Customer Reviews

The Righteous Men

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

This was an exciting, intelligent thriller. My response to the many negative reviewers is that a prior knowledge of Jewish mysticism helps understand the premise of the novel. Having studied Jewish mysticism, I found the plot extremely plausible, and therefore much more frightening. I loved this book because I couldn't put it down, but also because of its unique premise. It also came across as very authentic, right down to the Yiddish words and phrases. A great, fun, enlightening reading experience.

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.

Picking it up at an airport (ok, so I have only myself to blame), the reviews on the cover looked quite good, promising strong plotline. However, it didn't take me long to get bored with a light stile of writing, a plot that never picks up speed (it just plain never gets going), and uninteresting characters. He works so hard describing Hasidic Jews in New York, but only makes it sound like he's trying too hard to make it interesting. Don't bother.

Similarities to Da Vinci Code do exist in this book, however, the plot is much lighter - despite what it says on the jacket cover. Instead of an inside tour through Catholicism, we have an inside tour through Hasidic life, which I found fascinating. The plot was woven enough that the ending was a bit of a surprise, although one knew with all the pointing of fingers, that the ending would not be what was expected. Character development was good. I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to other books by the author.

After picking this book up on a whim, I found it to be interesting, well written, and fun. It moves along as quickly as a Dan Brown or Clive Cussler mystery/adventure. There's enough description of real places and things that as you read, you learn a few things along the way. Between the characters and all the action, this is one of those books that's hard to put down.

Since the "Davinci Code", several authors have attempted to pen novels based around obscure facts, speculations or concoctions from the past. Sam Bourne has done this with this book. Will Monroe is a New York Times investigative reporter who uncovers a plot to kill righteous men around the world. He becomes earnestly involved when his wife is kidnapped and held hostage. He investigations leads him to the Jewish neighborhood of Crown Heights in New York. As time runs out, Will enlists the help of former college mates to help him find out why these men are being killed.
This book is just good enough to keep you going, but let me suggest that you do not even start this book if you do not want to be disappointed.

Interesting. Excellent thesis but unfortunately the delivery was average at best. Poor character development that left much of the story lacking. I did enjoy delving into the esoterica of the Jewish religion. Learning about the mysteries of the Kabbala is always interesting and insightful. Unfortunately, the "quick" paced story repeatedly bogged down. Matching action to book length is always difficult and requires the magic of storytelling. Mr. Bourne is just not up to the task. Few plot twists as by the book's halfway point much of the ending is figured out. Still a reasonable read for that weekend by the beach when it rains.
Ending left much to be desired. One word sums up this book - Bland.
Recommend waiting for the paperback.

This was a very average thriller. It didn't provide a lot of thrills and the protagonist, as other reviewers have stated, is not all that likeable. The storyline is not that convincing and it certainly doesn't have the depth or science backing that Dan Brown acheives in his novels.
Don't let the blurbs on the back cover convince you to buy it new. Buy it used or check it out at the local library.