligent individuals as examples. I will disagree with this point and instead say that intelligence has nothing to do with morality. A person with low intelligence can be just as violent as a person with high intelligence. The only difference between the two is the ability to plan and execute their actions intelligently with full effect. Hitler was able to influence the highly intelligent German people to look the other way while he and his army executed millions of Jews. We tend to think that because we are a higly advanced civilization with scientific and technological discoveries that we have learned some sort of basic morality, but I don't believe that to be true. As a Christian, I believe that morality comes only from following the laws of God.
Human sacrifice is another prominent theme in the book. Many different methods of human sacrifices from many different civilizations are discussed. It is said that human sacrifices are made to please gods. An example is the God of Abraham. It is said that Abraham is the founder of 3 major religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This is not true. Abraham is not the founder of Christianity. Christianity is based on Jesus Christ who came thousands of years after Abraham. Abraham is also not the founder of Islam. Islam more directly comes from Abraham's son, Ishmael, who was banished to the desert along with his mother.
The book says the Abraham was "obsessed with sacrifice" and that he was "ready to sacrifice his son". It then makes the mistake of claiming that all 3 major religions are sacrificial religions based on this statement. This also is not true. Abraham was not obsessed with sacrifice, and he was ready to sacrifice his son, but he never actually did it. Abraham never committed any human sacrifices. Instead, he sacrificed sheep as a symbol of purification from sin.
Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, but He never asked for anyone to offer themselves as a human sacrifice nor to kill anyone else. Instead, Jesus asks us to be LIVING sacrifices. He asks us to turn away from the cares of the world and OBEY the LAWS of God.
The whole purpose of the finding the so-called true origin of man is simply to undermine the truth of the Living God found in the Bible. Men, especially rich and powerful men, have always wanted to find their different "truth" to obey because they hate the laws of God. God teaches to love, forgive, and to obey Him, but men want to do as they please. Aleister Crowley, the famous Satanist, says "Do as thou wilt" or "Do whatever you want." Man wants to do whatever he wants, which means that he wants to disobey God's laws and follow his own selfish desires. That is the reason why there are so many secret societies like freemasons. They want to do as they please, break the laws of God, and pretend like they are following a so-called "truth" These are the lies and deceptions of Satan, and it is the agenda of this book.
This book is a thriller set in various locations in Kurdistan, Iraq, England and Ireland. The main focus is the connection between ancient religions, the origin of mankind as told in Genesis, and modern day secret Satanic occultic groups. The starting point is the site of Gobekli Tepe. You can find information about Gobekli Tepe online, but its basically an archealogical temple site that predates every other similiar site in the world. What is fascinating is how advanced Gobekli Tepe is in relation to its age. It has sculptures and reliefs. There is artistry coming from an age that predates the invention of the wheel. The purpose of the temple is also a mystery and so the author creates a fictional story explaining the origin of man.
One of the key points of the story has to do with Human Sacrifice and the relationship between man's intelligence and his capacity for violence. First, I will talk about the capacity for violence. The book makes the assumption that the higher IQ a particular race or group of people have, the higher the propensity for violence they will have. The book uses Hitler, Pol Pot, Napoleon, and various other well-educated and intelligent individuals as examples. I will disagree with this point and instead say that intelligence has nothing to do with morality. A person with low intelligence can be just as violent as a person with high intelligence. The only difference between the two is the ability to plan and execute their actions intelligently with full effect. Hitler was able to influence the highly intelligent German people to look the other way while he and his army executed millions of Jews. We tend to think that because we are a higly advanced civilization with scientific and technological discoveries that we have learned some sort of basic morality, but I don't believe that to be true. As a Christian, I believe that morality comes only from following the laws of God.
Human sacrifice is another prominent theme in the book. Many different methods of human sacrifices from many different civilizations are discussed. It is said that human sacrifices are made to please gods. An example is the God of Abraham. It is said that Abraham is the founder of 3 major religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This is not true. Abraham is not the founder of Christianity. Christianity is based on Jesus Christ who came thousands of years after Abraham. Abraham is also not the founder of Islam. Islam more directly comes from Abraham's son, Ishmael, who was banished to the desert along with his mother.
The book says the Abraham was "obsessed with sacrifice" and that he was "ready to sacrifice his son". It then makes the mistake of claiming that all 3 major religions are sacrificial religions based on this statement. This also is not true. Abraham was not obsessed with sacrifice, and he was ready to sacrifice his son, but he never actually did it. Abraham never committed any human sacrifices. Instead, he sacrificed sheep as a symbol of purification from sin.
Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, but He never asked for anyone to offer themselves as a human sacrifice nor to kill anyone else. Instead, Jesus asks us to be LIVING sacrifices. He asks us to turn away from the cares of the world and OBEY the LAWS of God.
The whole purpose of the finding the so-called true origin of man is simply to undermine the truth of the Living God found in the Bible. Men, especially rich and powerful men, have always wanted to find their different "truth" to obey because they hate the laws of God. God teaches to love, forgive, and to obey Him, but men want to do as they please. Aleister Crowley, the famous Satanist, says "Do as thou wilt" or "Do whatever you want." Man wants to do whatever he wants, which means that he wants to disobey God's laws and follow his own selfish desires. That is the reason why there are so many secret societies like freemasons. They want to do as they please, break the laws of God, and pretend like they are following a so-called "truth" These are the lies and deceptions of Satan, and it is the agenda of this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2011
Cleverly told, this tale of a detective from Scotland Yard and a reporter from London weaves together science and adventure in a heady mix. There are some truly gruesome moments - historically, humans have been inventively and disarmingly cruel to one another, as both the detective and the scientist discover when the leader of a gang of not-quite-thugs (more like literate, intelligent college kids) begin re-enacting human sacrifice as it has been practiced in various cultures throughout the ages. Meanwhile, a well-known archaeologist is murdered at his dig site, a site that the reporter was doing a story on, as it may have held evidence of the very earliest human civilization.
This book reminded me of a cross between "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova (one of my favourite all-time books, so that's a compliment there) and Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" which I found enjoyable, but wasn't a huge hit with me. Throw in a female Indiana Jones type who becomes a sidekick (and fiancee) to the journalist and you have a well-rounded story that will keep you up late reading. There are some extremely gruesome scenes, which can be skimmed past without losing plot points if you have a weak stomach (or heart, like me.... wow humans were historically cruel.)
This book reminded me of a cross between "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova (one of my favourite all-time books, so that's a compliment there) and Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" which I found enjoyable, but wasn't a huge hit with me. Throw in a female Indiana Jones type who becomes a sidekick (and fiancee) to the journalist and you have a well-rounded story that will keep you up late reading. There are some extremely gruesome scenes, which can be skimmed past without losing plot points if you have a weak stomach (or heart, like me.... wow humans were historically cruel.)
June 24, 2010
This one flip-flopped between a journalist at the Gobekli Tepe site and a detective in the UK investigating a series of brutal and strange murders (or attempted murders). Good writing style with a great concept, though I didn't like the eventual direction it took (don't want to go into detail and spoil it). There were a lot of gory details - it felt like a horror in the second half, some of it on par with the "Saw" movies. I had to skip over some of those parts. Not to mention the laborously long rantings of a psychotic. The characters were believable at first but then started doing things that seemed contrived just for the sake of the plot. Overall, it was really good until about half way through and then started going downhill. Way downhill. By the end, I no longer really cared what the Genesis Secret was. Shame because it had real potential.
March 27, 2012
I love historical mysteries and thrillers, especially when they relate to things that actually could have happened. I admit, the Dan Brown bug bit me and I have never been cured. I also like the historical genre when we look at the biblical past, as so much of what we know through THE GOOD BOOK is interpreted. Alas, many, like Brown, look to the New Testament, where things are much less controversial. I like those old texts where things are much vaguer. The early books that really create the foundation of some rules we use today, even though fundamentalists ruin it all with their blather. Knox examines the true beginning of it all in The Genesis Secret and asks, where DID we come from and WHY. He also seeks to have the reader challenge what they know about the ‘beginnings of life’ and whether it is all blather or has some innate truth.
Mixing biblical interpretation of the Book of Genesis with some archaeological back drop is genius, especially since this is how we'd find out about new discoveries to old tales. [I admit I am going through the television series BONES at present, so archaeological findings interest me a great deal!] The story, from this perspective is great at unearthing (pardon the pun) truths and possibilities, but doing so in such a way that the pope or televangelists will not toss curses on those who read the books. Juxtaposing the other thread of the story, a serial killer in the UK and environs, was also great, as it permits the reader to learn more about some of the truly horrific tortures cultures used to use on their peoples. The Swedes and Japanese, especially stunned me with the brutality, but I hold none of it against them nowadays.
When the two stories merge, the thrill aspect skyrockets and it only gets better as the pages go on. Knox is a great writer and has done some amazing things in this, his debut novel. I can see why it did so well and why I am interested in the second book (not a sequel) already!
KUDOS Mr. Knox. In me you have a fan!
Mixing biblical interpretation of the Book of Genesis with some archaeological back drop is genius, especially since this is how we'd find out about new discoveries to old tales. [I admit I am going through the television series BONES at present, so archaeological findings interest me a great deal!] The story, from this perspective is great at unearthing (pardon the pun) truths and possibilities, but doing so in such a way that the pope or televangelists will not toss curses on those who read the books. Juxtaposing the other thread of the story, a serial killer in the UK and environs, was also great, as it permits the reader to learn more about some of the truly horrific tortures cultures used to use on their peoples. The Swedes and Japanese, especially stunned me with the brutality, but I hold none of it against them nowadays.
When the two stories merge, the thrill aspect skyrockets and it only gets better as the pages go on. Knox is a great writer and has done some amazing things in this, his debut novel. I can see why it did so well and why I am interested in the second book (not a sequel) already!
KUDOS Mr. Knox. In me you have a fan!
October 23, 2009
Along the same lines as Dan Brown, but honestly:
1) The writing isn't as tight or compelling
2) The characters aren't as fleshed out
3) Sheesh. I think this guy has fetishes/racist undertones and writes about them under the guise of the antagonist.
4) At the end he literally says, "Here's the Genesis Secret:..." Am I insulted? Surprised? Cheated (for reading the 95% of the book)?
5) Couldn't get over the treatment of the daughter as a prop. Sorry, but am offended.
Just not thrilled.
1) The writing isn't as tight or compelling
2) The characters aren't as fleshed out
3) Sheesh. I think this guy has fetishes/racist undertones and writes about them under the guise of the antagonist.
4) At the end he literally says, "Here's the Genesis Secret:..." Am I insulted? Surprised? Cheated (for reading the 95% of the book)?
5) Couldn't get over the treatment of the daughter as a prop. Sorry, but am offended.
Just not thrilled.
May 17, 2012
The characters were unbelievable and there were far too many deus ex machina plot devices for this to be a compelling story. On top of that, there was simply too much gratuitously gory description of violent killings--the author seems to have had quite a fetish for it, but it grosses out the average reader (I'm a public defender--I'm not queasy about these things, but I still thought it was too much) without advancing the plot. Comparisons to the Da Vinci Code are inapt.
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May 25, 2022Μια ανακάλυψη στο τουρκικό Κουρδιστάν, απειλεί να φέρει στο φως μυστικά που είναι επιμελώς κρυμμένα για χρόνια. Χιλιάδες χρόνια.
Από τα ερειπωμένα κάστρα της Ιρλανδίας μέχρι τον αρχαιότερο ναό στον κόσμο, το Γκομπεκλί Τεπέ στα βάθη της Τουρκίας, το Μυστικό της Γενέσεως συνυφαί��ει ιστορικά γεγονότα, επιστημονική γνώση και βιβλικά μυστήρια.
Τι σχέση μπορεί να έχει αυτός ο ακατανόητα θαμμένος ναός με την Εδέμ?
Ποιος δεν θέλει να βγουν τα ευρήματα που βρίσκει ο αρχαιολόγος στο φως?
Τι ξέρουν οι γεζίτες που είναι στην περιοχή?
Από πού και ως που μας μπήκε η λέσχη Χέλφαϊρ στο παιχνίδι?
Όλα αυτά και περισσότερα συντελούν να ξετυλιχθεί το κουβάρι αυτής της ιστορίας.
Από τις λίγες φορές που είπα με τον εαυτό μου : "Φίλε, αυτό θέλω να το δω σε ταινία!"
Αγωνία, ένταση, τρόμος απτός, χειροπιαστός (από αυτούς που μπορούν γίνουν πραγματικότητα αν μπλέξεις με την λάθος υπόθεση, την λάθος στιγμή και με "τρελούς") και κινηματογραφική ροή.
Από τα ερειπωμένα κάστρα της Ιρλανδίας μέχρι τον αρχαιότερο ναό στον κόσμο, το Γκομπεκλί Τεπέ στα βάθη της Τουρκίας, το Μυστικό της Γενέσεως συνυφαί��ει ιστορικά γεγονότα, επιστημονική γνώση και βιβλικά μυστήρια.
Τι σχέση μπορεί να έχει αυτός ο ακατανόητα θαμμένος ναός με την Εδέμ?
Ποιος δεν θέλει να βγουν τα ευρήματα που βρίσκει ο αρχαιολόγος στο φως?
Τι ξέρουν οι γεζίτες που είναι στην περιοχή?
Από πού και ως που μας μπήκε η λέσχη Χέλφαϊρ στο παιχνίδι?
Όλα αυτά και περισσότερα συντελούν να ξετυλιχθεί το κουβάρι αυτής της ιστορίας.
Από τις λίγες φορές που είπα με τον εαυτό μου : "Φίλε, αυτό θέλω να το δω σε ταινία!"
Αγωνία, ένταση, τρόμος απτός, χειροπιαστός (από αυτούς που μπορούν γίνουν πραγματικότητα αν μπλέξεις με την λάθος υπόθεση, την λάθος στιγμή και με "τρελούς") και κινηματογραφική ροή.
December 23, 2011
The novel made a dramatic change of perspective starting with chapter 37. Up to this point the horror was presented at third hand but in this chapter Knox takes the reader to the commission of the crime and sees the sacrifice at first hand. At first I thought this was just gratuitous violence but later I came to understand the point. The reader had to experience the horror of the sacrifice and the way in which the sacrifice took place to understand and become willing to accept the story's explication of the roll of a non-human element being introduced to the genetic mix that we now find in ourselves. The willingness to self-sacrifice, competing with the desire to kill with cold precision and no mercy is the type of conflict of motives we find in human nature. This involved more than the standard story of psychotic behavior; this reases the question of our genetic roots and where this conflict came from.
When I came to chapter 39 and the interview with Janice Edwards I wondered what it was doing there. Why was Forrester interested in the inheritable quality of the penchant for extreme violence? The discussion was interesting but just seemed to be inserted as though it had been written for another story and was just pasted into this one.
I was expecting Isabel to turn up dead but not at Cloncurry's hands. I didn't see how she would be more successful in penetrating what seemed like an inbred, cult type religion than Rob had been and I did expect that she was highly motivated. She did not seem to be a person who could easily accept failure.
When I first learned that Christine was alive, I was pissed at Knox. It seemed he had just pulled her survival out of the hat as a gesture to the reader, a sort of reduction of the fear factor in expiation to the gods of publishing and timid readership. But as the final stage developed, the last Shakespearian act in which everybody dies, Knox needed her connection to Cloncurry's gang to get the principal players on the road to Baghdad, so to speak, and back to the source of darkness. Knox needed her alive to connect the dots to both the points of dramatic action and to the final explanations of the historic motives for the final development of his plot. It was really a brilliant story and a brilliant development of speculative analysis of our genetic development as a species.
I came to admire the final chapter with the marriage of Christine and Rob. The inclusion of the Greek Orthodox priest, the bouzouki players, the garden setting of the Princes Islands with its tamarack trees and the invitation to Kiribali not only seemed to dissipate his sinister behavior but also the dark aspect of place. Kiribali's interaction with the other wedding guests seemed to transform him into a demi- if not a super, hero.
I thought this a master work despite that some of the violence kept me awake at night like an adolescent after viewing a horror move on Halloween night.
Tom Knox
When I came to chapter 39 and the interview with Janice Edwards I wondered what it was doing there. Why was Forrester interested in the inheritable quality of the penchant for extreme violence? The discussion was interesting but just seemed to be inserted as though it had been written for another story and was just pasted into this one.
I was expecting Isabel to turn up dead but not at Cloncurry's hands. I didn't see how she would be more successful in penetrating what seemed like an inbred, cult type religion than Rob had been and I did expect that she was highly motivated. She did not seem to be a person who could easily accept failure.
When I first learned that Christine was alive, I was pissed at Knox. It seemed he had just pulled her survival out of the hat as a gesture to the reader, a sort of reduction of the fear factor in expiation to the gods of publishing and timid readership. But as the final stage developed, the last Shakespearian act in which everybody dies, Knox needed her connection to Cloncurry's gang to get the principal players on the road to Baghdad, so to speak, and back to the source of darkness. Knox needed her alive to connect the dots to both the points of dramatic action and to the final explanations of the historic motives for the final development of his plot. It was really a brilliant story and a brilliant development of speculative analysis of our genetic development as a species.
I came to admire the final chapter with the marriage of Christine and Rob. The inclusion of the Greek Orthodox priest, the bouzouki players, the garden setting of the Princes Islands with its tamarack trees and the invitation to Kiribali not only seemed to dissipate his sinister behavior but also the dark aspect of place. Kiribali's interaction with the other wedding guests seemed to transform him into a demi- if not a super, hero.
I thought this a master work despite that some of the violence kept me awake at night like an adolescent after viewing a horror move on Halloween night.
Tom Knox
October 1, 2009
There are two stories going on at the same time and will end up intertwining as the plot thickens.
Rob Luttrell, British reporter survived a suicide bomber’s attack in Iraq. Still recovering from the horrific ordeal, his editor gives him a safe assignment or so he thought. He is to interview Franz Breitner, a German archeologist at the dig in the Kurdish sector of Turkey. Gobekli Tepe may be the oldest structure ever found, dating back twelve thousands years. Rob finds that the locals are less than please over this discovery and have gone to great lengths to curse Franz and his work. Rob becomes romantically involved with Christine Meyer, the anthropologist at the site. When Franz is killed in a freak accident, Rob and Christine investigate to find out why someone would want him dead. What they unearth is shocking. Could Gobekli Tepe be the Garden of Eden and if so why had it been deliberately buried? Rob doesn’t have all the answers, but he sends his editor the article, not realizing his written words would put his young daughter and Christine in danger.
In the British Isles, there have been a series of brutal murders at sites linked with the Hellfire Club. This club was an elite social society known for its decadence and debauchery. The killers are upper-class college students with a psychopathic leader who stays one step ahead of the authorities. The leader wants something that the Yezidi (one of the ancient cult of religions known as the Cult of Angels) have kept secret. He believes this item was given to a member of the Hellfire Club centuries before and he believes Rob knows where it is.
The storyline is fast-paced and will keep you turning the pages to find out what will happen next. The history about Gobeki Tepe, Canaanites, the Yezidi and the Hellfire Club are cleverly woven into this macabre and sinister tale. Just to be warned, the torture practices of ancient societies that these killers used are described in horrifying detail.
For those who love a good thriller and enjoyed books such as Angels and Demons by Dan Brown would also enjoy this book as well. If you’re interested knowing more about the historical facts in The Genesis Secret, the author has pictures and descriptions of these places on his website. Quite interesting.
http://www.thegenesissecret.com/about...
Reviewed for PNR Paranormal Reviews
Rob Luttrell, British reporter survived a suicide bomber’s attack in Iraq. Still recovering from the horrific ordeal, his editor gives him a safe assignment or so he thought. He is to interview Franz Breitner, a German archeologist at the dig in the Kurdish sector of Turkey. Gobekli Tepe may be the oldest structure ever found, dating back twelve thousands years. Rob finds that the locals are less than please over this discovery and have gone to great lengths to curse Franz and his work. Rob becomes romantically involved with Christine Meyer, the anthropologist at the site. When Franz is killed in a freak accident, Rob and Christine investigate to find out why someone would want him dead. What they unearth is shocking. Could Gobekli Tepe be the Garden of Eden and if so why had it been deliberately buried? Rob doesn’t have all the answers, but he sends his editor the article, not realizing his written words would put his young daughter and Christine in danger.
In the British Isles, there have been a series of brutal murders at sites linked with the Hellfire Club. This club was an elite social society known for its decadence and debauchery. The killers are upper-class college students with a psychopathic leader who stays one step ahead of the authorities. The leader wants something that the Yezidi (one of the ancient cult of religions known as the Cult of Angels) have kept secret. He believes this item was given to a member of the Hellfire Club centuries before and he believes Rob knows where it is.
The storyline is fast-paced and will keep you turning the pages to find out what will happen next. The history about Gobeki Tepe, Canaanites, the Yezidi and the Hellfire Club are cleverly woven into this macabre and sinister tale. Just to be warned, the torture practices of ancient societies that these killers used are described in horrifying detail.
For those who love a good thriller and enjoyed books such as Angels and Demons by Dan Brown would also enjoy this book as well. If you’re interested knowing more about the historical facts in The Genesis Secret, the author has pictures and descriptions of these places on his website. Quite interesting.
http://www.thegenesissecret.com/about...
Reviewed for PNR Paranormal Reviews
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2011
Wow - I feel positively drained from reading this book - mostly in a good way. It was a great page-turner in which a British reporter's trip to research and write about an ancient archeological site in Kurdish Turkey gets complicated, at the same time a Scotland Yard detective tries to solve a series of brutal ritual killings occuring in the British Isles. The two stories eventually intertwine into one story. Be warned - this is not for the faint of heart. I was a bit skeptical about this book after reading the huge number of bad reviews on goodreads and amazon. In the end, I think it delivered a solid, interesting, thought-provoking story with definite hints of DaVinci Code and Katherine Neville's The Eight. I've read quite a lot in the forensic/murder mystery genre and this has the most difficult-to-read violence I've ever encountered. But for all those who thought it was terrible simply because of the very graphic violence, you completely missed the point. The violence is recreating historically accurate methods of human sacrifice from ancient cultures all over the world. Yes, it's disturbing, but it happened - and this is part of the whole crux of the story's conclusion.
February 19, 2021
Mam lekką słabość do tej książki, którą czytałam dwa razy, ponieważ dotyka ona wątków, o których lubię czytać: archeologia, historia, morderstwa. Wsiąkłam w tę powieść już od pierwszych stron.
We wschodniej Turcji archeolodzy odnajdują jeden z najstarszych kompleksów sakralnych, który powstał prawdopodobnie dwanaście tysięcy lat wstecz. Bolączką dla badaczy staje się odpowiedzenie na pytanie - dlaczego kompleks został z premedytacją zakopany 2 tysiące lat później.
Z drugiej strony mamy Wielką Brytanię, a tam grasuje seryjny zabójca, który swoje ofiary zabija w sposób łudząco przypominający rytualne mordy.
I oczywiście mamy asa - osobę, która zna sekret i nie zawaha się go ukryć wszelkimi środkami.
To jest książka brutalna i nie ma co ukrywać - opis osoby nabitej na pal, gotowanie na żywca wnętrzności człowieka, obdzieranie ze skóry - osoby o bardzo słabych nerwach może lepiej gdyby sobie odpuściły tę lekturę. Jeśli jednak nie zrażasz się takimi opisami to myślę, że będziesz przy tej książce przyjemnie się bawić. Widać na pierwszy rzut oka, że autor inspirował się Brownem, ale (to warto zaznaczyć!) nie jest drugi Brown. Jednak Knox dobrze operuje piórem i z chęcią sięgnę po coś innego jego autorstwa.
We wschodniej Turcji archeolodzy odnajdują jeden z najstarszych kompleksów sakralnych, który powstał prawdopodobnie dwanaście tysięcy lat wstecz. Bolączką dla badaczy staje się odpowiedzenie na pytanie - dlaczego kompleks został z premedytacją zakopany 2 tysiące lat później.
Z drugiej strony mamy Wielką Brytanię, a tam grasuje seryjny zabójca, który swoje ofiary zabija w sposób łudząco przypominający rytualne mordy.
I oczywiście mamy asa - osobę, która zna sekret i nie zawaha się go ukryć wszelkimi środkami.
To jest książka brutalna i nie ma co ukrywać - opis osoby nabitej na pal, gotowanie na żywca wnętrzności człowieka, obdzieranie ze skóry - osoby o bardzo słabych nerwach może lepiej gdyby sobie odpuściły tę lekturę. Jeśli jednak nie zrażasz się takimi opisami to myślę, że będziesz przy tej książce przyjemnie się bawić. Widać na pierwszy rzut oka, że autor inspirował się Brownem, ale (to warto zaznaczyć!) nie jest drugi Brown. Jednak Knox dobrze operuje piórem i z chęcią sięgnę po coś innego jego autorstwa.
October 9, 2010
The well written archeological detail was well worth the time and cost! I read the good, the bad, and the ugly from reviews before reading The Genesis Secret. I am not usually one to read graphic thrillers with pages of descriptive, gruesome torture. And I didn't with this book either. Thankfully, Tom Knox made the blood and guts an optional feature of the book. I was able to skip over the bits that hurt my sensibilities without missing any enjoyment. (Rather, preserving it in my case.) The solution to the deranged killer's motives is no less outrageous than a Dan Brown thriller, and as with Brown, the ride is really worth it. The novel is well paced, informative (without being a lecture), and the author's experience in good, old-fashioned journalism shines through in the style and tone! If you are fascinated by archeology and anthropology (particularly in Mesopotamia) and love a good fictional puzzle, then I highly recommend The Genesis Secret.
October 6, 2011
Fantastic book. Combines archaeology with murder, mystery, & the source of "the Genesis Secret", which uncovers what the 3 major belief systems, the Abrahamic religions, were based on. Drawing from secrets of the Hellfire Club, the Book of Enoch, 2 murders in different parts of the world, one at the real site of Gobekli Tempe, & one in the UK, end up being related. This follows the story of how those 2 converged, & the extremely intelligent psychopath behind it, Jamie Cloncurry, with a genius IQ if close to 150.
There is never a dull moment in this book, lots of plot twists & turns, lots of action, etc.
A very worthwhile read for those who appreciate a good murder mystery, those who love archaeology, those who enjoyed the Dan Brown books, even though this book is a good deal bloodier.
There is never a dull moment in this book, lots of plot twists & turns, lots of action, etc.
A very worthwhile read for those who appreciate a good murder mystery, those who love archaeology, those who enjoyed the Dan Brown books, even though this book is a good deal bloodier.
August 1, 2011
This should probably get a 3.5 rating, as I really did enjoy the story: The archaeological dig at Gobeckli Tepe (a site in Turkey, nearly 12,000 years old that was intentionally buried around 8000 b.c. for unknown reasons) is believed to be The Garden of Eden by the lead archaeologist on site. Rob Luttrell, a war reporter, is sent to write a public interest piece. But when the site is sabotaged, they discover links to a series of murders by a group of very depraved (yet brilliant) psychopaths which are being investigated by Scotland Yard. Knox writing is very descriptive, and he does a wonderful job at bringing the reader along for the ride.
the only detraction, in my opinion, is the very detailed, very vivid and VERY gruesome details of the murders depicted. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
the only detraction, in my opinion, is the very detailed, very vivid and VERY gruesome details of the murders depicted. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
August 17, 2012
You win, Tom Knox. Your book is so inane, so bloated by leaden exposition, so utterly bereft of relatable characters that I just can't go on.
The jacket blurb sounds interesting enough, the idea seems sound, but my god, I suspect that Knox has never actually read a novel. He writes like Dan Brown after a life-altering brain injury which, depending on your view of Brown's writing, is either horrifying or really horrifying.
I have given up on exactly two books in the last decade or so, and the other one wasn't bad so much as not up my alley. This book is bad. Very bad. Stay far away.
The jacket blurb sounds interesting enough, the idea seems sound, but my god, I suspect that Knox has never actually read a novel. He writes like Dan Brown after a life-altering brain injury which, depending on your view of Brown's writing, is either horrifying or really horrifying.
I have given up on exactly two books in the last decade or so, and the other one wasn't bad so much as not up my alley. This book is bad. Very bad. Stay far away.
November 18, 2010
This is a Dan Brown type story that wraps a few historical facts around a wildly theoretical alternative to existing biblical beliefs. The main protagonist is likable enough, but you have to question some of his methods for pursuing the answer to the mythical question and at how easily it seems to be discovered for someone that hasn't been chasing the mystery their entire life.
That all being said, it's a good mystery read, although I personally was a bit squeamish with some of the murders that took place throughout the book.
That all being said, it's a good mystery read, although I personally was a bit squeamish with some of the murders that took place throughout the book.
August 8, 2014
I both really liked and really hated this book. I loved the history, archaeology, religious mystery etc. I also really enjoyed the characters, the excitement, and how you follow more than one thread for the first 2/3 of the book.
Then all of a sudden you read some of the most horrible things. I would have abandoned the book entirely, had it not been for such an great first half. Goodreads needs a "great book, SO not for me" option in its rating system!
Just be warned folks - this is a book for SAW fans.
Then all of a sudden you read some of the most horrible things. I would have abandoned the book entirely, had it not been for such an great first half. Goodreads needs a "great book, SO not for me" option in its rating system!
Just be warned folks - this is a book for SAW fans.
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September 7, 2018Her ne kadar kitaba hikayenin Göbekli Tepe ye dayanıyor olması nedeniyle heyecanla başlasam da aradığımı bulamadım. Basit bir polisiyeden öteye gidemedi benim için. Kitabın yazarının bence aşırıya kaçan ırkçılığın bir şekilde kitaba ve kitabın kahramanına yansıtması da cabası. Özellikle Türkiye'yi bilen birilerinin gözünden kaçırmayacağı zaman ve mekan çelişkileri ise çok fazla. Evet birkaç bilgi ediniyorsunuz ama okuyacaksınız beklentiniz çok yüksek olmamalı.
October 20, 2009
I found this title on a "Dan Brown read-alike" list. Mystery, action, religious secrets with some truth behind them...this is my kind of book.
A web site by the author separates truth from fiction: thegenesissecret.com
A web site by the author separates truth from fiction: thegenesissecret.com
February 4, 2023
Did not finish. The story never got moving for me. I gave it more than enough pages (60) to "get going" but alas it was not my cup of tea. Back to the thrift store for this book. Maybe someone else will like it.
October 16, 2012
I love DaVinci types of thrillers, and this book looked as if it would fill the bill. Half and half. Two tales seemingly disperate are in fact finally interwoven. In the first Rob Luttrell, a journalist, is sent by his editor Steve to investigate an archeological dig at Gobekli Tepe, a Garden of Eden site in Kurdish Turkey. The dig is led by Franz Breitner who claims it is 10,000 to 11,000 years old, but was completely buried around 8000 9000 BC. There is a lot of hostility from the Kurdish workers, but Rob is inspired by Breitner's helper, Christine Meyer who studied under Isobel Previn. Breitner is killed, apparently by his workers. So Christine and Rob poke around to try to find out what he has discovered that he is seemingly hiding. Since they go places they aren't supposed to, they are told by Officer Kiribali to get out of Sanliurfa (the original Ur of the Bible?) but they want to learn more about an isolated religious sect the Yezidi, who perhaps has ties to the site.
In the meantime DCI Forrester of Scotland Yard is investigating a series of grizly murders at the Ben Franklin house in London, on the Isle of Man, of a friend of Christine's, De Savory. All are graphic depictions of human sacrifice from around the world in ancient societies. They seem to be tied to Jamie Cloncurry, the modern head of the Hellfire Club which was in the 1700s led by one of his ancestors, Jerusalen (or Tom) Whaley and Francis Dashwood. The Hellfire Club, which had prominent men, was officially disbanned in 1774, but apparently lived on underground.
The two stories are tied together by Jamie Concurry who wants the Black Book of the Yezidi, and tries to force Rob's hand to get it by kidnappiing and offering to sacrifice Rob's daughter, Lizzie, and his now girlfriend, Christine. But did Jerusalem Whaley bring the book to Ireland or is it still in Turkey? Rob travels to Turkey to rescue his loved ones where Cloncurry tries to trap him in the Valley of Slaughter, near Gobekli Tepe which is to be flooded by the Great Anatolian Projedt of damming the Euphrates.
The great "secret" is an interpretation of Genesis 6 where the sons of God find the daughters of earth attractive. The Black Book contains proof that the sons of God were a different human species than the human daughters of man.
Well, it is an exciting plot--if you can stand the gratuitous blood and gore surrounding the various examples of human sacrifice. It is an interesting theory--supposedly bolstered by the fact that there is a real Gobekli Tepe which doesn't fit with accepted interpretations of early man. If unlimited violence doesn't bother you, you might find the book quite thrilling.
In the meantime DCI Forrester of Scotland Yard is investigating a series of grizly murders at the Ben Franklin house in London, on the Isle of Man, of a friend of Christine's, De Savory. All are graphic depictions of human sacrifice from around the world in ancient societies. They seem to be tied to Jamie Cloncurry, the modern head of the Hellfire Club which was in the 1700s led by one of his ancestors, Jerusalen (or Tom) Whaley and Francis Dashwood. The Hellfire Club, which had prominent men, was officially disbanned in 1774, but apparently lived on underground.
The two stories are tied together by Jamie Concurry who wants the Black Book of the Yezidi, and tries to force Rob's hand to get it by kidnappiing and offering to sacrifice Rob's daughter, Lizzie, and his now girlfriend, Christine. But did Jerusalem Whaley bring the book to Ireland or is it still in Turkey? Rob travels to Turkey to rescue his loved ones where Cloncurry tries to trap him in the Valley of Slaughter, near Gobekli Tepe which is to be flooded by the Great Anatolian Projedt of damming the Euphrates.
The great "secret" is an interpretation of Genesis 6 where the sons of God find the daughters of earth attractive. The Black Book contains proof that the sons of God were a different human species than the human daughters of man.
Well, it is an exciting plot--if you can stand the gratuitous blood and gore surrounding the various examples of human sacrifice. It is an interesting theory--supposedly bolstered by the fact that there is a real Gobekli Tepe which doesn't fit with accepted interpretations of early man. If unlimited violence doesn't bother you, you might find the book quite thrilling.
October 1, 2009
There are two stories going on at the same time and will end up intertwining as the plot thickens.
Rob Luttrell, British reporter survived a suicide bomber’s attack in Iraq. Still recovering from the horrific ordeal, his editor gives him a safe assignment or so he thought. He is to interview Franz Breitner, a German archeologist at the dig in the Kurdish sector of Turkey. Gobekli Tepe may be the oldest structure ever found, dating back twelve thousands years. Rob finds that the locals are less than please over this discovery and have gone to great lengths to curse Franz and his work. Rob becomes romantically involved with Christine Meyer, the anthropologist at the site. When Franz is killed in a freak accident, Rob and Christine investigate to find out why someone would want him dead. What they unearth is shocking. Could Gobekli Tepe be the Garden of Eden and if so why had it been deliberately buried? Rob doesn’t have all the answers, but he sends his editor the article, not realizing his written words would put his young daughter and Christine in danger.
In the British Isles, there have been a series of brutal murders at sites linked with the Hellfire Club. This club was an elite social society known for its decadence and debauchery. The killers are upper-class college students with a psychopathic leader who stays one step ahead of the authorities. The leader wants something that the Yezidi (one of the ancient cult of religions known as the Cult of Angels) have kept secret. He believes this item was given to a member of the Hellfire Club centuries before and he believes Rob knows where it is.
The storyline is fast-paced and will keep you turning the pages to find out what will happen next. The history about Gobeki Tepe, Canaanites, the Yezidi and the Hellfire Club are cleverly woven into this macabre and sinister tale. Just to be warned, the torture practices of ancient societies that these killers used are described in horrifying detail.
For those who love a good thriller and enjoyed books such as Angels and Demons by Dan Brown would also enjoy this book as well. If you’re interested knowing more about the historical facts in The Genesis Secret, the author has pictures and descriptions of these places on his website. Quite interesting.
http://www.thegenesissecret.com/about...
Reviewed for PNR Paranormal Reviews
Rob Luttrell, British reporter survived a suicide bomber’s attack in Iraq. Still recovering from the horrific ordeal, his editor gives him a safe assignment or so he thought. He is to interview Franz Breitner, a German archeologist at the dig in the Kurdish sector of Turkey. Gobekli Tepe may be the oldest structure ever found, dating back twelve thousands years. Rob finds that the locals are less than please over this discovery and have gone to great lengths to curse Franz and his work. Rob becomes romantically involved with Christine Meyer, the anthropologist at the site. When Franz is killed in a freak accident, Rob and Christine investigate to find out why someone would want him dead. What they unearth is shocking. Could Gobekli Tepe be the Garden of Eden and if so why had it been deliberately buried? Rob doesn’t have all the answers, but he sends his editor the article, not realizing his written words would put his young daughter and Christine in danger.
In the British Isles, there have been a series of brutal murders at sites linked with the Hellfire Club. This club was an elite social society known for its decadence and debauchery. The killers are upper-class college students with a psychopathic leader who stays one step ahead of the authorities. The leader wants something that the Yezidi (one of the ancient cult of religions known as the Cult of Angels) have kept secret. He believes this item was given to a member of the Hellfire Club centuries before and he believes Rob knows where it is.
The storyline is fast-paced and will keep you turning the pages to find out what will happen next. The history about Gobeki Tepe, Canaanites, the Yezidi and the Hellfire Club are cleverly woven into this macabre and sinister tale. Just to be warned, the torture practices of ancient societies that these killers used are described in horrifying detail.
For those who love a good thriller and enjoyed books such as Angels and Demons by Dan Brown would also enjoy this book as well. If you’re interested knowing more about the historical facts in The Genesis Secret, the author has pictures and descriptions of these places on his website. Quite interesting.
http://www.thegenesissecret.com/about...
Reviewed for PNR Paranormal Reviews
August 23, 2023
This book was A LOT. Now that I’ve finished it, it all makes sense but there was quite a bit to keep track of the whole time. It starts out with two completely different stories that seem unrelated. It took me a few chapters to get a grasp on when the author was changing stories. They didn’t start to connect until about halfway through the book. I feel like there were just too many details to keep track of, and the author very easily could have made it shorter and cut out some of the red herrings. Once I got to the end it felt like a wild goose chance that ended in the same spot they started.
As far as the writing style, I was not a huge fan of it. There were many scenes that dragged on way too long and there were others that happened so fast. I found myself many times rereading what just happened because there was a major plot point just thrown in the middle of a chapter. That aspect felt very weird, I personally like the author to drop a bomb at the end of the chapter where I can then take a second to process the information.
The antagonist of this story was not my favorite either. I understand he’s suppose to be a psychopath but there was just some writing that I felt was unnecessary and a bit out of place for the rest of the book. There are also some GRAPHIC descriptions of human sacrifice that made me squirm while reading so I think that’s important to note.
Overall, this book was kinda all over the place. Was it entertaining? Yes. In the end, I had to know what the Genesis Secret was so I was forced to keep going. I don’t know if I would highly recommend it but there are pieces of it that were fun. A review says it’s the perfect combination of The Da Vinci Code and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don’t think perfect is the word I would use for it, maybe the Walmart versions of the two. Definitely no Robert Langdon or Indiana Jones, but the story held it’s own.
As far as the writing style, I was not a huge fan of it. There were many scenes that dragged on way too long and there were others that happened so fast. I found myself many times rereading what just happened because there was a major plot point just thrown in the middle of a chapter. That aspect felt very weird, I personally like the author to drop a bomb at the end of the chapter where I can then take a second to process the information.
The antagonist of this story was not my favorite either. I understand he’s suppose to be a psychopath but there was just some writing that I felt was unnecessary and a bit out of place for the rest of the book. There are also some GRAPHIC descriptions of human sacrifice that made me squirm while reading so I think that’s important to note.
Overall, this book was kinda all over the place. Was it entertaining? Yes. In the end, I had to know what the Genesis Secret was so I was forced to keep going. I don’t know if I would highly recommend it but there are pieces of it that were fun. A review says it’s the perfect combination of The Da Vinci Code and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don’t think perfect is the word I would use for it, maybe the Walmart versions of the two. Definitely no Robert Langdon or Indiana Jones, but the story held it’s own.
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