Tag Archives: religion

Lever Templar: A Castellum One Novel

Posted on by

By Matt Gianni – The Knights Templar, a Catholic military order that distinguished itself during the Crusades, existed for less than two hundred years. But it has been a treasure trove of secrets and mysteries, real and imagined, ever since. When this thriller begins in 1307, the Holy Land has already been lost, and the Templars are under siege. One thing has preserved them through the era’s political vicissitudes—the Lever Templar—a scroll that would “redefine Christianity.” What and where is it?

In the opening scenes, Knight Malcolm of Basingstoke and his sergeant Brimley Hastings break into the Templar’s Preceptory south of London to steal an ancient leather pouch. Only later does Brim, who becomes the hero of the piece, learn the pouch contains the Lever Templar. Malcolm and Brim escape to Cyprus, where the Templars maintain a tenuous presence. There they reconnect with old friends, including a young woman who becomes Brim’s love interest, while violent opposing forces scour the island for the missing scroll. And so Brim’s quest to safeguard the Lever Templar begins.

In current-day Mosul, Iraq, American Rick Lambert works for the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Investigations Unit, trying to solve a rash of Christian priest abductions. He partially foils the latest attempt, during which a dying priest hands him an ancient domino, saying, “protect Cyprus.” Vatican emissaries are sent to bird-dog Lambert (that is, to make sure anything he finds that’s important ends up back in Rome). The Farsi-speaking terrorists targeting Christian churches know about the scroll and believe it will destroy Christianity. And so the modern-day race to find the scroll commences.

This is a rip-roaring adventure told in chapters alternating between ancient and current times and with lots of characters. Gianni does what I wish more authors would do to help you keep it straight: maps of the principal locations are especially helpful, because he’s not generous with place descriptions; ditto his list of characters, real and fictional. He’s done a creditable job in portraying life seven centuries ago in a believable way. I loved the detail of how they used carrier pigeons to deliver messages across long distances!

Gianni’s writing style is clear and has strong forward momentum. With more delving into his characters’ feelings, he might encourage a greater emotional connection with them, but if people are best known by their deeds, those are certainly on view here. He makes a half-hearted attempt to give Lambert a character flaw—excess drinking after his terrible Army experiences in Fallujah (left to your imagination)—but it isn’t convincing, never gets in Lambert’s way, and has been done too many times. If you’re a fan of the Indiana Jones franchise or appreciate the speculations of Dan Brown and others, you’ll find this an exciting companion.

Disappointment on Screen and on the Page

Posted on by

Bang, gun

photo: Kenneth Lu, creative commons license

If you’ve read a few of my book and movie reviews, you’ll have noticed I generally praise these creative efforts. Maybe you’ve thought I’m not very critical (my family members will gladly disabuse you of this notion). No, I end up reviewing mostly good stuff, because I don’t read a book or go to a movie that promises not to be pretty darn good. Life is short. In the past week, though, I’ve had two disappointments—one book and one movie that defied expectations.

The Scarpetta Factor

Patricia Cornwell’s forensic investigator Kay Scarpetta has many devoted fans. Somehow, I’d never read one of these books and scooped up this one at a book exchange. I won’t read another, even though I suspect this was a sub-par entry in the long-running series.

First of all, it was almost 500 pages long. To demand that much commitment of precious reading time, a book has to meet a high bar. Second, it could have been 300 pages, or anyway, 350. Sooo much tedious backstory clumsily dropped in that I kept thinking, can’t we get back to this story? Annoying repetition, repeatedly, over and over, as if the author tried three different ways of saying something, planning to go back in the editing process and eliminate the two weakest. Then didn’t.

Naming three characters Berger, Bonnell, and Benton was an invitation to reader confusion, which I accepted, most ungraciously. I never could get them straight. Did I mention plot holes? Hundreds of pages in, the story is building to a climax that was more like a gun that shoots a message saying “bang.” So much else had gone on, I had no interest at all in her villain (show, don’t tell his perfidies).

So, if you’re tempted to read one of Cornwell’s thrillers, check online reviews carefully—“not one of her best” is a giveaway—and maybe try one of the early ones. This was number 17 in the Scarpetta series, and perhaps she’d run out of steam.

P.S. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d remembered that she’s the author who keeps trying to prove the cockamamie theory that Jack the Ripper was the English painter Walter Sickert.

First Reformed

Ethan Hawke, First ReformedWriter-director Paul Schrader’s new film about an upstate New York Dutch Reformed minister’s apostasy can’t be faulted for the acting (trailer). Ethan Hawke as the desperately unhappy Reverend Ernst Toller (Earnest, get it?) is spectacular, as always. He’s a drinker and, believe it or not, that doesn’t help. Perhaps that’s why his character can’t see trouble coming every time he encounters his pregnant congregant with the heavily symbolic name, Mary, played by Amanda Seyfried. I especially liked Cedric Kyles, as the head of the local megachurch, Abundant Life.

The polar opposite of Abundant Life, Toller’s tiny First Reformed congregation is merely an archaic satellite of the larger church, kept alive more for historical value—its 250th anniversary approaches—than for its contribution to the spirit and economics of the parent enterprise.

The problem for me was the plot. Where is this story going? Is it an exercise in consciousness-raising about the environment? Is it about one man’s spiritual journey? The point must have flown by on wings of song (the singing is good), and I missed it. Perhaps it all boils down to the theme first expressed by Mary’s husband, a depressed environmental activist—“Will God forgive us?” And maybe that question applies equally to Rev. Toller’s personal quest as well as to our worldwide environmental depredations. Plus, the ending is strange, with two different interpretations in our household. (See the movie and tell me your, please.)

Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating: 95%; audiences: 72%.