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The Celtic Crusades is a trilogy of stories about a noble Scottish family whose successive generations venture to the Holy Land at the time of the Crusades to retrieve sacred relics. In the first book, The Iron Lance, Murdo Ranulfson went to Jerusalem and brought back the iron lance used at the crucifixion. Now Duncan, Murdo's son, must find and preserve the Black Rood--a piece of the true cross. As in The Iron Lance, the main narrative is framed by the memoirs of Gordon Murray, nineteenth century scion of the ancient Scottish clan and member of a Christian secret society whose mission is to bring the world back to the true path.
This middle volume follows a format familiar to fantasy readers: an unformed youth leaves home to find himself and fulfill his destiny. In his travels through distant and dangerous lands, our hero rescues and is rescued by a series of quirky characters who join his quest, encountering divine visions, politics in the court of the Caliph, and cult assassins. He returns from his adventures older and wiser, triumphantly clutching the Black Rood, and accompanied, as an added bonus, by a new and beautiful wife.
Lawhead sprinkles his tale with delicious hints about revelations regarding the potential offspring of Jesus, which, if expanded upon in the final volume, threaten to elevate this fiction from competent to genuinely intriguing. --Luc Duplessis
From Publishers Weekly
The second volume of the historical fantasy Celtic Crusades trilogy finds Magnus Ranulfsson's eldest son, Duncan, taking up his father's quest for relics of the CrucifixionAin this case, the last remaining traceable piece of the True Cross, the Black Rood. He does not go alone. Padraig, an unconventional priest of the Celtic Cele De, accompanies him, and on their bandit-troubled passage through France they are joined by Prince Roupen of Armenia, who is trying to return to his homeland. When the three reach the Mediterranean, their worries multiply, as the Knights Templars are less friendly than they seem, some Christians are openly at war with one another and the Moslems (particularly the Seljuq Turks) are ready to take advantage of the intrigues. Duncan finds himself up to his sword belt in those plottings, dealing with friends where he expected enemies and vice versa The narrative is framed by the diary of a turn-of-the-century Scots physician, a member of a secret order keeping Celtic wisdom alive. Coincidences are so numerous as to be jarring, and the sheer abundance of historical detail slows the pacing. Those same details also bring the setting to robust life, however; they do no harm to the characterizations and include such treasures as the cult of the Black Mary (Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus) and a gruesomely vivid narrative of the Crucifixion. With this novel, Lawhead likely will win no converts, but nor will he alienate his faithful. (June) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The Barnes & Noble ReviewThe Mystic Rose, an exciting entry in Stephen R. Lawhead's popular Celtic Crusades saga, chronicles the quest for the Holy Cup, the vessel used by Jesus during his last Passover feast with his disciples. Along with her father and her younger sister, Caitriona travels to the Holy Land to revisit the lands her father had been to so many years before on a holy pilgrimage. While in Constantinople, Cait witnesses the murder of her father by Renaud de Bracineaux, Grand Commander of the Knights Templar. Despite her father's last wishes, she vows to avenge his murder. With the helpful guidance of the White Priest, she steals a note from Bracineaux revealing his plan to remove the Blessed Cup in Aragon from the advancement of the infidel Moors. Cait seizes on this opportunity to squelch the Templars' selfish scheme and seeks to get the holy relic for herself. She stops in Damascus and pays the ransom for four Norse Knights -- for protection -- and continues on to Aragon, seeking her prize. But her travels bring unforeseen perils and obstacles at every turn. Lawhead has a talent for blending history, Christianity, and adventure into an incredibly moving story -- a great novel and a great series. Paul Goat Allen
The feisty Mrs. Powell has died and left Delbert with a pair of big shoes to fill. Mr. Powell, anxious to become rich on the property he inherited from his dead wife, cannot wait to leave the horrid and backward village of Cerro - and so takes no notice of the prosaic Delbert, the only employee of the Cerro Hardware Store. In his mourning for Mrs. Powell's friendship, Delbert comes to his own realizations concerning the forces that threaten to ruin Cerro, and decides to wage a secret war against what will eventually destroy all he knows and loves. Delbert's initial act of vandalism wreaks havoc in the town, deeply dividing the sentiments of newcomers who are vested in profit, and those whose hearts are rooted to the mountain. From Harley Marlin, to Earl Pratt, to Lairdy Bardman the singing hermit, to the prissy Edmond Powell - the characters of Cerro wrestle with events and realizations about what they love and why, in a place that for some can be called nothing other than magical.
Politics and justice mix like oil and water after racial tensions erupt into violence in this taut and engrossing San Francisco-set thriller. Lescroart (The 13th Juror) wastes no time setting up his story. In the first few, galvanizing pages, an African American lawyer is lynched by a mob of drunk Irish Americans incensed at the murder of one of their friends by a black career criminal. Alone in trying to save the doomed lawyer is Keven Shea, a 28-year-old grad student. But when a photograph showing him trying to hand the lawyer a knife to cut loose the noose is interpreted as an attempted stabbing, Shea, who goes on the lam, becomes the target of a citywide manhunt. He also becomes San Francisco's chief symbol of racial unrest as politicians ranging from the city's district attorney to a U.S. senator pursue their personal interest in declaring him guilty; only Lt. Abe Glitsky, head of the city's homicide detail, seems to be looking at the case objectively. Meanwhile, Shea turns for help to his girlfriend and, in one of the author's few nods toward cliche, to a down-and-out lawyer pal. Throughout, Lescroart keeps a sharp eye on both the big picture and the individual views of a multitude of well-drawn characters. By showing the political maneuvering that can accompany an outbreak of violence, he offers an unusually thoughtful, exciting thriller that evinces insight into incidents and attitudes that seem all too real. 125,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club featured alternates; author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Fans of Lescroart will line up for his newest legal thriller, which takes place over a few stress-filled summer days in San Francisco. When a drug-related murder results in strained race relations in the city, events escalate until a drunken mob lynches a young black attorney. A young white man, Kevin Shea, tries with all his body and soul to stop the crime from happening, but his efforts are wasted, and an irresponsible photographer snaps a shot of Kevin that gets misinterpreted by everyone. The city goes nuts--riots, fires, and a $200,000 reward is posted for Kevin's apprehension. But Kevin, now on the run with his spunky girlfriend, insists on making his role in the event clear and his innocence known. He calls an old friend, attorney Wes Farrell, to help. Once cynical and distrustful of the legal system, Wes regains faith in the law while fighting for Kevin. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Abe Glitzky, head of homicide, calmly gathers evidence, but he gets sidetracked when his old flame, now a U.S. senator, shows up to put her own "spin" on the drama destroying the city. With not one, two, or three, but four major homicides combining into one political and legal nightmare for SF, this makes a good thriller. Kathy Broderick
Inver Brass: a group of high-minded and high-placed intellectuals. They see a monstrous threat to the country in Hoover's unethical use of his scandal-ridden private files. And so they decide to do away with him - quietly, efficiently, with no hint of impropriety. Until bestselling thriller writer Peter Chancellor stumbles onto information that makes his previous books look like harmless fairy tales.Now Chancellor and Inver Brass are on a deadly collision course, spiralling across the globe in an ever-widening arc of violence and terror. They are hurtling towards a showdown that will rip Washington's intelligence community apart, leaving only one damning document to survive: The Chancellor Manuscript...
On a high plateau in the heart of Asia lies Shan, the holy site where men are tested and the deepest secrets of Eastern mysticism are revealed. Enter into the challenge of Jake Maroc, a man of almost supernatural gifts, who is commissioned to help China fulfill its ancient destiny--as the future of the world hangs in the balance.
From the Paperback edition.
From the Inside Flap
On a high plateau in the heart of Asia lies Shan, the holy site where men are tested and the deepest secrets of Eastern mysticism are revealed. Enter into the challenge of Jake Maroc, a man of almost supernatural gifts, who is commissioned to help China fulfill its ancient destiny--as the future of the world hangs in the balance.
Chase Insteadman, un apuesto e inofensivo producto de la escena social de Manhattan, lleva una vida ociosa gracias a las rentas que recibe de su breve carrera como actor infantil. Además, últimamente ha vuelto a la vida pública por una tragedia que los medios no se cansan de cubrir: su amor de la adolescencia y prometida, Janice Trumbull, está atrapada en la Estación Espacial Internacional, desde donde le envía arrebatadas cartas de amor. La vida de Chase cambia radicalmente cuando conoce a Perkus Tooth, un ermitaño virtual y enigmático que es adorado en los círculos más modernos por su arte callejero de vanguardia y sus cáusticos comentarios. Su labia incendiaria y su voraz paranoia arrastran a Chase a un Manhattan completamente diferente, un Manhattan distópico y sesgado en el que la verdad es a gusto del consumidor.Un árbol de marihuana ancestral y poderoso llamado Chronic, una espesa niebla gris que cubre Manhattan y un tigre mecánico que tiene aterrorizados a los habitantes de Nueva York son otros de los personajes de la nueva novela de Jonathan Lethem.
'There's a new breed of British crime writer giving the genre a much-needed shake-up - and Stephen Leather is at the forefront ... the sheer impetus of his storytelling is damned hard to resist.' -- Daily Express
Product Description
"_While investigating a crew of people-traffickers…Dan Shepherd discovers a cross-Channel currency-smuggling operation. Posing as a low-level criminal, Shepherd infiltrates the gang, befriending its London soldiers and establishing contact with the Albanian gangster who masterminds the business from his swank Paris flat. As Shepherd soon discovers, currency-smuggling isn't the only business these guys dabble in. With the help of a government contact, they've been churning out fake British passports, a scam that eventually finds Shepherd surrounded by Semtex and racing to foil a terrorist plot…The story builds to a boil as Shepherd, piecing together the terrorists' plans as he goes, lands aboard a Paris-bound Eurostar train with four suicide bombers as his fellow passengers. It's a grand finale that'll have readers on edge. Nicely, and seemingly effortlessly, done_." —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Deep in the Canadian back country a new experiment in extreme penal punishment is underway. Although officially known as the Innuvik Penitentiary, it's more widely known as:The Coliseum.On October 15th, 1993, the first twenty prisoners were unleashed. These were the worst of the worst. Brutal criminals, psychopaths, lunatics, call them what you will.Today there is a batch of new fish.Harlan Rudduck, called The Beast, and boy is he, physically and mentally. A brutal and ruthless killer sentenced to battle the other beasts haunting the inside of a prison Hell wouldn't even want.Albert Rose, a simple and meek man who buries himself in his work. Then one day he loses his job and then finds out an awful secret about his wife. Now he's about to find out what happens when you kill the wrong man.Jackson Cantrell, a brilliant and charismatic man. Good qualities unless you're also a complete psychopath working for the Lord. It began with convincing his brother to jab his own eyes out with a fork to "see the light." And now, after sending 487 of his followers to meet their maker, Cantrell's manic faith is about to be tested as he and his fellow inmates are unshackled and released into The Coliseum.How long will they survive? What became of the original 20 prisoners? And what the hell is breeding in the deep, dark recesses of.THE COLISEUM!
Little (The Association) displays his darker side in the 32 mostly memorable stories that comprise this collection of unpublished and previously published stories. Drawing from a bizarre cauldron of influences (cited in brief introductions to each piece), Little tackles some disturbing topics, including pedophilia, family crucifixions, incest and bestiality. Indeed, even fans accustomed to the gore found in Little's novels may be taken aback by the manner in which characters carry out their fetishes and crimes. The main character in "Blood," for example, kills both little boys and grown men without remorse, believing that his macaroni and cheese craves human blood. The supernatural and the unexplained are common themes, but some plot lines are underdeveloped. In "Monteith," readers are left to ponder what would have happened had the main character confronted his wife about a one-word note - written in her hand - that turned his life upside down. Among Little's best offerings are "Bob," a chilling tale of mistaken identity, and "Pillow Talk," a witty yet sad story about bed linens that come to life and ultimately display more human traits than many of the characters in this collection. A fascinating glimpse into how Little's creativity has evolved over the years, this volume is a must-have for the author's fans despite its uneven nature. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
The Oren were one and their strength was legion. They had it all figured out, in their own parasitical, cold-blooded way. But they'd neglected one she-cat of a girl....
"It is the opportunity of a lifetime for Kate Chandler, the chance to cut seven rare, priceless sapphires and solidify her reputation as a world-class jewel cutter. But something goes horribly, tragically wrong during what should have been a simple transfer of goods. The sapphires vanish without a trace. Missing also is the man Kate trusted to transport the gems: her half brother, Lee, who now, quite possibly, is dead. And suddenly she is on the run, pursued by federal agents who suspect her of being the criminal mastermind of a cunning bait-and-switch scheme." "Special agent Sam Groves is one of the best of the best, an essential member of the FBI's elite crime strike force and the perfect man to lead the hunt, since he could never be scammed by a beautiful confidence woman. But something is troubling about this assignment, because someone else is chasing Kate Chandler as well." "Only Kate suspects the awful truth: She's unwittingly stumbled into a conspiracy of deceit, betrayal, and cold-blooded murder that goes far beyond a simple jewel heist. And a chilling, threatening voice on the telephone only confirms her worst suspicions. Getting Sam Groves, the FBI agent who's her constant shadow, to believe her is a step in the right direction - but it may be one that's too little too late in a bloody game where terror dictates her every move and the rules are constantly changing. Because the order has already been passed down to a ruthlessly efficient assassin: Kate Chandler must not be allowed to live."--BOOK JACKET.
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