The Sanctuary: A Novel
by Raymond Khoury
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Book Summary Information
Author: Raymond KhouryEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-29
ISBN: 0451223195
Number of pages: 640
Publisher: Signet
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451223197
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Sanctuary: A Novel
Book Review: A great read, but definitively not as good as The Last Templar.
Summary: 3 Stars
In the dungeons of an old Templar castle, a dying man bequests an ancient half burned book to his young inquisitor. This act starts a feud between two families in the 18th century: Raimondo di Sangro, a prince, on one side; and a chameleon man who goes by many names--the most recent is the Count of Montferrat. Di Sangro has gone overboard to get the secret that the count has been hiding for generations--to no avail. Once again the Count eludes him.
Present day, in Lebanon, Evelyn Bishop, a famous archeologist in her sixties that calls Lebanon home, is visited by an old acquaintance, Farouk. He is a fellow Iraqi that was on an excavation with her in Iraq thirty years before. Farouk is trying to get cash, which he needs desperately to escape Iraq, and proposes to Evelyn to sell a loot that was offered to him. Among the loot's Polaroid that Farouk shows Evelyn, there is one of a book which clearly shows the picture of a snake in the form of a circle biting his tail. She can't stay long with him because she had prior plans and they agree to meet later
Evelyn had an appointment for lunch with her daughter, Mia, who just got to Beirut on an assignment--she is going to use Lebanese DNA to prove that both country's inhabitants, Christians and Muslims alike, are descendants of one culture, one tribe--hoping to inspire a feeling of unity.
Mia notices her mother is not quite herself, and Evelyn tells her about Farouk and the Ouroboros or "tail devourer" snake that the old friend has brought. Evelyn reveals to Mia that last time she saw an Ouroboros was on the dig where she met Mia's father, who is supposedly now dead.
All this talk makes Evelyn late for Farouk's meeting, thus she rushes out, leaving behind her cell phone. Mia notices this, and runs back to the hotel to catch her mother. She sees her talking to an Arab, which she imagines is Farouk. Mia had also noted a suspiciously parked Mercedes and a dark figures, so she yelled her mother's name to warn her. Farouk escapes, but Evelyn is taken hostage after a few bullets fly in the night by the people in the Mercedes.
Here is where the thrilling part of the book starts. There are three forces at bay, competing to get the Ouroboros book:
Tim Corben, a CIA agent, who rescues Mia from the rough men several times and protects her. Mia is scared by the strange dedication to the case Tom displays, but has no choice to join forces with him. It is Mia who, through her mother's notes and computer research, figures out what the Ouroboros is all about--but Corben dismisses it.
Then, there is Mr. Kirkwood, a worker for the UNESCO, who is also helping Mia rescue her mother. Mia confides her findings with him. Mr. Kirkwood takes a keen interest in resolving the mystery of the Ouroboros--again making Mia both nervous and suspicious.
Finally, there is the hakeem (the doctor), who is the most sinister of them all. He has a concealed, state of the art lab, somewhere in the Middle East, where gruesome experiments have been carried out on men, women, and children. He holds Evelyn hostage and wants to use her as bait to get the book--for he has the formula, but the formula is missing a key ingredient. The hakeem hopes that the book will help him find the missing ingredient.
As the power of the Ouroboros comes to light, multiple car chases, murders, lies, and change of alliances occur until we discover that the 18th century feud is alive and still ongoing.
The book is mainly fantasy and in spite of an extraordinary ending it is not believable.
A great read, but definitively not as good as The Last Templar. For one thing, Mia is not a believable character--she goes from a shy innocent girl, to a fast and furious warrior. The author also stretches her genetic knowledge and uses it to resolve mysteries that have little to do with her talents. It just did not worked for me.
Also the existence of the elixir described by the Ouroboros, makes this more a science fiction book than a historical fiction.
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