Customer Reviews

The Last Prophecy

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

 

 

She was the commander of the Israeli National Police but became persona non grata in the country she loved. Ben Kamal was a former Palestinian-American detective until he realized that nothing he could do could change the political climate. Unable to stomach the hopelessness of the situation and wanting to be with his exiled lover Danielle Barnea, they accept jobs in the safety and security service of the United Nations and live together in London.

They are sent to the Palestinian village of Bureij where almost a hundred residents including their United Nations teachers were massacred in what was made to look like an atrocity of the Israeli government. Ben learns that the killers were Iraqi Special Forces sent out of the country before the American led invasion. The target of the killings was the son of one of the men of the 121st Evacuation Hospital who was sent to Buchenwald who found four trunks under a mass grave. In the present, the remaining members of the 121st are being killed off one by one for what they know. Danielle and Ben soon uncover a plot that will make Sept 11 look minor.

Once again Jon Land delivers an action packed thriller that takes events from today's headlines and weaves them into a terrific story. Danielle and Ben are perfectly suited for their new jobs because they are citizens of the world since no country will claim them yet they fight to make the globe a safer place to live in. Though in many ways similar to previous tales in the exciting series, THE LAST PROPHECY is an outstanding one sitting reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

The premise was good and could have made for a good story line. But come on, please.... am I really supposed to believe that Ben and Danielle can conduct all of these super human exploits with hardly a scratch? They seem to pop up everywhere, just in time to save the day, while everyone else gets picked off like fleas! Their wounds seem to heal supernaturally!

And then I'm supposed to believe that a pot head who's stupid enough to believe that he's going to get all A's for the semester because he's helping the government, can crack the computer code that none of the big boys can? Nah...

I like my protagonists a little more human, capable of mistakes, and more believeable and thereby likeable.

I don't think I'll be reading any more of Land's books for a while. This one supposedly took place over a 12 day period and that was about 11 days too long for me.

Jon Land has written an entertaining book starring the team of Barnea and Kamal. Called in to investigate a mass murder of civilians in the Middle East, they quickly uncover a terrorist plot that includes lost prophecies of Nostrodamus. If you enjoyed Angels and Demons, you will enjoy this.

See storyline above.

Jon Land's series with Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea have me hooked. This latest is one of his best. A fast-paced international thriller that should put the author on the bestseller list.
With timely topics and sometime 'over-the-top' action, it's sure to please the thriller crowd. Great entertainment.

Highly recommended

With the hype over the Da Vinci Code and its related popularity, you can sometimes get the feeling that some people probably think the grand conspiracy novel started with Dan Brown. Of course, this is not the case, as Brown is merely one in a long line of such thriller writers. Probably the biggest in the bunch was Robert Ludlum, but not to be forgotten is Jon Land. Not quite the big name that Ludlum or Brown, Land is nonetheless the most pure fun, with outlandish plots and tons of action.

The Last Prophecy brings back Danielle Barnea, an ex-Israeli cop and Ben Kamal, a former Palestinian detective. Despite the obvious conflicts caused by their different backgrounds, the two are faithful lovers and, as the novel begins, both working as investigators for the U.N. In this case, the two are called to look into a mass murder in a Palestinian village. At first, it appears to be a massacre by Israeli troops, but it soon enough appears to be something far more sinister, a conspiracy tied to events uncovered at the World War II and some lost prophecies of Nostradamus. The last of these prophecies provides the key to the conspiracy.

Land uses his standard formula for his Barnea/Kamal novels: the two split up for the majority of the book to separately unearth parts of the plot only to converge at the end to stop the bad guys. Typically, the people who provide the information are assassinated by the villains before they can reveal all. This formula works well enough since Land executes it well (and really, Brown and Ludlum use a similar formula themselves).

I won't say this is perfect writing, but it's plenty good enough to merit a strong four stars. My biggest "problem" with Land is that he is only writing books featuring Barnea and Kamal; I miss his older novels with Blaine McCracken, which were even more delightfully outlandish with their James Bond-like world conquest plots. But in the absence of McCracken, this series still fits the bill for what Land does best: entertain from beginning to end.

It never ceases to amaze me how these books get published. The narrative is pedestrian and the plot implausible. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not looking for high lit here but come on - "Sweat glistened in small beads atop her skin"!!!
My advice for anyone looking for a good read in this genre - reread Frederick Forsyth. For that matter, Clive Cussler is better than this nonsense. And don't get me started on Dan Brown.

n So far this has been the best Ben Kamal and Daniekke Barnea. In this book the crime fighting twosome has gone to work for the United Nations. They are sent to massacre in Lebanon that is being blamed on the Israelis. When they start investigating they
discover a frightening conspiracy.
In 1945 an Army unit discoveres some cannisters beneath some bodies in the Buchenwald death camp. One by one the members of this unit who found these cannisters and documents are being killed.One of the cannisters contains the lost prophecies of
Nostradamus.These prophecies fortell and catastrophy about to strike the United States.They are also having to battle a secret army who are eliminating the survivors.This army are members of
the Iraqi Special Republican Guard.
Ben and Danielle move quickly to unearth the clues to prevent
the terrorist attack from happening. some of the villains will shock you. This is am outstanding book that you will enjoy.

This was such an awful and clunky book. The story made zero sense and zipped around the world. The big secret was laughable. I kept reading hoping that the big reveal would make it worth it...um, no. The fact that some WWII vets had deciphered a Nazi code that revealed that something vague, and semi-sinister would happen at some point in time was enough to worry supposed illuminati-style bad guys enough to hunt them across the globe and kill them? Please. It was sad. It was so bad that I threw it in the trash when I was three-quarters through it. I just couldn't make myself finish it. "But what happened to the..." I don't care. I will never read another Jon Land book. It was awful!!!

I was at the bookstore and picked up this book having never heard of Jon Land. I'm so glad I did! This book had me hooked from the start, I couldn't put it down. It is a fast-paced adventure with a lot of action. I will definitely be reading more books by Jon Land in the future!

I actually picked up this book on a whim and from the first page, I was unable to put it down. If you like Dan Browns' work, then you'll love Jon Land. I give my highest recommendations for this book...now I have to go and buy the rest of the series.