Customer Reviews

Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Any review of this book by a member of the St. Clair family may be viewed with some skepticism. However, I assure you, I am not a 'true believer' of the Prince Henry St. Clair story. This is why my family held the Atlantic Conference this past Fall in Halifax, Nova Scotia - to find the real evidence of early trans-Atlantic voyaging. There, I was lucky enough to meet David and receive an advance copy of his book.

David's writing style is thorougly enjoyable, but this book goes much further in that it's also a tremendous resource on all matters of this unsuual story of Templar history, the St. Clair family, diffusionism, petroglyphs, and much more. Being a member of the family who may descend from Jarl Henry St. Clair, it's difficult to show me new information, but Mr. Brody does and frames it with a knowledge of the plot lines of history that put it all in perspective.

I highly recommend this book.

Steve St. Clair

It is tempting to compare this work to that of Brown's Da Vinci Code. To be quite frank though, David S. Brody has out Browned Brown with this one. Now that being said, I will be the first to admit that I am not a Brown fan and absolutely despised the Da Vinci Code. This book however, was an absolute delight and once started, was difficult to put down.

It is rather difficult to give a plot summation here as each and every chapter adds new twists and turns to this story, and it is almost impossible to discuss the plot without adding spoiler after spoiler. Briefly though, the story actually begins in 1399 with Henry Sinclair lands in the New World with a group of men comprised of warriors, craftsmen and men of the cloth. After established the landing, and after the death of James Gunn, Sinclair's second in command and his burial, the story jumps to the present time. A young lawyer and a young English girl become embroiled in a sinister plot by various secret organizations to try to foil the efforts of any who may uncover the secret carried to North America by Sinclair and his group of Scottish warriors. The body of the story takes place in New England as the author has his characters flitting here and there trying to unwind this complex mystery. The Church, Knight Templers, right wing South American Organizations and more are all included. The core, The Knight Templers has always been a fascination of mine.

This work is a mixture of historical fact, historical speculation and extreme skillful story telling on the part of the author. It is truly what I would call a "page turner." I will right now admit to being one of those individual who firmly believe that Columbus was a Johnny-come-lately to the New World and was quite likely preceded by the Norse, Japanese, Chinese, Phoenicians, and a rather large number of other cultures, some who have completely disappeared in the fog of history. I am quite familiar with the archeological sites mentioned in this particular work and have followed their progress for a number of years, along with other threads historians and archeologists have been following over the past several decades. It took only a small leap of my imagination to find validity in much of what the author has written. Now that does not mean I believe the fictional part of the story...hey, a good story is a good story, but I do feel that the author has used enough archeological evidence to make his fictional tale quiet believable

One of the techniques and ploys the writer has used in this work is photographs of each and every site and artifact (with the exception of two, which he admits to having made up), and wonderful maps. This adds an aspect of realism to the story not normally found in novels of this ilk. I read very little historical fiction, but when I do read it, I want it well researched and I want it based, even loosely, on documented facts. The author has more than adequately done this with this work.

Above all though, as to reading pleasure goes, David Brody is an absolute natural story teller and has been blessed with the skill to articulate his stories in the written word. This is becoming a rather rare phenomenon of late and it should be appreciated by anyone who enjoys a good, action pack and believable story. The author has given us a good mystery, plenty of action, believable characters, both likable and unlikeable, a bit of romance and as a plus, a very good lesson in history. The author has also been kind enough to give us some great resource notes for further reading and research of this fascinating subject.

I do have to recommend this one highly as I enjoyed each and every page. Bottom line: This is one fine read!

Unlawful Deeds
Blood of the Tribe
The Wrong Abraham

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower by David S. Brody was another book I got via an offer from a publisher. While the whole Da Vinci Code genre burned out rather quickly for me, this book offered a unique twist in that it was set on American shores. Add in the fact that all the historical sites and artifacts actually do exist, and you get an interesting blend of quasi-history told in a adventure thriller plot.

Cameron Thorne is a lawyer in New England, practicing some low-profile law. But a simple visit from an elderly couple changes his whole life (and eventually the history of the last 2000 years). They are being pressured to sell their home and property to a guy from Scotland who won't take no for an answer. Some research shows that this guy is a treasure hunter looking for lost Templar relics that he believes are buried on the elderly couple's property. But before Cameron can get to the bottom of the guy's story, things start going wrong. The treasure hunter ends up murdered, Cameron's life is threatened by black sedans that try to run him over, his dog is killed, and his brother loses his leg in an explosion prior to starting some digging on the couple's property. Seems that more than one group of people want to keep some secrets hidden forever. Cameron meets and teams up with Amanda Spenser, an attractive English lady who is employed by a group of people charged with maintaining artifacts related to a reported visit to America in the late 1300's by Prince Henry Sinclair. There's a shady element of this consortium, and Amanda decides to throw caution to the wind and team up with Cameron to dig into the story deeper than she's been allowed to in the past. The more they dig, the more attention they attract from secret Vatican groups who are willing to do whatever it takes to stop the two from undercovering a story that would rock the foundation of the organized Church...

While I liked the two main characters in the story, they are really there to help tell a historical story that you have to decide whether it's true (thus a conspiracy) or just a number of things that have been given far more meaning than they ever really had. The main contention is that Prince Henry came over to America with a number of treasures he was protecting from capture by the Roman Catholic church. The main treasure they had was evidence that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, had a daughter named Sarah, and that bloodline of Jesus still remains to this day. Add in worship of the "Sacred Feminine", Masonic societies, Kaballist groups, the Knights Templar, and many other murky secrets, and it calls into question all of what our modern day religions are based on. What adds realism in Cabal is that all the artifacts and locations used in the book actually do exist, so the story that Brody weaves is based on tales that have some basis in actual fact.

Do I accept everything in this book as actual truth? Not even remotely. But Brody puts an amazing amount of documented facts in Cabal which helps him to build his story and premise quite well. It worked for me on both an adventure level as well as a "should investigate this a little deeper" angle.

Nothing paints a mysterious and suspenseful story better than one based on a profound and ancient conspiracy. It is evident that David S. Brody knew this full well when he penned his excellently written and powerfully depicted novel of intrigue, suspicion and adventure titled, Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower. In this fast-paced and thorough treatise on ancient religious rituals and beliefs, Brody has woven together the ancient past and the curious present to create very compelling and believable tale of discovery and revelation.

Mr. Cameron Thorne is a lawyer going about his business. Representing an elderly man and woman who are trying to keep from losing their home, Thorne runs headlong into a mystery that has been hidden from the outside world for centuries. This is not just some family secret. In fact, Cameron Thorne has uncovered a conspiracy that could actually cost him his life. Long suppressed by the Catholic Church, this conspiracy is one that the Church must make sure remains unknown.

As a result of this tumultuous unearthing of ancient actions and deeds, Thorne has no choice but to strike and run, as his pursuers, religious fanatics from two radical groups, seek to hunt him down and silence him. Fortunately, Thorne does not have to fight this battle of wits and intrigue alone. He has the good fortune to meet one British researcher of ancient artifacts, named Amanda. She too is on the run, tracked by the same groups who are seeking to stop Cameron Thorne. Together, they form a bond and a single-purposed plan to tie the fragments of this deadly mystery together, which they gather from many places across the Northeastern part of the United States. These two realize that their enemies have no choice but to stop the two intruders from unearthing their historical secrets. For, if they Thorne and Amanda are finally able to repaint the entire picture, the truths they will have revealed risk shredding the church into pieces.

There is an obvious and appropriate comparison between Davis S. Brody's excellent work and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Though the strength of Dan Brown's work cannot be minimized, I feel that Brody's work is better researched, more believable and that Brody's style and plot possesses more elements that will entice the reader to want to dig into this book until the very last page. I felt as if I was there with these two very intelligent hunters of ancient lore.

The massive amount of research that had to go into this first-class novel must have been staggering. Coming from David S. Brody, great research and explanations one can wrap their hands around is what he does best. His others books, such as The Wrong Abraham, Blood of the Tribe, Unlawful Deeds and America's History are excellent examples of Brody's ability to take readers into another time and place and to make it come alive in our time, today. He has simply carried this tradition of excellence in writing over into this new novel, Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower. If you love intrigue, conspiracy and history all woven together into an action-packed suspense drama with deadly repercussions, then you will love this story.

Move over Da Vinci Code. There is a new novel, now in print, that bears all the makings of a phenomenal literary success. I highly recommend Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower by David S. Brody. It's a read that will keep you reading until the very end.
Author Steven Clark Bradley
Patriot ActsNimrod RisingStillBorn!Probable Cause

Do you like history? And mystery? If you answered Yes to both questions, you'll love David Brody's latest effort. You'll be caught up in this web of intrigue from the very first page. The Cabal of the Westford Knight is an engaging mystery reminiscent of - and every bit as exciting as - The DaVinci Code. There's been much said in recent years about the likelihood of European settlers in North America before Columbus. If this book doesn't sway you, I don't know what will. An ingenious plot backed up with careful scholarship makes for fun and informative reading for the history buff as well as the mystery aficionado.

David Brody's book will tantilize your senses in ways a good book should. The pace of this suspenceful novel will keep you turning the pages well into the night. What Brody did, though, is masterful in his sewing history into the pages at the very same time. The time he took to do his sources for this, will leave you wondering... where did the novel start and the history end? It is the intertwining of the two that will make you go to your computer and start looking at things for yourself.

Judi Rudebusch

I was fortunate to find an advance copy of this book. It is a page turner from beginning to end. I think it is the best book I have read re: the Knights Templar & early exploration of the New World- and I have read several over the past years. It is history wrapped in a fast paced action adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It has photos and illustrations to back-up the historical aspects of the story which takes place mainly in New England. The locations mentioned in this gripping tale can be visited-photographed and the temptation is to hit the woods yourself and find additional clues to add to the author's already well researched & documented tale. I have already visited some of the sites in the book and now have a better understanding of their significance.I am planning road trips to cover those sites I have missed to date.I think the author has also done an admirable job documenting what early explorers may have encountered and also describing what their motives for coming to America may have been. I promise you won't be disappointed with this one- it has appeal on many levels.One of the important points that I took away from this book (there were many by the way)is the stubbornness of the mainstream scientists/historians who won't entertain any versions of history other than those that fit their own paradigm. Although a fictional piece, this book is steeped in facts and a "today" perspective of the archaeological community towards the clues left by early visitors to North America. I liked the "Davinci Code" but quite honestly, not to offend Dan Brown, I enjoyed this one more.

As a member of Clan Sinclair and a citizen scholar of all things Templar/Masonic/Bloodline/Rosslyn, etc. I found David Brody's novel both informative and entertaining. I enjoyed the characters he employed to move the thriller-based story line along, and appreciated that he kept them in the realm of believable, everyday humans, not "Indiana Jones-style" heroes.

Of course, towards the end, Brody seemed to be cramming in a little too much action -- but he did have all those various threads to resolve, so it's understandable. For those reading the book without a great deal of knowledge about this subject matter in and around New England, this would be a very enjoyable way to be introduced to the facts and speculations. Even for me, knowing what I already do from years of study, I learned quite a few new bits and pieces to take me deeper into my research.

Because I live in Rhode Island, it was a lot of fun to read about all the sites and monuments that are right in my back yard. I think I'll be taking a little road trip soon (before the snow!) to solidify for myself all the points that Brody made in his very solid novel. I give this 4 stars and would say that Brody's prose is a notch above the ever-popular Dan Brown's, and his research much more heartfelt and less sensationalized. All in all: a ripping good yarn!

This Davinci Code-style adventure follows hero and heroine through New England. If you enjoyed the Davinci Code, you'll love this local version. Like the Davinci Code, this novel is based upon truths and is delivered neatly in an exciting work of fiction. The photographs of local New England sites reinforce the fact that these places do exist. Well-written and filled with very human characters, this is a great way to present facts as well as hypotheses about those who visited New England in the 1300's, even before Columbus knew the area existed! What is more interesting than this surprising fact is the reason these early explorers' came! Our history lessons are not always very accurate! Lots of surprises here!

The idea of a divine bloodline in our world is fuel for many a story. "Cabal of the Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower" follows Cameron Thorne as he dives into the secrets behind the possible bloodline of Jesus in the modern world. But some things stay secret through the efforts of a few protectors, and Cameron soon finds fierce adversaries. Solving this mystery is what just may kill him! "Cabal of the Westford Knight" is a fine and highly recommended read, sure to please.