3 out of 4 stars
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May I have a show of hands, please? Will everyone who has heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls raise a hand?...Uh-huh...Uh-huh...Sir! Yes, you down front; I only need one hand raised, please. Thank you. Okay, you can put your hands down. Now, who has heard of the Scrolls of Darkness?...No one? Nobody has heard of them? Well, neither had I until I nabbed my copy of Paul Henry Johnson's book, Scrolls of Darkness.
Corporate attorney Brent Michaels is a little bored with his corporate life, so of course fate steps in, sending him on an international search for the Scrolls of Darkness. Unfortunately, the Sons of Darkness are also on a mission to find the ancient satanic scripts, sent by none other than Evil itself. Fortunately, Brent is accompanied by the lovely archaeologist, Melauni Sherwood, and David Baumann, an old friend of Brent's deceased father. In a race to save the fate of mankind, can this trio find and destroy the scrolls in time?
As a fan of books and movies that involve archaeological digs for lost artifacts, I was fascinated with the idea of there being a search for a bad artifact rather than a good one. Sadly, though the story was good, it was a little slow in terms of adrenaline. Rather than an actual "race" to find the scrolls, it seemed more like a leisurely stroll, as if there was no rush. Brent took a couple of side trips, and even though I understood the need for them, they took the urgency level down a bit. Even so, the action scenes were written well, and I felt as if I was in the midst when they were going down. There were also a few heart-pounding scenes, especially near the end, so I would still consider this book somewhat of a suspense novel.
I also really liked Brent's portrayal; he went from a stuffy attorney who couldn't be bothered with the scrolls to a man on a mission who didn't mind getting his hands dirty. I was very impressed with Melauni's characterization as well. She was not a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued, and she had no trouble putting her foot down when she needed to. I also liked that even though there was some attraction between Brent and Melauni, their budding romance didn't override the main storyline. David, Ahmad Shaheen, and Bernard LaJoie were realistically written too. I was especially impressed with Ahmad. As a Bedouin, he could have easily been written in a stereotypical fashion, but he was actually a breath of fresh air and one of my favorite people.
Unfortunately, the author didn't put as much effort into drawing the Sons of Darkness. They seemed as if they were written more for Brent to respond to than as real antagonists. I will say that the novel's climax did make my spine tingle, but the "bad guys" were often more like afterthoughts than characters to truly be afraid of. I am glad to report, however, that even though the ends were tied at the end of this tome, there's definitely room for a sequel, and I'm hopeful that the remaining Sons will take more central roles in it if the author pens one. I would also love if Evil incarnate was drawn with a bigger pen in future stories.
During his travails, Brent travels to Paris, New Zealand, Rio de Janeiro, and the Middle East. While I loved reading about these places, I also would liked to have had a bit more description of these locales so I could really feel as though I was there. Thankfully, I was well able to picture where the finale went down, so that made the ending all the better.
By far my favorite thing about this book was the history lesson thrown in. The characters discuss certain relevant parts of the Bible, and I was especially happy to learn about the Urim and Thummim, tools used by the Old Testament High Priests to hear from God or determine His will in particular situations. I know quite a bit about the Bible, but I'd never heard of these, so I was excited to have something to study once I was done with the novel. Please note that none of these discussions get preachy. The author is not trying to convert anyone, and these events are just discussed as parts of history, like one might discuss World War I or the Civil War.
Another one of my favorite parts of this tale was the minor usage of other languages, most notably French. The inclusions gave the book a little more je ne sais quoi, yet the sentences were also easy enough to figure out due to the context, so I didn't have to stop reading to consult Google Translations or anything. Unfortunately, the grammar itself wasn't written with quite the same finesse. There were issues with punctuation, missing spaces, missing or extra quotation marks, incorrect word usage, and capitalization. Additionally, and this is really more of a nitpick, the author kept referring to the characters' iPhones. I felt like I was being subtly advertised to, and I would have preferred if the author had just used "phone" or "cell".
After giving a lot of thought as to the rating, I've decided to give Scrolls of Darkness 3 out of 4 stars. Even though I mentioned a number of minor annoyances, I didn't think they warranted giving this tale only 2 stars, yet I couldn't go with 2.5, so I chose to round up. I recommend this story to fans of archaeology and readers who like a more slow-paced suspense story. There was some violence, but it wasn't too graphic or gratuitous, and there were no sexual scenes, so readers who avoid such things may enjoy this too.
Now, who wants to hop a plane with me and see if there really are any artifacts from the dark side? Show of hands, please?...One hand, sir, one hand, and no feet, please. Sigh.
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Scrolls of Darkness
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