The Name of the Beast [Hardcover]

Daniel Easterman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

When a young Egytologist unearths a mummy wearing a Rollex, the incident sets off a chain of events involving a mysterious renegade Catholic priest who may or may not be the key to unleashing worldwide Armageddon. By the author of the The Ninth Buddha.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this Revelations-inspired page-turner, the author of Brotherhood of the Tomb weaves a seamless and authoritative tale of Egyptian lore, Islamic fundamentalism, spy games and terrorism, all headed toward Armageddon in the year 2000. Working at a newly uncovered tomb outside Cairo, Egyptologist A'isha Manfaluti unwraps a mummy and finds the body of her husband, a moderate politician and the latest victim of Islamic fundamentalists. MI5 recruits ex-spook Michael Hunt to protect A'isha and to help track notorious Islamic terrorist al-Qurtubi, who, according to Michael's brother Paul (a priest in Vatican intelligence), may be the Antichrist. When Michael discovers that Western moguls, including a major agent in MI5, have backed a coup making al-Qurtubi president of Egypt, he and A'isha must run for it. As a bloody "religious cleansing" sweeps the country of everything non-Islamic, including the pyramids, a plague appears in Egypt--fulfilling several apocalyptic prophecies. After being hidden by Coptic priests and Vatican agents, A'isha and Michael are betrayed and head toward a final dramatic desert confrontation between al-Qurtubi and the Pope. Although the East/West political underpinnings of the plot are somewhat shaky, British writer Easterman, a scholar of Islamic studies, paints a horrific and absorbing picture of unconstrained religious fanaticism.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

On the eve of the new millennium, religious fundamentalists seize power in Egypt and wage a campaign of terrorism throughout Europe. The campaign's new leader is rumored to be al-Qurtubi, a renegade Catholic priest turned Islamic separatist. A former British agent is reactivated and sent to Egypt to verify al-Qurtubi's identity and to serve as bodyguard to A'isha, wife of a recently kidnapped centrist Egyptian politician. The two are soon living a nightmare, cut off from the outside world and haunted by dreams of the anti-Christ and visions of the Apocalypse. While novels using the theme of Armageddon will undoubtedly appear many times in the next eight years, few will rival Easterman's for sheer power and believability. Highly recommended for all collections of suspenseful fiction.
- Ruth M. Ross, Olympic Coll. Lib., Bremerton, Wash.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 476 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060179961
• ISBN-13: 978-0060179960
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,512,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilled me to the the very marrow!!, August 7, 2003

By 

wolfgang731 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Name of the Beast (Paperback)

A chilling portrayal of religious fanaticism run amuck. It seemed all too real, at times generating a palpable sense of discomfort and fear. Taking into account the times we live in and the fact that this book was written 11 years ago, the plausibility of the story seems less and less extreme. A genuine page-turner with finely etched characters and a dramatic sense of place and atmosphere. Mr. Easterman's expert knowledge of the region, the culture, religion and language are put to exemplary use in this fantastic journey into a world shaken to its very foundation by madness and violence. My sole complaint involves the ending, which seems a bit rushed and forced, but, nevertheless, does not wholly disappoint. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark vision of an Islamic revolution, June 12, 2009

By 

C. L. Fluty "Author of Nefertiti, Immortal Queen" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Name of the Beast (Paperback)

Easterman has painted an overwhelmingly dark vision of an Egypt literally demolished by a fundamentalist Islamic revolution, a country not only terrorized by religious police - the mutahsibin - but ravaged by the plague and hemmed in by a 50-foot-high wall created with material supplied by the tearing down of the pyramids and other ancient monuments. It is a truly horrifying image, vividly portrayed. The lead characters are interesting and well-rounded, and Mr. Easterman is clearly intimately acquainted with Cairo and its environs. His expertise in Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages also contributes to his portrayal of the culture.
However, I think the motivation of his villain, al-Qurtubi, is rather thin, especially this Spanish former priest's reason for converting from Catholicism to Islam. The story goes to some lengths to identify al-Qurtubi as the Biblical Anti-Christ, but then does very little to follow through on how his particular actions fit that identification. And there's a whole big build-up of dreams and historical prophecies having to do with a mysterious black pyramid, which is eventually produced from under the sands of the desert, but it only serves as a brief setting for a plot to kidnap the Pope - the pyramid itself seems to have no other significance. The majority of the story concerns the trials and tribulations of the hero and heroine as they try to escape the religious police and various henchmen of al-Qurtubi.
To me, one of the weaknesses of the story is the assumption that the forces of the Islamic revolution would be able to instantly assume complete control of an entire country and coerce millions of people into labor gangs that tear down the pyramids literally overnight and build a 50-foot-high wall around the country, while closing hospitals and suppressing the news that plague is raging and thousands of people are being arbitrarily shot for simple things like reading a translation of "The Tale of Two Cities". I am in the unusual position of having been through the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, so I can vouch for the suppression of things like music, nightclubs and movies; but I can also tell you that a brand new, untrained government does not do anything in a very efficient or organized manner - not even the persecution of foreigners suspected of being spies! (And Iran wasn't suffering the additional whammy of a plague!) I have trouble believing his bad guys would have had this kind of total control over any country. Other than that, my principal problem with this story is that it is so extremely dark that it was difficult to make myself keep reading.