The Righteous Men [Hardcover]

Sam Bourne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2006

Two murders at opposite ends of America, one in the backstreets of New York City, the other in the backwoods of Montana. A series of killings in every corner of the globe, from the crowded slums of India to the pristine beaches of Cape Town. There can't possibly be a connection. That's the instinct of Will Monroe, a young, British-born reporter for The New York Times -- until the morning his beautiful wife Beth is kidnapped. Holding her are men who seem ready to kill without hesitation. Desperate, Will follows a trail that leads to a mysterious sect right on his own doorstep -- fervent followers of one of mankind's oldest faiths. He will have to break through multiple layers of mysticism and ancient prophecy, unearthing riddles buried deep in the Bible -- until he finds the secret that is said to have animated the world for thousands of years, a secret on which the fate of humanity may depend. But with more murders by the hour, and each clue wrapped in layers of code, time is running out!

--This text refers to the Unknown Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bourne's first novel, with a jacket that promises ancient secrets and mysterious manuscripts, has all the obligatory religious-thriller elements. Unfortunately, his hero, fledgling New York Times reporter Will Monroe Jr., is clueless, the structure unoriginal, the code-breaking boring, the earth-shattering threat unbelievable and the writing often clumsy ("Will felt his eyes soaking with tears"). Will, while investigating his first murder story, discovers that the victim, a pimp with multiple stab wounds, has a heart of gold and is indeed a "righteous man." After Will writes about another righteous man's murder, Will's wife, Beth, is abducted. Will's search for Beth leads him to the insular Hasidic community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where he undergoes a bit of torture while learning the history of Judaism. Eventually, Will unearths a vast conspiracy whose goal is Armageddon, the end of the world. Bourne, the pseudonym of British journalist Jonathan Freedland, has done his homework, but the heavy breathing one senses is not the sound of captivated readers whipping through the pages but rather that of an anxious author frantically attempting to hammer his extensive research into the mold of bestselling fiction. Rights sold in 24 countries.(Sept.)
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From Booklist

Our pop-cultural obsession with The Da Vinci Code continues to breed more religious-historical thrillers. Bourne's novel, which draws its inspiration from the Jewish rather than the Christian tradition, is one of the better ones. Sent to cover two seemingly unrelated murders--of a New York City pimp and a Montana militiaman--ambitious journalist Will Monroe discovers something that piques his interest: both victims had a secret. Despite brutal deeds in life, each had done extraordinary good. Then Monroe's wife is kidnapped. His search for her takes him into the Hasidic Jewish community of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, where he first hears the legend of the 36 righteous men whose selfless acts allow the rest of us to exist--and learns that they are being systematically killed. Always twisting and turning, Bourne's novel takes readers on a dramatic, full-throttle adventure, which ultimately offers a timely spin on the question, "Can the end ever justify the means?" Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 419 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (August 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061138290
• ISBN-13: 978-0061138294
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,693,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good basic plot, but......, August 27, 2006

By 

David F. Mamrak "Mamrak" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Righteous Men (Hardcover)

The author had a good basic plot, unfortunately our hero, Will Monroe Jr., is a totally unsympathetic character. Monroe comes across as a British version of a whining, spoiled yuppie. In one breath he is crying about the kidnapping of his wife Beth, the next he is admiring his ex-girlfriend's body. Please give me a break! Frankly, I was hoping Monroe Jr. would meet his demise somewhere along the way. You guess it, he makes it to the end just fine. You could also see who was behind murders of the righteous men, it could only have been one of two characters from the book. I hope Bourne can write a better leading character the next time around.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste Your Time With This One, September 16, 2006

By 

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

This review is from: The Righteous Men (Hardcover)

I read a lot of thrillers, and THE RIGHTEOUS MEN is probably the weakest I've read in quite a few months. This is an obvious knock-off of THE DA VINCI CODE, except it's nowhere near as good or well-researched.

The first part of this book plays out as a straightforward kidnapping story. Will Monroe is a reporter for the NEW YORK TIMES, and his wife has been abducted for reasons that are unknown to him. Since the kidnappers warn Monroe not to contact the cops, he investigates the kidnapping himself. His investigation leads him to a Hasidic Jewish community in Crown Heights, New York. This, in turn, leads him to discover a highly improbable conspiracy plot rooted in Jewish mysticism.

This book has a potentially interesting story, but it's severely handicapped by pedestrian writing and cardboard characters. The lead character, Will Monroe, is a clueless bore, and is downright unlikable when he makes a sloppy pass at his ex-girlfriend when his wife is still missing. Monroe hates himself for doing this -- so why should the reader feel differently?

Also, this plot is highly based on a series of highly unlikely coincidences. For example, what are the odds that Monroe's ex-girlfriend would happen to be an expert on the religious community that kidnapped his wife? Or that his best friend happens to be a brilliant computer expert who can track down the source of certain e-mail messages that Monroe receives? None of this is remotely believable. Even worse, it's not entertaining.

There are puzzles in this book, just like the Da Vinci code, but most of them are boring and have little relevance to the plot. Plainly, they were just thrown in this novel to capitalize on THE DA VINCI CODE and its success.

It's slapdash books like this that remind me how well constructed THE DA VINCI CODE really was. Avoid this one. There are much better thrillers out there that deserve your money.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Religious schlock for the DaVinci crowd, September 10, 2006

By 

kacunnin (Bowie, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Righteous Men (Hardcover)

Sam Bourne's The Righteous Men is a silly, ridiculously unbelievable tale of a young reporter's attempt to find his kidnapped wife and save the world from religious fundamentalists. The story is predictable (I guessed the "number one bad guy" from the first chapter), the hero is both banal and grossly shallow (he spends as much time salivating over his ex-girlfriend's body as he does worrying about his missing wife), and the writing is uninspired and ordinary. Well, that's not fair . . . Bourne DOES use a few rather amusing similes in his writing, such as this from page 258: "Will was pulled out of his hiding place like the meat from a sandwich." That one had me in stitches for a full two minutes!

Bottom line, Bourne insults both Jews and Christians equally, and he seems to know little about Hasidic culture or the Kabala that couldn't be learned in a fifteen minute Google search. The book's worst failing, I guess, is that there isn't one moment when this story is believable. Save your money . . . this one's not worth it.