The Sword Of The Templars is the first book of a series by Paul Christopher.
If you read my last review (Red Templar) you know his character John Holliday is a history teacher from West Point, who travels the world from one daring adventure to another, in search of the four fabled Templar swords of the East, West, North and South. Red Templar was so packed with history, action, and danger, I was ready for another as soon as I finished it. Travelling in Mexico, I traded in all the books I had read to the local English book cafe and on the shelf was a dusty, weather beaten copy of Sword of the Templars.
John is clearing out the contents of his late uncle's house with his niece, the world travelling photographer Peggy, when he opens a copy of T.H. White's The Once and Future King to find a message - the location of the first sword, the Sword of the North - which is hidden in a secret compartment in the bookshelf. The sword is made of Damascus steel, so strong and powerful it may be the origin of the 'sword in the stone' legend ~ and could even be made from the sword that pierced the side of Christ in the crucifiction. His uncle worked with Ian Fleming in naval intelligence and had rescued it in 1945 from Hitler's mountain farm Berchtsgaden - Himmler found it in Pompeii, passed it on to Mussolini, who then gave it to Hitler. It was made by Alberic, a mythical dwarf blacksmith, who guarded the treasure of the Neblungen in Hitler's favourite Wagner opera. As Chistopher himself says, "sounds like the punchline to a Marx Brothers joke!".
I didn't find this novel as exciting as Red Templar, it was more like your standard secret society/evil Nazi adventure. Still he manages to pack in German castles with strongholds of Nazi memorabilia, SS Obergruppenfurhers, the Spanish Inquisition, Winston Churchill's brigade of Nazi killers, scrolls from the Royal Library of Alexandria, a Phoenician treasure of gold coins, the volcanic archipelago, Naples and Pompeii, and even the Garden of Eden.
Since he has the sword from the beginning of the book, the story is mainly John and his buddy running around to try and decode the message contained on the hilt. I found his other novel more intriguing as it was a bigger treasure hunt. Still, it was a good story and I can see from this adventure how the series began. A good read, but not the best.
2009 / Paperback / 333 pages
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