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Hardcover, September 2, 2008 $25.99   $0.83 $0.01
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Meltzer (The Book of Fate) deserves credit for an audacious conceit—wedding the biblical fratricide of Abel by his brother Cain with the unsolved 1932 homicide of the father of Jerry Siegel, the creator of iconic comic book hero Superman—but the results are less than convincing. A highly tenuous link between the two murders revolves around the mysterious weapon Cain (the world's greatest villain) used to kill his brother. One of numerous theories is that the weapon was a divine book containing the secrets of immortality. After coming to the aid of a shooting victim, Calvin Harper, a homeless volunteer working in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., soon finds himself hopelessly caught up in a life-and-death quest for the ancient artifact that includes the obligatory secret societies, Nazi conspiracies, enigmatic villains and cryptographic riddles à la The Da Vinci Code. A glut of two-dimensional characters and a plot riddled with coincidences don't help. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Meltzer builds suspenseful fiction on a previously little-explored historical nugget: Jerry Siegel, the teenage creator of Superman, lost his father in an unsolved murder in 1932. The author offers a compelling theoretical solution by way of an adult protagonist who is dealing with his conflicted feelings about his own father. Cal works for a rescue mission, picking up vagrants in need of shelter, when he stumbles across a man who turns out to be the father who abandoned him in childhood. The two men join forces in pursuit of what they believe is the lost Book of Cain, the weapon used in the Bibles original murder scene. Meltzer invokes multiple viewpoints as Cal, his father, a mysterious young woman who seems to have befriended the father, a rogue ex-cop, and a hot Federal agent converge on Cleveland in search of the biblical treasure. Teens with a taste for international conspiracies, religion-spouting bad guys, and identity-switching will enjoy this fast ride that leaves some solid and intriguing questions in the wake of its driving plot. Suggest this one to kids who enjoy the likes of Dan Brown, as well as superhero comics.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (September 2, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 044657788X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0446577885
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #377,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

Brad Meltzer
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Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
missing child, dad blurts, crimson triangle, attic copy, lemme guess
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Jerry Siegel, Mitchell Siegel, Ann Maura, King Street, Alligator Alley, Thick Glasses, Book of Truth, Mark of Cain, Lloyd Harper, Clark Kent, Fort Lauderdale, Burger King, Action Comics, Naomi Molina, Cal Harper, Miss Deirdre, Social Security, Lois Lane, Michigan State Police, Joanne Siegel, Benny Ocala, White House, World War, Hong Kong, Ohio State Penitentiary
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The Book of Lies
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Customer Reviews

87 Reviews
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 (18)
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 (28)
3 star:
 (13)
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 (13)
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 (15)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (87 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing. Lots of action, not much sense., October 17, 2008
By Sandy Kay (Twin Cities, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   
This review is from: The Book of Lies (Hardcover)
I've been reading Brad Meltzer's books since the beginning and this was my least favorite by far. I'm not sure how he decided to combine the murder of the father of Superman's creator with the Biblical account of Cain and Abel, much less toss in a secret society that believes God gave Cain a powerful "book" that still exists. But he apparently got so excited he forgot to write a story that makes sense.

The characters are so busy running after each other, the clues and the Book that they don't stop to wonder if what they are doing makes sense. I think the author hoped his readers would do the same. But the more I read, the more things didn't make sense to me. Why would someone who should know better and has access to other guns shoot someone with a gun from a previous murder? And why did Ellis and his secret society need the clues they were chasing when they led to places they should have searched long before. There are more irritating things that didn't make sense but I don't want to give away the plot for those readers who are more willing to suspend skepticism to enjoy the book.

I enjoyed the book until it veered too far into woo-woo land and then I just wanted it to be done. Ultimately, it didn't work for me. At least the ending wasn't as ridiculous as I thought it might be. That's why I gave it 3 stars rather than 2.

I hope the author will go back to writing thrillers about "normal" things like greed, lust for power, corruption, revenge, etc. and forget the mystical stuff.

I recommend that fans of Brad Meltzer skip this book and re-read one of his earlier books.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Long Winded Speeches and Cliche Characters, October 6, 2008
By R. Novak (Catonsville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Book of Lies (Hardcover)
Meltzer has a bad habit of giving his characters ungainly speeches and diatribes when they're in situations that would normally require immediacy. A parade of shallow, trite persons amble through the narrative: the estranged father, the angry abandoned son, the spunky single-mom cop, the emotionless assassin, etc., etc. The central plot concept could have been interesting, but here it's executed more like the novelization of a mediocre summer movie screenplay. Verdict - meh. Didn't throw it against the wall in frustration.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Horribly written and conceived, July 13, 2009
By Chris Kilbane "ckilbane" (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Book of Lies (Mass Market Paperback)
This was the first book by Brad Meltzer I have read and will be the last.

The cover and title intrigued me, but the fascination ended there. As I read the book (hoping it would improve until finally I was so far in I decided I had to finish), I kept noting how ham-fisted it was written. Poor character introduction and development, leap-frogging to various characters without tying it all together and an overall ludicrous plot. In addition, it was written as if the author couldn't decide whether to make it a first person or overall story, he kept jumping from a third-party perspective to a first-person (using "I saw this..."), very annoying.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was the introduction of the typical vindictive partner out for justice. Besides the introduction of this character 1/3 of the way through the book, her omni-present and "can do anything" side-kick in her ear was preposterous. Her "knack" for showing up everywhere, traveling all over the place and ordering all levels of law enforcement (local cops, FBI, etc) into action (this for a local DEA agent) just had me shaking my head in pity for the author.

Don't waste your time or money, I'm sorry I did.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
I love Brad Meltzer's work. I was first introduced to his writing when I read The Book of Fate and after reading The Book of Lies I have become a fan. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Sherylynne Rochester, Author o...

2.0 out of 5 stars Ho Hum Book
In the Book of Lies, Meltzer tries to fabricate a yarn that links the story of Cain and Abel with the fictional Superman stories with the Nazis. Read more
Published 1 month ago by The Pantologist

4.0 out of 5 stars Suspension of Disbelief
Ex-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent Calvin Harper is an orphan to fate. His tortured childhood clouded his judgement and got him in hot water at ICE and now he has... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Trevor Lowing

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time!
This book has a wonderful first chapter, which leads to a horrible read. Please, do not waste your time with this book.
Published 2 months ago by Kaycee O'brien

4.0 out of 5 stars Good beginning...
Albeit Superman's creator story is sad the story is fast paced. The problem is that these kind of stories can`t have any end so whatever the writer does to finish the book it... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jorge Frid

4.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Lies
Book arrived promptly and in very good condition. It's just an okay book to read.
Published 5 months ago by SusieQ

2.0 out of 5 stars Strained and Unsatisfying
Author Brad Meltzer's effort to wrench a thriller from interpolating the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel with the death of the father of Superman's creator is strained, at best... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Richard Gazala

5.0 out of 5 stars a book for truth
"As unlikely a pairing as the world has ever known, the juxtaposition of Cain and Superman within a single tale, where the search for the world's first murder weapon holds the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Wendall Paul Sexton

5.0 out of 5 stars works for me
This book's a lot of fun. The concept is large, encompassing and it's an exciting read. If you enjoy slower paced cerebral books, this may not be for you. Read more
Published 7 months ago by john washington

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
When I read the 10th Justice in the late 90s I remember thinking "wow, great book, this guy is the next Grisham". Read more
Published 7 months ago by Josh C

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