The Moses Expedition: A Novel [Hardcover]

Juan Gomez-Jurado (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2010

The Moses Expedition takes readers on an expedition to discover the Ark of the Covenant, which houses the Ten Commandment tablets. 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Exclusive: Steve Berry Reviews The Moses Expedition

Steve Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, and The Templar Legacy. His books have been translated into 37 languages and sold in 50 countries. He lives on the Georgia coast and is currently at work on his next novel. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of The Moses Expedition:

My kind of story has history, secrets, conspiracies, international settings, action and adventure. And that's exactly what Juan Gómez-Jurado likes too. Yes, The Moses Expedition involves a search for the Ark of the Covenant, something that Indiana Jones became famous for. But just because that tale was once told doesn't mean it isn't due for a major upgrade. And that's exactly what Juan Gómez-Jurado provides. There's sophisticated technology, advanced satellite communications, modern weaponry--things that may or may not make this new search any easier. In fact, they complicate things in ways that Indiana Jones could have never imagined. For aficionados of the genre there are also the usual players: spies, mercenaries, powerful businessmen, Nazis, archeologists, the Mossad, fanatics, and a journalist who has exclusive rights to a story of monumental proportions. There's also the age old conflict among Jews, Muslims, and Christians told in a fresh and unique way. The Moses Expedition is beguiling sophisticated. There's food for thought on nearly every page. If you like your intrigue, your action and your history delivered at mach-speed, by a writer who knows what he's doing, then this is the book for you. Maybe Cotton Malone and Father Anthony Fowler might cross paths one day. If they did, they'd both have their hands full. Check out The Moses Expedition and, if you like it, savor Juan Gómez-Jurado's first novel, God's Spy. You won't regret either read.

--Steve Berry

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From Publishers Weekly

In Gómez-Jurado's unoriginal, intermittently exciting religious thriller, two characters from the Spanish author's internationally bestselling first novel, God's Spy—Fr. Anthony Fowler, who works for both the CIA and the Vatican secret service, and Andrea Otero, a plucky El Globo journalist—become involved in a secret archeology expedition to Jordan. Raymond Kahn, the eccentric and reclusive chief of Kayn Industries, hopes the team will recover that elusive treasure beloved by many school-of-Dan-Brown writers, the Ark of the Covenant. Several terrorist groups are targeting the expedition, and one by one people turn up dead. U.S. readers who just can't get enough of the Ark would be better off watching yet again the first Indiana Jones flick, The Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Mar.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; Original edition (August 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416590641
• ISBN-13: 978-1416590644
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Juan Gómez-Jurado (Dec 1977 Madrid, Spain) is an award winning journalist and bestselling author. He is one of the three most successful contemporary Spanish authors along with New York Times bestselling authors Javier Sierra and Carlos Ruiz Zafón. In 2010, Juan celebrated the mark of 3 million readers worldwide.

Juan is the author of three international bestselling novels: GOD'S SPY, THE MOSES EXPEDITION, and THE TRAITOR'S EMBLEM. They have been translated into 40+ languages.

Juan is a family man and an avid reader and traveller. He lives in Spain with his wife and two children. They are commited to humanitarian causes such as Heifer and Save the Children. After his wife being diagnosed with cancer, Gomez-Jurado became an activist to fighting colon cancer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo!, August 2, 2010

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Moses Expedition: A Novel (Hardcover)

Once again Juan Gomez-Jurado has given us a thriller that will have your heart pumping and your hand anxious to turn the page. Back from his first novelGod's Spy: A Novel, are the MacGyver-like Priest,Father Fowler,and the ever fiesty and gutsy reporter Andrea Otero. If you have missed that one, I highly recommend the read for anyone who loves a good thriller(see my review for details), but it is not necessary to have read it to get to know these two again, as "The Moses Expedition" stands on it's own and is a completely new story,not a continuance of the first.It is one that will take you through time and distance and around the globe.

A group gathered together by an eccentric and reclusive billionaire are making an expedition to the Jordanian desert to possibly recover the Ark of the Covenant, said to contain the Ten Commandmants given to Moses through God.This group consists of Biblical Archaeologists, administravtive technicians and asst.to Kayn(the billionaire),a militant security group,an Israeli doctor,drivers,cooks and of course Otero and Fowler. They were all hand-picked by Kayn for his own reasons.The expedition has much to contend with in the desert:the extreme hot and cold,possible giant sandstorms - that wipe out life and everything else in it's path -and then there is the matter of some very scary terrorists who have their own plans for the group.The really suspenseful and still more scary part is that there may even be those among the group who have some menacing and fatal ideas of their own.And even if they make it through all that - will they find the Ark?

Gomez-Jurado has done an amazing amount of serious research for this book giving the reader quite a history lesson to go along with the constant adventure and suspense(truly from start to finsih). He'll take you back in time through the retelling of the story of how the Ark came to be buried in the desert, through the Nazi hunt for Jews - and one very dispicable Nazi doctor, "The Butcher of Spiegelgrund"- to post 9-11 into the chilling minds of terrorists. The short chapters take you back and forth to the various times and places events are unfolding - including coinciding suspenseful situations in the United States, even taking into account the time difference in the various parts of the world. And he brings it all together, completeing the circle wonderfully.

It's that great kind of thriller that keeps you guessing,not knowing who to trust or what disaster lurks around the corner.Otero and Fowler are characters to cheer for and you just want to warn them of impending danger(of which there is quite a bit). The Author puts you right in the middle of the scene with his vivd descriptions. He also includes on the inside cover pages, what looks like an aerial map of the area the group is excavating, with inset, as well as placements of the camp tents,trucks, etc. I really liked that. You will also find in the back a list of the players, which was very helpful early on - there were over twenty people on the expedition, plus those working back in the states - but after a while you will know all the characters pretty well. Published originally in Spain, it didn't seem like anything was lost in translation - excellent!

I lent out my copy of God's Spy and am still waiting for the return of it - this one stays put. It is one I will surely pull out for another read some day.

Bravo Sr. Gomez-Jurado and gracias for a fabulous read.

Enjoy ...Laurie

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Guilty Pleasure, July 9, 2010

By 

Alan L. Chase "Al Chase" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Moses Expedition: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Reading this novel evoked in me the same kind of guilty pleasure I derive from watching and enjoying a B movie that should be "below my standards." The story of an expedition to unearth the lost Ark of the Covenant contains some interesting elements, but is largely predictable and formulaic. About halfway through the book, I began to get annoyed with the stylistic choices the author was making, and I realized that the literary style was facile and often simplistic - too easy references to Catholic guilt, etc. I am not sure whether this lack of nuance is a result of translation from Gomez-Jurado's native Spanish, or is consistent with the way he thinks and writes.

At the end of the day, I felt like I had read a screenplay for a "poor man's" Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I found a perfect quotation the expressed my feelings about the experience of reading the novel:

"'I know you understand me,' said the soldier in Spanish. 'I prefer to talk in my own language. I can handle subtle details much better that way.'

'There's noting subtle about you,' said the priest in Spanish." (Page 325)

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stupendous! Move this to the top of your list!, August 2, 2010

By 

Grandma (NH, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Moses Expedition: A Novel (Hardcover)

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It is a rare thing that I give a book 5 stars. It is even rarer that I come across one that I read start to finish without a break. The Moses Expedition: A Novel is one of the few, and it is a tale not to be missed! If you like Dan Brown, if you love archeology and mystery, you will find this absolutely riveting.

I'm not going to give you a synopsis of the plot. Other have done that and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. Suffice it to say that The Moses Expedition arrived at my door at 2:30 in the afternoon. I closed the cover about 10 pm, despite shopping and dinner. (I read fast!) If I have one teeny weeny complaint, it would be that the very minimal bit of sex is utterly superfluous to the plot. The author could have done as well or better to have simply left it out. Juan Gomez-Jurado has given us a wonderful work worth every single one of five stars, one that is going straight onto my "to read again" shelf. And his first book, God's Spy, is going straight onto my "to read next" list!