The Last Secret of the Temple [Hardcover]

Paul Sussman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2007

Jerusalem, 70 AD. As the legions of Rome besiege the Holy Temple, a boy is given a secret that he must guard with his life...Southern Germany, December 1944. Six emaciated prisoners drag a mysterious crate deep into a disused mine. They too give their lives to keep the secret safe: murdered by their Nazi guards...Egypt, Valley of the Kings, the present day. A body is found amongst some ruins. It appears to be an open-and-shut case for Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police. But what begins as a routine investigation rapidly turns out to be the most trying case of his career. Forced into an uneasy alliance with Arieh Ben-Roi, a hard-drinking Jerusalem detective, and Layla al-Madani, a daring Palestinian journalist, Khalifa enters a murky, murderous world of greed, duplicity, intrigue and revenge as he goes in search of an extraordinary long-lost artifact that could, in the wrong hands, turn the Middle East into a blood bath. Traveling from ancient Jerusalem to contemporary Egypt, and involving Cathar heretics, coded medieval manuscripts, and hidden Nazi treasures, The Last Secret of the Temple is an absorbing thriller set against the tumultuous politics of the present-day Middle East.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A bestseller overseas, Sussman's follow-up to The Lost Army of the Cambyses opens at Jerusalem's Holy Temple in the year 70, jumps to doomed WWII German prison camp inmates dragging a Nazi-purloined holy relic down an abandoned coal shaft and then fast-forwards to present-day Egypt. There, Det. Insp. Yusef Ezz el-Din Khalifa of the Luxor police investigates the murder of an old man whose body has been found at an archeological site in the Valley of the Kings. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Palestinian journalist Layla al-Madani and Israeli police detective Arieh Ben-Roi have their own sad histories and complicated lives to deal with. Eventually, Sussman twines all the threads into one, and the three principals are hard on the trail of the mysterious artifact hidden by the prisoners. There are familiar Da Vinci Code elements, but Sussman, an archeologist, puts in plenty of satisfying twists and turns, and grounds the story in the violence and intrigue of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Oct.)
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Review

“Not just a tightly plotted, richly observed, thought-provoking thriller, but one with a soul . . . The compelling mix of tough, page-turning suspense, archaeology, history, and characters caught up in the brutal politics of the Middle East make this a timely and authentic novel. Paul Sussman builds his story with the meticulous strokes of a craftsman, growing it from a seemingly innocuous death in the shadows of the pyramids to a discovery that threatens millions of lives.” —Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar

“The Last Secret of the Temple is a gripping mystery, intricately plotted and eloquently told, with more hairpin turns than the road to Hitler’s Berchtesgaden. But more than that, its tale of an ancient artifact and the grudging alliance of an Egyptian detective and Israeli cop is as urgent and meaningful as the best journalism. Paul Sussman’s novel is not just thrilling, it makes the tension and promise of the Middle East heartbreakingly alive.” —William Dietrich, author of Napoleon’s Pyramids

“The Last Secret of the Temple is a brilliant detective novel, hidden within a medieval saga, tucked inside of an archaeological mystery, surrounded by a modern-day Middle-East Terrorist thriller. Paul Sussman has managed the impossible: a multi-layered quest— where all the characters are real and alive, and we should expect the completely unexpected.” —Katherine Neville, author of The Eight

“Two for two. Another surefire winner from a gifted storyteller. Hopefully, The Last Secret of the Temple won't be Paul Sussman’s last.” —Steve Berry, author of The Templar Legacy

“While Paul Sussman’s brilliant novel, The Last Secret of the Temple, will be compared to Dan Brown’s eight-hundred-pound gorilla, it is so much more. The mystery runs deeper, the history more accurate, the suspense drawn to a keener edge. It also shines a light into a bloody part of the world, where it is hard to tell enemy from friend, and where ancient debts of pain and murder echo to the present. Here is a thriller on par with the best literature out there. Challenging, shocking, evocative…it should be required reading during these harsh times.” —James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of Black Order and The Judas Strain

“What could possibly bring together an Egyptian detective, an Israeli cop, and a Palestinian journalist? This international bestseller, dubbed ‘an intelligent reader’s answer to The Da Vinci Code.” —Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (October 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871139723
• ISBN-13: 978-0871139726
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,394,849 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Adventure Story in the Style of the Da Vinci Code, May 4, 2008

By 

Thriller Lover (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Last Secret of the Temple (Hardcover)

Unlike some people, I enjoyed Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE and heavily admire Brown's plotting ability. I'm not a big fan of most of the DA VINCI knockoffs and imitations that have followed, but Paul Sussman's THE LAST SECRET OF THE TEMPLE is a pretty good one.

THE LAST SECRET OF THE TEMPLE is an adventure novel that deals with a religious secret, one that may impact the struggle for power in the Middle East. Sussman spends a lot of time describing the political and social conflict betweens Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians, and I found this aspect of the novel quite fascinating.

Unlike most novels of this sort, the main character isn't American -- the three major protagonists are instead Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian. Sussman takes a lot of time developing all three of these characters, and they are all interesting people to spend time with. If you're curious in hearing all sides of the Middle East conflict, Sussman does a pretty good job fleshing it out for the reader here, although he does get heavy handed at times.

The pace of this novel is rather slow at the beginning, but it speeds up rather quickly by the half-way point. The last hundred pages of the book are pure action, with the inevitable big confrontation at the end. I could have done without some of the silly plot twists at the end, but they don't distract from the overall fun of the story.

Overall, THE LAST SECRET OF THE TEMPLE is a good read with a lot of interesting historical content. It was apparently a huge hit in the UK. I'm surprised this book didn't get better distribution in the US, but it's worthing seeking out if you enjoy thought-provoking thrillers.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even Better than His First Book, June 24, 2006

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Secret of the Temple (Mass Market Paperback)

I approached this book with mixed feelings. I had enjoyed Sussman's first book `The Lost Army of Cambyses so much that I thought it would be impossible for him to reach such dizzy heights again. How wrong could I have been. This book is equally as good if not better.

The author has the uncanny ability of being able to draw you into the plot, so that you almost feel as if you, the reader are a character in the book. You can smell the sights and the sounds of Jerusalem, just less than 100 years after the birth of Christ. You can literally hear the sound of the hob nailed marching sandals of the Roman legions as the besiege the Holy Temple.

Your are brought forward in time to Nazi Germany, where prisoners have to drag a mysterious crate deep into a disused mine and are then brutally murdered by their German guards.

The plot then arrives back at the present day. A body is found in the ruins at the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. On the face of it, it seems to be an open and shut case, but the more that is uncovered about the dead man by Inspector Khalifa the more uneasy he becomes about it.

The Inspectors findings send him on a trail of murder and mahem that could turn the Middle East into a bloodbath.

This is how all murder, mysteries should be written.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishingly good read, September 19, 2006

By 

Belle du Jour (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Secret of the Temple (Mass Market Paperback)

I have just finished reading this marvellous thriller last night. What a tremendously good work of fiction it is!!! Pulls you in from page 1 and takes you on an exhilarating ride. Mr Sussman is a very, very good writer and he really brings his Middle East setting alive - I almost felt that I was in both Jerusalem and Luxor, Egypt, so evocative was his writing. The plot is extraordinarily good and his three protagonists well drawn. We have the gruff Israeli policeman, the by-the-book Egyptian detective and the crusading Arab journalist. Their quest to find the original Menorah from the Temple of Solomon before it falls into the hands of terrorists really comes alive and the plot twist at the end took my breath away. I did NOT see that coming!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for lovers of the thriller genre. It is far superior to the Da Vinci Code. Blows it out of the water, in fact.