Customer Reviews

The 13th Apostle

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Richard and Rachael Hiller (2007), The 13th Apostle, New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Among the most sacred of texts it is written:

In each generation there are born thirty-six
righteous souls who by their very existence,
assure the continuation of the world.

According to Abraham's Covenant, once each
millennium, God shall return to earth and count
among the many, those who remain righteous.

Were it not for these tzaddikim, the righteous ones,
who stand in God's judgment, mankind's fate would
be grave and certain peril.

These traddikim have no knowledge of each other,
Neither have they an understanding of their own
singular importance. As innocents, they remain
unaware of the critical consequences of their
thoughts, their faith, and their deeds,
Save for one.

To this tzaddik alone is granted knowledge
of his position, for to him is trusted the
most sacred of tasks.


I have always enjoyed reading conspiracy thrillers especially those involving religious antiquity. That is why I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code enormously and also the Indiana Jones movies and novels (yes, there are novels). This book promises two premises; one, the legend/tradition of the worthy tzaddikim, and two, the story of the thirteenth apostle. Unfortunately the authors were not able to bring these two interesting ideas into play effectively to hammer out a good religious conspiracy thriller. The story telling was choppy with too much detail given to the scroll. It also suffers by imitating the writing style of the Da Vinci Code. The character development was poorly done. For example Gil, the leading male character is at times very intelligent and at other times to be incredibly stupid. It was a fair attempt for a first novel. My rating for this book is one star.

I forced myself to go on reading until Sabbie gave the translation of that copper scroll, and that was how far I could put up with this lame thriller. What has been painstakingly written on an ancient copper scroll reads like a bad modern narrative, lengthy and full of superfluous details, absolutely unbelievable for an ancient document intended to impart such important knowledge. And can you believe that an ancient scroll had this opening line: "Thirty-three years before the Cruxification, Southwest of Jerusalem, main route to Hebron and Egypt"? Does it sound any different from the opening line in Chapter 1 of the thriller itself: "Present day, Day One, early evening, the New York City Grille"? I feel cheated, but I should have noticed that the authors are diet book authors!

One of the worst books I've ever read. The dialog between the characters was boring and the plot was suspect. I rarely throw a book away, but I couldn't take it anymore. Save your money and do NOT buy this book.

I picked this up on a whim. I needed something to read, and it looked to be one of the many novels in recent years inspired by the success of Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, which I quite enjoyed.

Sadly, it's a far lesser work. The plot is awkward, and depends for resolution on more of a deus ex machina than would be ideal. The writing style often feels forced. And worst of all, the characterizations are inconsistant to the point of total implausibility. These people don't make sense! The engage in wild swings of behavior, which make it virtually impossible to engage with them. The dialogue exacerbates the problem.

I understand, and can make allowance for the fact that, while the authors are published writers of diet books, this is their first work of fiction. Few novelists have their best success with their first effort. But this reads poorly enough that I'm surprised a reputable publishing house such as Harper was willing to release it -- it reflects badly on Harper's professionalism.

A thrilling page-turner. Full of surprises and some of the best plot twists I've seen in years. Original and absorbing. I could barely put the book down and was sorry when it ended, though it came to a powerful and brilliant conclusion.

I've really enjoyed the Hellers' other books though, even if I had never read anything else by them, after this book, I'd be looking forward to their next novel. A terrific find.

First of all, I have to admit I couldn't get past the first fifty pages so I can't comment as to the ending or overall plot. But I simply couldn't force myself to read any further.

The characters are totally cliche. I almost gagged at the introduction of the female protagonist ('high, full breasts that strained against her ivory silk blouse', 'the hint of cafe-au-lait-colored nipples beckoned him to come and explore') and their characterizations simply don't make sense.

The male protagonist is supposedly a computer anti-hacking genius (cliche). His main claim to fame is that he managed to stop a hacker who 'held the internet captive for a month' by figuring out the hacker's password. (the prompt was 'Say Goodnight' and the password was 'Gracie' - ugh).

Anything in the book involving computers and/or hacking is simply a joke. The authors have no idea what they're talking about.

And the initial puzzle that the heroes have to solve is rediculous. They manage to figure out there's a secret message hidden in the word order. In other words, read two words, skip two words, read two words, skip two words, etc. to get the hidden message. But they're doing this to an English translation of a message originally written in Latin. Guess what guys - a message hidden like this doesn't work when translated to another language. Duh!!

I started to put this down several times and noticed that the authors were '#1 New York Time's bestselling authors' so I kept on figuring it had to get better. It doesn't. (Of course, now I've found out that the authors write diet-books which explains the blurb on the cover.)

Save your money and time.

I picked this up in the library thinking it might be an entertaining read. I was mistaken. Having enjoyed DaVinci Code (as a fictional conspiracy novel), I thought another entry into the field might be a popcorn-type novel... a fun read, if you don't take it too seriously. The reviews from Publishers Weekly note that it's well-researched; possibly for the present-day elements. But much of the novel takes place in the 1st century, and it's incredibly badly done. As compared to the meticulously-researched work of, say, Anne Rice's novels, let alone her Christ the Lord books, this is a truly weak attempt at painting yet another Jesus who was nobody special, who was betrayed by his own disciples (who plotted to kill him, no less!), and how this amazing truth would change the world. The novel reads like a horrible try at debunking Jesus and Christianity by authors too lazy to do their homework. It almost makes me wonder why the Hellers apparently hate Jesus so much?
Another example of heavy-handed writing: the main villains of the story, apart from Muslims, are a group of neo-Nazi white conservative Christians. Hmm...haven't heard of Christian Nazis lately. Perhaps the Hellers just hate Christians and religious folks as well.
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at the low quality of the writing and story. The authors are well-known from their diet books, and are professed Disneyphiles. This novel would seem to be like a Disney version of DaVinci Code and the story of Jesus: cheap, plastic, full of happy feelings, and totally lacking in any real substance.

I'm willing to suspend disbelief as readily as anybody, but if a book purports to deal in history, the history needs to be at least a little bit believable.
A large fixed pipe organ from the 11th century, in a monasetery no less....I don't think so.
An unknown monk building this sophisticated piece of machinery into the organ without his fellow monks or the Prior knowing about it.....double I don't think so.
To have the whole thing work flawlesly after 1000 years of disuse, much less a drop of lubricant.....triple I don't think so.
The book is obviously patterned on the "Da Vince code" and copies all of the flaws contained in that tome.
It's a good read for a day on the beach, but not much else.

The question behind this novel, is:

Can Mankind be saved from certain destruction?

The topic should have been a shoo in, the plot has it all,

The Gilgamesh Myth, the salvation mysteries, cyber sleuthing, organized criminal factions, lust, blackmail, murder, heartbroken heroes, impossible dreams, art, enchantment and epic tasks to be done.

How could this possibly be boring?

Some how, the authors (a husband and wife diet-coaching team) managed the impossible, it bored me to tears.

Gil was portrayed as a childish narcissist who couldn't die too soon if he were bumped off in the second chapter! unfortunately Gil is never bumped off, he bores the reader to death first.

be-late-edly yours,

Marty B

If you like action adventure and are willing to overlook some minor flaws this is a good book for commuting to and from work. Enjoy