The Shekinah Legacy (A Charlotte Ansari Thriller) [Kindle Edition]

Gary Lindberg (Author)

Book Description

★★★★★ To define the genre of this book, think of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. To determine whether you will be entertained by it, think better than Dan Brown's thriller. This is the book that Mr. Brown should have written. It is as an exciting alternative religious history filled with plenty of action and interesting plot twists. It is based on real research, at least as real as Mr. Brown's, after all the discussion about how authentic his sources were. ... I recommend this book to all who like a good thriller. I can't imagine what Mr. Lindberg will do for an encore. ★★★★★
S. Moore for BookPleasures.com

★★★★★ "The Shekinah Legacy" is a riveting read that should prove hard to put down for fans of "Da Vinci Code"-inspired thrillers. Recommended. ★★★★★
Midwest Book Review  

★★★★★
The Shekinah Legacy" is a well-written thriller in the style of Dan Brown where long-held religious beliefs are turned upside down and challenged. The story is filled with the twists and turns that make a novel great. The story's ending is meant to be a shocker and it is, concluding a very well crafted story. ★★★★★
Alice D. for ReadersFavorite.com


SYNOPSIS
In this controversial Amazon best-selling thriller, international cable TV journalist Charlotte Ansari and her Asperger's son are caught literally in the crossfire of history when terrorists, the CIA, Mossad and the Vatican all converge in a pulse-pounding search for relics that could forever change the balance of power in the world.

Three decades ago, Charlotte's mother suddenly vanished with no trace. The mystery was never solved. Then suddenly, on the same day that Charlotte's home is attacked by terrorists, her son receives an email from the grandmother that he has never known. The coded message catapults Charlotte and her son on a dangerous mission to India and Kashmir to find the only objects that can save the old woman's life. Unfortunately, Charlotte and her autistic son don't know what they are looking for.

The Shekinah Legacy is a thriller in the tradition of Dan Brown, Steve Berry and James Rollins. In this provocative novel, author Gary Lindberg uses the form of the thriller to explore the limits and perils of belief.


★★★★★  A "thriller" is a car chase. In the best of the genre, tires squeal on the first page and rubber burns until a fiery crash or a plume of exhaust merges with the horizon. Now visualize being strapped into a green Mustang fastback for 339 pages, riding shotgun with Lieutenant Bullitt. That's where Gary Lindberg puts the reader in "The Shekinah Legacy". 
★★★★★

Charles Locks, author of Greater Trouble in the Lesser Antilles

★★★★★ Charlotte Ansari has hunted the big stories around the globe. Then in one week she becomes the hunted. Or are the secret societies that are chasing her throughout India after someone else? Gary Lindberg's debut novel "The Shekinah Legacy" will please fans of Dan Brown and James Rollins. This is a book not to be put down until you've read the last
page. ★★★★★
Cynthia Kraack, author of "Minnesota Cold and the "Ashwood Trilogy"

★★★★★
Lost souls, saved souls, CIA agents, religious nuts and spiritually superior beings mix creatively if not comfortably in this international thriller. The protagonist comes across as a believable woman and a pretty believable journalist, and the portrayal of her son as a painfully blunt, difficult, gifted kid afflicted with Asperger's really works well. ★★★★★
Bruce Rubenstein, author of "Greed, Rage and Love Gone Wrong: Murder In Minnesota"

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gary Lindberg is an author of thrillers and historical fiction. He traveled around the world to research The Shekinah Legacy and give the story first-person authenticity in the description of locations and the many characters who populate them. As a writer and film producer/director, he has won over one hundred major national and international awards. He is the co-writer and producer of the Paramount Pictures feature film That Was Then, This Is Now starring Emilio Estevez and Morgan Freeman. He lives in Minnesota with his wife, Gloria.

Product Details

• File Size: 863 KB
• Print Length: 352 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0984856501
• Publisher: Calumet Editions (December 5, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006IGV8I8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,699 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dan Brown's got nothing on Gary Lindberg January 3, 2012

By Alan B. Manifold

Format:Paperback

I like finding books I can't put down, and The Shekinah Legacy definitely kept me wanting to read more. The story is cut from the cloth of The Da Vinci Code, but Dan Brown has nothing on Gary Lindberg except perhaps a better editor; there are a few places that are a bit rough. I've never met a famous journalist, an Asperger's sufferer, or an assassin, so who am I to say, but the characters seemed believable to me. They were well-painted, and then they changed along the way, all in tune with the events happening to them and around them.

There are no doubt many interesting historical facts embedded in the novel, which I'm sure will be of interest to other readers. For me, the only important thing is that the background is reasonably credible and doesn't entirely contravene history as I know it. This book easily meets and exceeds that criterion.

There is a lot of death and gore, but there are many "sides" in this complex thriller and most of them consider the treasure hunt at the heart of this story a matter of life and death, so it makes sense that there is as much of one as the other in the story.

I admit that I dreaded getting to the end of The Shekinah Legacy, because I couldn't foresee a good way to get out of the messy religious Gordian's knot without something unsatisfying, unbelievable, or beyond my capacity to swallow. But I loved the way that part of the story was wrapped up and congratulate the author on the ending's sensitivity and beauty.

The writing is strong, the characters are deep and engaging, the story is gripping, and the pace is driving. It's well worth a read.

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding new author of international intrigue! December 8, 2011

By Eldon Kimball

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow, this book kept me up nights until I could finish it - the first time through. The second time I took it a bit slower and spent hours on the computer verifying the historical facts. Haven't done that since 'The Da Vinci Code'. I had never even heard of the Sicarii - the dagger men of the 'Jewish Zealots'. Do read the first couple chapters under 'Click to Look Inside' to see how quickly this author can hook you into the story.

This book is an action thriller and a novel of international intrigue. But the book is also a fascinating study of family drama. Charlotte Ansari's mother abandoned her with her father when she was an impressionable young girl and she blames her father for her mother leaving. She is married to a man who ... well, you better read the book for that. Her son is often mistakenly taken as being autistic but, more accurately, he exhibits Asperger's syndrome. Although that might appear to be a handicap, it allows him to unravel mysteries and see relationships that others sometimes do not even identify. These dynamics play a major role in the progression of the main plot.

The first reading hooked me with the complex plot and action right from the first chapter. The second reading made me aware of, and appreciate, the depth of the writing. The author demonstrates an incredible knowledge of historical and modern religions and their role in the societies in which they were born and thrived. He then pulls all of this together to create a background for modern day intrigue, politics, espionage, and betrayals.

While reading the book the first time I found I had to refer back several times to remind myself of earlier events. Reading this book on Kindle might be a good way to help keep track of the key characters and the organizations involved. Ultimately though, if you are like me, you will want a hard copy to keep on your bookshelf or on your living room table.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Started Great, Went downhill... ..Disappointed September 15, 2012

By Michael S.

Format:Kindle Edition

When I started this book, I was immediately intrigued. The initial scenes, and the introduction of characters was really well done. I was initially intrigued, and excited about continuing the story to learn more. As the story progressed, however, my opinion of the book got lower and lower. I very rarely put down a book without completing it, and I reserve 1-star ratings only for those books. This book got me committed, and I made it through, but I was quite disappointed by the time I finished.

The story evolved rapidly, sometimes too fast. There were scenes that involved huge changes in direction in the space of only a few sentences, and the characters and situations started to become very unbelievable. I felt there was so much that the author could have done with this story, but just left stuff out, or presented things strangely. In the dialog of the story, things are thrown out in conversation that the characters just accepted without question or contemplation, and the characters accepted things naively and moved in unrealistic directions. There were several inconsistencies within the book too, which is a huge distraction for me. The writing style was strange too, in that the author attempted to use present tense, but got things mixed up several places along the way. Overall, I'd describe the execution of the book as "Choppy".

I was also disappointed in the lack of depth of the apparent message of the book. There were too many fallacies and incongruities in the story as they relate to history (present and ancient) which kept the story from ever becoming believable to any degree.

More About the Author

Gary Lindberg was born in 1943 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a writer and film producer/director, he has won over one hundred major national and international awards. He is the co-writer and producer of the Paramount Pictures feature film That Was Then, This Is Now starring Emilio Estevez and Morgan Freeman. His debut novel, a thriller called The Shekinah Legacy, was published in 2011. Two months later it became the most popular Kindle thriller on Amazon. He lives in Minnesota with his wife, Gloria, and his Jack Russell terrier Fletcher.