Customer Reviews

The Book of Names: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

David Shepherd is a mostly normal man. He is divorced but still maintains a close relationship with his ex-step-daughter. But David does have a problem. Names pop into his head after terrible headaches. Not knowing why the names pop into his head he has been writing them down in a journal over the years. It seems to be connected to a near-death experience he had as a young man. Hypnosis helps him better understand what happened to him. Who the names belong to and what happened to him puts him in contact with a Rabbi. Suddenly David is running for his life. Somehow, the names he knows are connected to the Jewish legend of the Lamed Vovniks; thirty-six pure souls of each generation whose existence keeps the world from ending. In the past, deaths of any number of these people brought about great hardship to the world. Now catastrophes, tragedies, and atrocities are rocking the globe. Someone is trying to make sure the world ends by killing the Thirty-Six.

David goes ion a search to find the surviving Lamed Vovniks and try and save them from those that would murder them. One of them is someone close to him. His journal and ancient scraps of parchment contain the clues to discover the remaining pure souls. Thus David learns of the group that has fought to destroy the Lamed Vovniks for centuries. If David can help even one of the thirty-six stay alive then the world will not end. But will David's personal feelings and ties get in the way of doing what needs to be done? That is something the reader will have to find out.

This is a fast-paced and tense thriller. Jill Gregory has written dozens of well-researched historical novels. Karen Tintori has also written history. Their research skills are evident as is their ability to tell a story. Despite what Publishers Weekly says the authors have written novels together before (under the name Jillian Karr). Most readers will probably not be familiar with the legends and history in this story but the authors manage to keep the story moving while educating the reader without hitting them over the head with countless lectures. But I must warn readers that this is an apocalyptic book. David and his associates are trying to stop the end of the world. Bad things happen and characters do die. But this is part of what makes the book so good. Now I love to pick holes in plots and continuities and I have to say I got no such enjoyment with this one. Tight plotting has prevented the holes and inconsistencies that abound in so many other books. Short chapters are used to move the plot quickly (similar to James Patterson but better written). Anyone who likes a good thriller should definitely pick this one up. Check it out.

What do you get when you cross The DaVinci Code with the TV show 24? You get "The Book of Names." This nail biter has all the religious intricacies of the former with the quick cut, action filled episodic flow of the latter. David Shepherd, our hero, is enlisted to save the world (no less) from the forces of evil. Fantastic, of course - but you are quickly drawn into this climax-a-minute boiler. Yes, a certain amount of disbelief must be suspended- but no more so than in any other action thriller. The characters are clearly delineated and the writing doesn't get in the way of the plot. This is everything you would want to get your heart rate up to exercise level. There was a little disappointment at the very end when one of the characters has a change of heart that we weren't prepared for, but that is a minor compliant. I can't wait for the movie.

The concept of this book is, I think, one of those once in a lifetime ideas for an author, which is why it's frustrating that this book isn't better. Don't get me wrong. It was entertaining. I don't feel as though I wasted my life reading it. It was a "Big Mac" novel. It's enjoyable, it tastes good, and you get it down really fast. Then you're left bloated and still hungry at the same time. It could have been a phenomenon. A little more of a little more and it would have rivaled the DaVinci Code in popularity. Bummer.

If you like easy reading and don't have the tendency to pick apart plots, you'll like it. If you're a little more cynical and need a storyline to not be completely contrived and coincidental, then you'll hate it. Good luck.

This book seemed so promising when I picked it up: a Kabbala thriller. In every generation live thirty-six righteous souls, the Hidden Ones, who sustain the existence of the world. The Gnoseous, a sect of religious killers, seek to discover these people and destroy them to bring about the end of the world. To do so, they must discover and decipher the Book of Names which lists all the Hidden Ones who ever have and ever will exist.

As this novel opens, the book has been discovered and the Gnoseous are well on their way, having already eliminated thirty-three of the thirty-six. In response, wars and natural disasters are wreaking havoc on the planet. Only David Shepherd, who mind contains the names thanks to a childhood near death experience, has the chance to stop the Gnoseous as he is helped to understand what these names in his head mean.

All in all, a great set-up for a thriller. Unfortunately, Gregory and Tintori waste their great premise.

My complaint goes beyond my typical disappointment with most thrillers: that rank amateurs continually escape from and/or manage to kill professional killers and that the police are never anywhere to be found. My major problems are, first, that the story unfolds way too fast and, second and most importantly, the plot drives the characters rather than the other way around. Even forgetting the fact that David's stepdaughter conveniently turns out to be one of the Hidden Ones, I just couldn't believe that this non-religious political science professor could turn against his grain and dive into Jewish mysticism so easily other than that the plot necessitated it.

Granted, this is an easy read. It is clever, has a great premise and is fun in spots. I just couldn't stop thinking that with a little tinkering with the characters and the pacing, this novel could have easily been truly great instead of merely average.

The plot: University Professor David Shepherd, raised in the Jewish faith but for years a nonparticipant, becomes a key player in thwarting an evil plot to destroy the world. Following a childhood accident, David somehow became a channel for a higher power, and for years he's been recording names that come to his awareness in strange ways. Come to find out, they are the names of the 36 "pure souls" that have lived in every generation, without whom life on earth would end. The conspirators have murdered all but 3 of these souls, and David is stunned to learn that his stepdaughter is one of those who survive. He undertakes a quest to save her life (and, incidentally, save the planet.)The characters: David is incredibly naive for a man of his background and experience. He is assisted in the quest by a beautiful and brainy Israeli woman, and eventually, by a team of rabbis in Jerusalem who devote their lives to studying the kabbala, and at present, The Book of Names, said to have been written by Adam himself. The villain, a childhood acquaintance of David, could have stepped from the pages of Harry Potter. The team of "Dark Angels", who carry out the evil designs of the cabal leaders, are uniformly, well, thuggish.

The writing: It's not easy to transition from nonfiction to fiction writing, and it shows in The Book of Names. Descriptions are simplistic ("Sweat dripped from his armpits"),and dialogue trite ("We gotta get outta here!" and "There's only one way to find out; I'm going in!". Repeatedly, the authors (inadvertently, I'd suppose) telegraph what happens next, and the book's ending is a foregone conclusion from the very start.

The premise of this book is simple, into every generation there are 36 pure souls (lamed koviks) that are born who through their existence keep the earth together. If any of these souls die then bad things start to happen - war, famine, earthquakes, etc. Way back when in Biblical times Adam, bright boy that he was wrote down the names of every living creature including who all the lamed koviks in all the coming generations.

As you can guess with all these pure souls running about there are those people who will stop at nothing to destroy them. People who want to disrupt Gods plan and remake the world in their image. They somehow manage to break the code of Adams book of names and start to kill off the lamed koviks. The world slowly moves to turmoil as they do.

Enter the reluctant hero, David Sheppard, who do to an accident in his youth has somehow managed to tap into a higher existence and is somehow able to come up with the names of various lamed koviks. David has no idea at first the meaning of these names that keep coming to him, just that when he searches for some their names many of them have died in weird accidents or unnatural causes and all he really wants is to stop the names from coming. Until one name that pops out matches that of his ex-stepdaughter who he loves as his own child.

Enter beautiful sidekick who helps David to realise the power of the names and just what is happening in the world because someone is killing them off. She convinces David to join her fellow Israeli's in tracking down the remaining names to try to stop the ulimate evil from taking over.

What follows is a fast paced read about the ultimate battle between good and evil. As David rushes to save his stepdaughter and with her the fate of the entire world a reader can't help but to swiftly turn the pages to see just what will happen next. This book is right up there with Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell in that its a good read though unrealistic. However, I found this novel to be slightly more realistic then those two previously mentioned books. This books is a fast adventure that I didn't want to put down - well once I got through the first 20 pages that is. I admit that I almost put it down at first for those first few pages didn't thrill me.....but I always try to read at least 50 pages or so before turning away from a book and I am so glad that I didn't.

THE BOOK OF NAMES is a pretty transparent attempt to do a mystical Jewish version of THE DA VINCI CODE. As with DVC, you have a (1) mild mannered professor, (2) hooking up with an exotic female partner, (3) trying to unearth the truth about a religious conspiracy, while (4) constantly fleeing dangerous assassins, while also (5) being on the lam from the police for a murder he didn't commit. You also have very short chapters and a melodramatic prose style that features heavy use of italicization.

Unfortunately, like most DA VINCI CODE knockoffs, this novel doesn't succeed on its own merits. Most notably, the characterization in THE BOOK OF NAMES is incredibly thin, which made it difficult for me to care about anyone in the story. Nearly all the dialgoue is trite and cliche-ridden. As another reviewer commented, the plot drives the characters in this novel, instead of the other way around. That would be acceptable if the plot was interesting and believable, but the storyline of this book is silly for the most part, based on mysticism and an "end of the world" scenario that is improbable to say the least.

There's some interesting tidbits about Jewish religious history in THE BOOK OF NAMES, but it's not supported by a compelling storyline. As a result, I would take a pass on this one.

I love the idea of building a book around the lengend of the 36 righteous individuals, but this book did not meet my expectations. Even without the many ways in which it attempts to be a Jewish DA VINCI CODE, it would have fallen short. Characters are undeveloped and difficult to keep straight. The action (and logic) is hard to follow. The plot repeatedly relies on convenient coincidences to enable the good guys to make their next move. A pivotal change of heart is under motivated, and a crucial attack in the final chapters is never explained.

I truly wanted to enjoy this book, because the basic premise intrigued me. I did read it all the way through - I'd invested too long in it to give up when I first was tempted, and the pacing does suck the reader in for the ride. [...].

The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori is an exciting, edge of your seat thriller that you truly won't want to put down until you've finished, and even then, you'll remain exhilarated from the ride. The premise revolves around the Jewish traditions of those 36 righteous souls of each generation whose existence protects humanity. When one of those 36 dies, the world becomes unbalanced and trouble ensues. Gregory and Tintori's characters are touching, their struggles, surprising. The novel is unique, and the storyline is brilliant. The Book of Names is a wonderful book, and I strongly encourage everyone to read (or listen to on CD). I had such fun with it!

I ordinarily do not read thrillers, but The Book of Names was highly recommended by a friend and now I know why. I was engrossed in the book from the first page and it kept my interest all the way through to the end. The chapters are short and full of action, and leave the reader hanging, making it difficult to put the book down. I found myself reading hours after I had intended to stop. The plot in itself is fascinating and there were many details that made the book even more interesting. After reading The Book of Names, I did some checking into magic and Judaism, and I found out that the gemstones, which were an important part of the plot, are based on actual historical information. Clearly, the authors did a great deal of research. I LOVED the book and would highly recommend it to anyone. These women clearly know how to engage, entertain AND educate the reader. FABULOUS BOOK!