Red Templar by Paul Christopher looked like a standard Russian KGB /Nazi/ Templar treasure hunt action novel and whatever the plot was, its stunning revelation is about to unleash cataclysmic changes unto the world as we know it.
They usually do.
Red Templar caught me by surprise with its crazy plot twists, fast action, and I was soon loving it. It is the sixth in a series which began with The Sword of the Templars, and continues up to The Lost City of the Templars. This is much more of an Indiana Jones style adventure - the pace is fast, there is action on virtually every page.
John Holliday has a doctorate in history and teaches at West Point. He carries the Codex Mysterium, a bloodstained notebook he was handed in the first novel, which contains 900 years of Templar history including names, accounts, and secret codes.
In the series, he is on the quest to retrieve four sacred Templar Swords for the East, West, North and South. In the last book, he obtained the Sword of the West, and he inherited the Sword of the East in the first novel. These are the four swords mentioned in the Arabian Nights, which also mentions the fabled fifth Sword of the Rose.
Some books lay out the whole plot on the back of the paperback; this jumps right past that as John returns from an African adventure and is stopped by a man as he transfers through Russia, the man knows of the Sword of the North. He and his buddy are soon whisked off to Bulgaria, where an old monks last deed is to show them a picture of a secret 1945 meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, an evil group who have been secretly ruling for hundreds of years, including Soviet Ambassadors, Stalin's former Minister, head of Soviet Secret Police, Vladimir Putin's father, and George W. Bush's great Grandfather. The Sword of the North was made by a magical midget blacksmith - yes - and hidden by the Templars, the key to its' location hidden inside one of the Faberge eggs on display in the Kremlin! John must get the egg, and find the key and the sword before the KGB goons pursuing him catch up…they are right on his tail!
You may be thinking this sounds far fetched, and it is, but it's amazing how much he has jammed into this thriller. He also throws in Rasputin, Czar Nicholas the second, George the fifth and the British Royal throne, Philby and the Cambridge Five spy ring, secrets of the Hermitage, vaults of the Kremlin, Vatican assassin, stolen bi-planes, an escape from the TransSiberian railway, diabolical booby traps in Ivan the Terrible's torture dungeon, Vladimir Putin's secret gang of henchmen, Constantine's great library, bejewelled caverns hundreds of feet below the Kremlin with spiral staircases going further down to golden altars, a hidden gospel possibly written by Jesus himself, the ark of the covenant, and the power to destroy the Western world. And I am not even telling you all of what is in Red Templar!
That being said, it was a terrific read! Just sit back and take it all in.
Christopher has his tongue in his cheek with lots of humour and danger. Several times he references Dan Brown and Indiana Jones, so you know he's having fun with it.
I was incredulous at first, expecting a Robert Ludlum style KGB thriller, but found the type of book I really have fun with. A completely ridiculous adventure with a capital A.
By the end I wanted more and followed Red Templar with his first book, The Sword of the Templars (next review). I look forward to all the others ~ though what is left in the kitchen sink after this novel, I have no idea. Adventure fans looking for a modern day Indiana Jones, I highly recommend it!
I read lots of thrillers and my rating may be high, but for my personal surprise enjoyment of it - sheer fun - as well as just pulling it all together, I recommend it.
2012 / Paperback / 379 pages
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