DaVINCI CODE MEETS RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC
586558
What a fun read.  Escape reality: Biblical theory, good guys vs bad guys, narrow escape from attacks by wild animals as well the bad guys, romance, fun characters these books have it all.  Humor, fun characters and keep you on the edge of your seat writing will have you not wanting to put the book/kindle down.
1683324
Can't wait for this to become the next blockbuster book (and movie) series!  Kindles will be humming with this gem.  I'm going to make this a holiday surprise for all my friends who loved "The Divinci Code"!
2590655
A Da Vinci style thriller. It was a cross between DaVinci Code and Indiana Jones. I would like to see something more original by this author otherwise still a good read that I enjoyed and would recommend.
3417922
Dan Brown is on to something and he has done a very good job of writing an intelligent, thinking-man's action story.  In fact, he does so good a job, that many actually come away from this story with the belief that they've also read an analysis on historical documents and events (they have not).  The plot revolves around solving a murder in the Louvre that takes the protagonist on a journey around France and London, solving clues and learning about secret religious orders in pursuit of the location of the holy grail.  DaVinci Code elevates the concept of action novel to a new level.  It will get most readers to think about religions in a new way and it will potentially change the way we look at the impact of religions on the world we live by showing us the possibilities.  But let's not get carried away.  This is an exciting, well-written novel, and (for page-turning, make you think about new possibilities, well-done thinking person's action), it is on a par with Michael Crichton, Anne Rice, and others.  This book came highly recommended and it did not disappoint.  Just make sure you don't try to come off like some kind of expert on religion when you're done.  Some of the concepts Brown uses to put his story together are highly disputed and not necessarily subject to verification.
2016336
Looking for a fast paced story this is it.  Smacks of conspiracy, Templar knights, and ancient scrolls.....

The book brings with a university trip to Qumran and the uncovering of some ancient scrolls.  Enter Jack who teaches at the university and can translate them, but also is a fighter because his dad trained him ....  He's joined by Stephanie who was in the trip to Qumran and what comes is a fast paced, what happens next story all over, with plenty if action and the curiosity of the scrolls and box they refer too.

Like Templar books, da Vinci cod.... This one is tight up that alley.  I'm bit big I ose and just like a good mystery with some action, and this one story rocked !!!
4620812
The Vault rips off the starting block with readers looking over the shoulder of the bad guy.  His finger is  on a detonator.  Boom, a Mercedes in London's Piccadilly Circus blows up.  Evil Orr and his crew use the diversion to break into a vault and steal an ancient document--and a unique artifact:  a human hand made of pure gold, anatomically correct down to the last vein and capillary.  Legend says it's the hand of King Midas' daughter, turned to gold at his touch.

And thus readers are rocketed off on another thriller from relatively new author Boyd Morrison, and they can thank the ebook revolution for the great ride.  More on that later.

The Vault is a refreshing  take on the genre of thrillers that entwine true history, fascinating ancient artifacts, a daring modern day expert in engineering named Tyler Locke, and a beautiful and brilliant classic language expert and  sidekick/love interest in Stacey Benedict.

There are ancient Greek documents and inclusion of Archimedes as the designer of the very real Antikythera Mechanism.  That device (Google it!  There is an especially fascinating video if you Google "lego antikythera youtube.")  It was created over 2,000 years ago and is an amazing device more complex that Swiss watches made 1,500 years after Archimedes--a true mystery from the ancient world.  It is also the key to unraveling the legend of King Midas and his golden touch in The Vault.

The Vault, in refreshing new ways, scratches the itch of those of us who like real ancient history, coded documents and mysterious devices wrapped up in a modern-day rip roaring plot line.  The book improves on the fun of Clive Cussler's works, is even better than Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and The Symbol.  The Vault delivers all the high-speed excitement thriller fans could want.

Morrison's third follows two other exciting novels of the same gripping type, all full of hard-fact science delivered in a highly ready tale.  His first, The Ark, launches Noah's Ark into today, bearing a cargo of threat to the modern world.  Rogue Wave, published long before the tsunami in Japan, supplies the science of monster waves in a heart-stopping story of a killer wave heading toward Hawaii.

Those novels, and one more still to be released, were rejected by traditional publishers for a plethora of reasons--usually in total conflict with each other.  Dejected, Morrison published his novels on Amazon's fairly new Kindle ebook platform.  Readers flocked to the books.  Publishers,  impressed by his soaring self-published sales, came calling.  A published writer who seems destined for stardom dawned.

I've interviewed Morrison a number of times over that last several years, traded emails and notes on the Kindle Social Forum before his breakthrough, and can tell you he is a fascinating man with a passion for writing thrillers and is committed to writing thrillers as both "my job" and "a career."

His biographical detail reads like the credentials of a character in a thriller--Ph. D. in engineering, numerous patents under has name, former employers including NASA, MicroSoft and RCA, outdoor adventurist.  And there is a fantastic romance story:  he set aside his writing ambitions for nearly a decade to support his wife as she studied to become a doctor.
The Vault is 5-star reading and the man is a 5-star human being.
1986248
This was a book with an interesting premise.  In a failing real world people are drawn more and more into a virtual world.  The story contains an exciting "treasure hunt" with nasty villains on the heals of the "heros".  It also gives a nice flashback view of all the early gaming systems.
2429936
This is a fun piece of fiction with an interesting take on Jesus.  The book suggests that Christianity shares a common root with all religions.  The main focus of the plot occurs in modern times.  The pacing is similar to the DaVinci Code but the message is different.  I did not agree with everything, but it is a fun read and offers a unique perspective.
4312237
I have read so many mixed reviews of The Lost Code but I really liked the premise of it. I mean seriously a book about Atlantis sounds like such an original and cool idea. The Lost Code got off to a bit of a slow start but I definitely enjoyed it. The Lost Code tells the story of Owen who goes to Camp Eden, a camp located inside a dome that mimics conditions before the oceans rose. Global Warming much? Anyway the reader is whisked on a strange journey that takes the reader to Atlantis.

I'll be honest Edenwest BioDome (the location of Camp Eden) isn't such a spectacular setting. We vaguely learn about the world and The Great Rise (when the oceans rose) but not nearly enough. I had tons of questions about the domes being the inquisitive reader I am and most of my questions were not really answered. The world building isn't bad but it definitely was lacking. I did like how The Lost Code takes place in an unique and different kind of setting (a camp) as opposed to the barren wasteland or a totalitarian metropolis.

From the first few pages I wasn't a big fan of Owen but he definitely grew on me. In the beginning I thought that Owen seemed rather childish with trying to impress Lily. Owen kinda reminded me of Percy at first but then again Percy was 12 and Owen is supposed to be 15. I mean dude if you can't swim, don't take a swimming test just to impress the hot life guard. There was a bit of insta-love between Owen and Lily but that didn't really bother me. Luckily Owen really matured throughout the novel, at the end he was no longer that lovelorn boy. Lily is the "smart-girl" that really puts Owen in his place and reminded me a bit of Annabeth from Percy Jackson. She was very likeable from the start and I hope she continues to be a big part of The Atlanteans series. I do hope we learn more about Lily because even though I found her to be a likeable character, she wasn't developed that much.

In terms of plot The Lost Code starts off rather slowly but it eventually picked up the pace. We spend much of the beginning reading about camp activities while slowly strange happenings occur. Even though I think the camp activities were necessary in order to establish the characters and their relationships, I think it could have been shortened. Once the major conflict of The Lost Code I was definitely hooked and compelled to read more. I wish there was more Atlantis, codes, and strange happenings though. The second half of the book was definitely better than the first half. I really liked Kevin Emerson's writing style and it reminded me of the compelling style of Michael Grant.

The Lost Code is a fun read that took me on a journey unlike anything I have read. Sure it had some faults but overall it was an entertaining book. The first half of the book is slow-paced but it's necessary to add tension leading up to the second half. Will I read the sequel? I'm definitely ready for a sequel because after the ending I am pretty pumped to see more Atlantis. Unlike most books, The Lost Code's romance is cringe-worthy and I really enjoyed reading about Lily and Owen's relationship. I just hope that there's no love triangle introduced in the next book!
3620854
If you love the Divinci Code and the Dan Brown novels, this is a great book. Perfect blend of history and fiction.
1657050
The book introduces the character of Robert Landon, a religious iconologist and art history teacher at Harvard University, made popular by Brown's recent bestseller - The DaVinci Code. Just as in The DaVinci Code, Langdon is coerced out of bed, by Maximilian Kohler, the director of CERN- the world's largest research facility, in relation to the murder of one of his top physicists - Leonardo Vetra. Vetra is not only brutally murdered and left with his eye gorged out, but also branded by the symbol of the ancient secret brotherhood of the Illuminati, the cult dedicated to promoting science and condemning the blind faith of Catholics. Vetra is also a priest with an adopted daughter, Vittoria, who is his colleague at CERN. Vittoria discovers that the final and secret discovery of her father -a vial of antimatter, the most powerful energy source known to man, that the Vetras successfully produced about five thousand nanograms of is missing. Unless the vial is contained in a specifically designed canister powered by a battery source, the antimatter would annihilate upon the slightest contact with air. Almost immediately the canister of antimatter is discovered by the Swiss Guard, somewhere in the Vatican City, counting down to annihilation in twenty four hours, on the eve of the papal election.

Langdon and Vittoria race to the Vatican to find the canister and contain it safely, only to be stopped by the Swiss Guard due to the election, until the Camerlengo receives a threat from the `assassin' that he has the preferiti and intends to sacrifice each of the four by the hour and plans to eliminate the rest of the cardinals locked in the Sistine chapel, defacing the church by the end of the day. Langdon and Vittoria race against time, digging through the archives, trying to find the clues that lead to the 400-year old trail leading to the secret lair of the Illuminati, taking the reader through ancient churches, fountains, crypts and catacombs, hoping to find the cardinals and the canister before its too late.

The novel is gripping till the last page, with the usual Brownian twists and turns, although it needs to be read with enough suspension of logic. Brown alters the anatomy of the Vatican City and Rome to cater to the plot, adds pizzazz to ancient architecture and the artists of that era. There are certain points in the book that are almost impossible to imagine, like when Langdon survives a nuclear explosion, finds a tarp to land himself safely in the river Tiber, and just as easily is rescued by onlookers. Brown tries to build the characters by giving us an insight into their memories, but it seems more like he is citing incidents of the past for no particular reason. In the end though, it does make for an interesting read.
1169476
Excellent book with great details.  Dan Brown describes everything with such a candor that sends you to the places like magic.
Worth reading, if you liked the DaVinci code, this is also as exciting.
4495553
Davinci Code meets Twilight, An excellent prelude to what could become an epic series. Can't wait to read more about the enigmatic Mr Wolf.
3271734
If you want to know how to approach this book, just think about what Brown did for da Vinci and his works in the Da Vinci Code and take out Brown and insert Asensi, and take out da Vinci and insert the Italian writer/philosopher Dante. In the same way the character's in Brown's book use subtle (or not so subtle) clues and innuendos from the works of da Vinci to locate and pass test from laid out by some society in order to track down something of immeasurable value, the characters in The Last Cato use Dante's famous work Divine Comedy to locate something very similar by extracting and interpreting clues the Italian supposedly laid in his work. This book however is better than The Da Vinci Code for two reasons: first, the tests the characters have to discover and master are much more creative and interesting that what is in The Da Vinci Code, and two, the ending is much more fulfilling because you wonder how the story can possibly wrap itself up, and in the end it does so perfectly. I really enjoyed this one.
3558058
The immediate comparison is to The Da Vinci Code.  The action is nearly constant.  The author does a great job of arousing curiosity in the plot by injecting historical facts and information to lend an air of authenticity to the proceedings.  On more than one occasion I found myself fact checking wikipedia or Google.  The characters are well formed without being cliche.  Even in the denouement I found myself needing and wanting more information about the characters and their future.  Certainly worth a read.  Get on the ground floor of what appears to be a fantastic new series.
1757101
If I could, I would give this book a 10.  While it felt like it took awhile to get going, once there I couldn't put it down.  I was immersed in the story, riding waves of anticipation as to what would happen next.  This book would make a fantastic movie, if made in the manner of DaVinci Code!
1960858
Id highly recommend Pure Vision: The Magdalene Revelation by Perri Birney for anyone looking for an advanced read. Birney gives a little hint early in the book with the line I find its easier to tell the truth when you disguise it as fiction. As soon as I read that line, I realized that this wasn't just another fiction novel. The story discusses current and past historical events, religion and politics but through a fiction story. Readers should focus on reading between the lines of the story as this novel is packed with multiple layers which is why I recommend it for those who are looking for a sophisticated book. Birney focuses on providing a solution for everything that is occurring in Israel and Palestine. If you're looking for a basic fun read, Pure Vision is packed with suspense and action to keep you on your toes throughout. You won't be able to stop turning the page. Each character has a purpose and a distinct personality. They seem very realistic. Also, the story style reminds me of Dan Brown, one of my favourite authors. If you like The DaVinci Code, youll LOVE this!