At the dawn of civilization ...An exotic stranger appears in a Mesopotamian village and is venerated as a goddess ...until she unleashes a horror beyond anything humankind has ever known. At the sunset of civilization ...A mercenary unit in northern Iraq, led by Sergeant Jason Yaeger, has trapped radical Islam's most wanted target in a mysterious cave that sits at the heart of the Genesis story. When a Marine platoon seeks to control the extraction mission, a threat far more ominous is found lurking beneath the mountains. Meanwhile in Boston, Massachusetts, Agent Thomas Flaherty helps archaeologist Brooke Thompson escape assassination by a Las Vegas televangelist intent on using the cave's deepest secret to bring the Middle East to its knees.

From Publishers Weekly

Jesus Christ's mortal remains turned up in a secret crypt below Jerusalem's Temple Mount in Byrnes's 2007 debut, The Sacred Bones. Now DNA extracted from those remains cures geneticist Charlotte Hennessy of cancer in this equally outlandish sequel. Assassins track Hennessy to Phoenix, Ariz., where they kill her boss and significant other, Evan Aldrich. Hennessy and her ally, Fr. Patrick Donovan, struggle to survive as they attempt to foil the schemes of a motley assortment of villains in search of the now missing Jesus relics, notably American-born Rabbi Aaron Cohen. Another duo, Israeli archeologist Amit Mizrachi and his romantic interest, Egyptologist Julie LeRoux, also attract Cohen's unwelcome attention. A formulaic plot, which includes abduction and the threat of sexual violence, builds to a denouement that will be familiar to viewers of the first Indiana Jones movie. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Randolph, editor of two anthologies by Nebraska authors, here brings the Sandhills of western Nebraska vividly to life, as experienced by one plucky young woman. Recently married Mary Needham loses a leg in the tragic auto accident that kills her husband. She had been like one of the ranch hands as a girl, and then on her in-laws’ ranch, but now she is lost. Convinced she has nowhere else to turn, she makes a hasty and regrettable decision to marry Ward Hamilton, the conservative preacher who comes calling. She soon realizes her role is merely that of “the church’s servant.” She nearly leaves, but at age 33 and with four children, she stays. She does get a job at a nursing home and, with help from her grandparents, an RN degree, while Ward becomes more and more obsessed with his church, seeing his life as a battle between good and evil. Randolph’s debut novel becomes a page-turner as the reader pulls for Mary to regain her self-esteem and ultimately return to the land she loves. --Deborah Donovan

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Da Vinci Code knockoffs will welcome Byrnes's first novel. When an ancient stone burial box known as an ossuary is stolen from a secret crypt beneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, readers will immediately intuit that the bones contained in the box are those of Jesus Christ, even though it takes quite a bit longer for the characters to admit as much. American geneticist Charlotte Hennesey is summoned to the Vatican along with Dr. Giovanni Bersei, an anthropologist, to study the ossuary. Back in Jerusalem, Arabs, Jews and Christians bicker, protest, fight and scheme against one another both within and outside the Temple Mount. A ruthlessly efficient Vatican hit man, Salvatore Conte, hovers over the action. Venal cardinals, contemptuous Israelis, Knights Templar and evil popes round out a familiar cast. Byrnes puts a more contemporary spin on his material than most authors of religious thrillers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“ …A pacy read with plenty of surprises…” (Hampstead & Highgate Express (UK) )

“Fans of historical thrillers with religious overtones will eat this up…” (Library Journal )

“Exciting, intelligent and incredibly true to life.” (Simcha Jacobovici, co-author of The Jesus Family Tomb )

“Byrnes puts a more contemporary spin on his material than most authors of religious thrillers.” (Publishers Weekly )

“A terrific thriller melding biblical puzzles with modern-day archaeology and the immense knowledge...gleaned by forensic science. Action-driven...” (Publishing News (UK) )

“A breathless race through real historical fact laced generously with artistic license. …An immensely enjoyable read.” (Bookseller (UK) )