Storyline re Ark is too well known & overplayed!! ( )

El padre Anthony Fowler, espía del servicio secreto del Vaticano, cumple el encargo de encontrar a un antiguo criminal nazi que ha permanecido oculto durante décadas. Debe recuperar un objeto que años atrás había pertenecido a una familia judía víctima del Holocausto. El hallazgo, no obstante, será el desencadenante de una aventura que le llevará hasta el desierto de Jordania.

Junto con un grupo de seleccionados (entre los que se encuentra Andrea Otero, periodista española y vieja conocida del padre) Fowler formará parte de la expedición Moisés, promovida por un misterioso millonario estadounidense. Su cometido no será otro que encontrar el Arca de la Alianza: una misión excitante en la que tendrán que lidiar con las inclemencias naturales del desierto, con los impedimentos gubernamentales y, sobre todo, con el traidor que se encuentra entre ellos.

La crítica ha dicho:
«Respira hondo antes de empezar a leer. No volverás a tener tiempo hasta el final».
Javier Sierra

«Un thriller cardíaco, repleto de dos mil años de intriga en Oriente Próximo».
Katherine Neville, autora de El Ocho

175-10

Father Anthony Fowler is on a mission: to find a candle stolen from a Jewish family that contains an ancient map of where the Ten Commandments are located. No sooner does he find it than he is swept up in an archeological expedition to find the lost Ark of the Covenant, and finds himself surrounded by archeologists, an out-of-work journalist whose life he once saved, a reclusive billionaire and bloodthirsty soldiers guarding the group while they work in a remote Jordanian valley. Among them is a traitor with ties to a terrorist group in the United States, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to destroy them all.

The book is intriguing, peopled with diverse people at war with one another, and the plot is fairly face paced. At points, it was difficult to remember who was who on the doomed expedition because of the large cast of characters. Fortunately, the author provided a cast listing in the back of the book, which helped immensely.

I also found some of the storytelling clunky. For example, after certain characters are introduced, there are large chunks of backstory given that seem unnecessary (though interesting) and slow the pace of the main plot. (I don't know if this is more standard in European thrillers than American ones; if so, that explains the issue.) I also found some of the prose to be awkward. However, this is a translation, which may explain some of the awkward wording.

Even with these weaknesses, I was engrossed in the story. Gomez-Jurado uses the thriller genre to portray the brutal face of prejudice, racism, and bigotry, deftly showing how humans create enemies. We strip others of their humanity, place our own inner evils upon them, and create a non-person that we can kill without reservation or remorse. He quotes Sam Keen's poem "How to Create an Enemy":

When your icon of the enemy is complete
you will be able to kill without guilt,
slaughter without shame.

The thing you destroy will have become
merely an enemy of God, an impediment
to the sacred dialectic of history.

Something to ponder when we hear news of wars, terrorist attacks, and the slaughter of innocent people. Something to ponder, too, when we find ourselves hating others and considering them to be the enemy.
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While not a book I would normally pick up I found this rather and interesting read. I enjoyed the characters quite a bit. The story was intriguing because of the different places the novel took me; from New York City, to Vienna, to Jordon. ( )

Fr. Anthony Fowler and journalist Andrea Otero return in this sequel to GOD'S SPY. After a slow and uneven start, things settle in nicely at around the 75 page mark, or when a pivotal expedition really gets underway. What follows is an enjoyable (but not terribly original) religious thriller with nothing short of the Ark of the Covenant as its objective. Where the protagonists are concerned, I continued to enjoy Fowler immensely (even though there's not much further character development for him in this one), whereas I can't recall finding Otero this unlikable in the first book, making it hard to really root for her, as being manipulative, greedy and self-centered are not endearing personality traits. Still, I felt sorry for her for one loss, at least. As for the story itself, there were some of the usual questionable plot points that didn't really detract from the larger narrative, but they were frustrating and could have been easily avoided or remedied. In the end, a solid if unoriginal story with some weak pacing at times and some inconsequential but questionable plot moments. ( )

This book starts in Vienna in 1943, two parents are attempting to find out if their eldest son is still alive after he was taken to a hospital by the Nazis. To try and get information from the doctor they offer him a gold filigree covered candle, the doctor claims that the boy is already dead and then when the parents leave the hospital he informs the SS. The parents leave behind another young son.

The story then shifts to the present day, the doctor has been hunted down as a suspected war criminal and the candle has been recovered because of course this is no ordinary candle it contains a piece of the Copper Scroll which gives the supposed location of The Ark of The Covenant. With the backing of a multi-billionaire and the Vatican a group of archeologists,mercenaries,a couple of cooks, a doctor, a reporter and a priest head off to the Jordanian desert to find it. Nobody in this group is to be trusted, as well as operatives from the CIA and Mossad they have been infiltrated by a terrorist and the mutli-billionaire is hiding something as well. The identity of the CIA operative is given fairly early on in the story but while Jurado may be trying to keep you guessing as to the identity of both the Mossad operative and the terrorist plus the multi-billionaires secret all are far to obvious.
The reporter is the lead female character and while I think that the author was trying to create a strong character what he actually created was an unlikeable bitch. I don't think it's a good sign if you keep hoping for the lea character to be killed. I might be being unfair, maybe he did create a strong character and something got lost in translation.

Overall a quick read but far too predictable.

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A reclusive billionaire gathers together an incredibly diverse group of adventurers to find the Ark of the Covenant. But there are PLENTY of people who are trying to stop them -- and that's where the fun really begins.

That's a pretty decent plot summary, actually. The book is NOT a fast-paced thriller, though it could have been very easily. The characters are compelling, though it's VERY hard to start to care about anybody since you never really know who they really are, or what their agenda is. I understand why authors do this, and in many books it works well, but in The Moses Expedition it only serves to confuse.

One thing that I DO like in a suspense novel -- I love it when the author shows that they are willing to kill off prominent characters. When you know that nothing is going to happen to a main character, it takes away from the suspense. Gomez-Jurado is more than willing to kill off his characters, so the suspense remains. This would make a great beach book this summer, or a fun weekend read anytime. ( )

Juan Gomez Jurado's The Moses Expedition is a fabulous treasure hunt story that seeks to find the Ark of the Covenant. A group of people hired by a reclusive billionaire, Raymond Kayn, have traveled to Jordan to do an archeological search for the Ark. The group did not have many talented archeologists on board but included a security force, an Israeli doctor/spy, drivers, cooks, journalist Andrea Otero, Father Fowler, a Vatican spy and Kayn's assistant Russell. The group does not get off to a great start. There are many personality conflicts but everyone works long hours in the desert sun. Then members of the group begin dying. Terrorists are expected to be the culprits but no one can figure out how the secured area could have been breached. Talk begins that one of them is secretly a Muslim terrorist.

It was a little difficult keeping track of the characters. There were 20 people on the expedition, too many to be heavily involved in a plot. Otero and Fowler had the most exposure in the plot and it was easy to like them. There was even a former WWII concentration camp survivor added to the mix. I think that The Moses Expedition's only fault is the number of characters. Everything else was perfect. . . perfect pacing, perfect plot, perfect action and adventure. I highly recommend it. ( )

Very good. Action packed from very beginning. ( )

Excellent thriller by an award-winning Spanish journalist. Loved it! ( )

Financiada por un misterioso multimillonario norteamericano, y dirigida por un anciano arqueólogo israelí, una expedición secreta penetra en las profundidades del desierto de Jordania. A partir de dos mapas fragmentarios, se ha localizado por fin con mucha precisión el lugar en donde fue escondida el Arca de la Alianza por los judíos que la salvaron de la destrucción del Segundo Templo. Uno de los mapas estaba en los rollos de Qumran, el otro aparece escondido en el interior de una vela que fue guardada durante siglos por una familia judía, y a quien se la arrebató un médico sádico durante la ocupación nazi de Austria.

Although a bit on the dark side, well, quite a bit, I thought that this was a very good novel. The story centers around a search for the ark of the covenant. There are Nazis, terrorists, agoraphobic billionaires and an assorted lot of characters not typical of novels of the genre. Read it! ( )

Juan Gomez-Jurado's new book is about an expedition to Jordan to locate the long missing Ark of the Covenant. Unfortunately, the story suffers from an unlikable main character, major digressions into attempts at humor, and excessive violence. If these failings had been rectified before publication, the book would have much greater value as literature and as thriller genre fiction. The violence happens randomly and the descriptions of blood and guts too explicit for the reader to be comfortable, especially in light of the other failings in the book. The main character is a woman who is thoroughly unlikable.

New to the work of Juan Gomez-Jurado, I wasn’t certain what to expect. I couldn’t have anticipated the fast-paced, nonstop action or gut-wrenching thrill that he masterfully packaged into just a few hundred pages. With its high-octane start, the swell of anxiety caused me to ignore my surroundings as I happily sank my teeth into the search with “The Moses Expedition”.

Father Anthony Fowler is on the hunt; pursuing a one of a kind, priceless object from the past and he is very good at his job. The gold filigree candle—stolen from a Jewish family many years before—is oddly not desired for its precious metal but instead its interior key to unlocking the location of the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments.

Fowler is unaware that this discovery for the Catholic Church will lead him on an expedition straight into the heart and heat of the Jordanian desert under the assumed control of eccentric billionaire, Raymond Kayn. Surrounded by miles of sand, the dig—already treacherous—takes on a new level of terror as the bodies begin to pile up and Fowler’s old-fashioned sense of duty and personal mission are at odds with the terrorists who will stop at nothing to win the final prize.

Leaping across the globe, Gomez-Jurado can keep pace with any contemporary thriller writer. “The Moses Expedition” is an unquestionable success.

Reviewed by Suspense Magazine
www.suspensemagazine.com ( )

Actiescène na actiescène houden je wakker tot het woestijninferno achter de rug is. Erg jammer dat je na twee dagen al niet meer weet waarover het ook weer ging, maar wát een thriller. En wie had dat ooit gedacht: de beste spion van het moment komt uit het Vaticaan.
Volledige recensie via http://wraakvandedodo.blogspot.com/2009/02/juan-gomez-jurado-contract-met-god.ht... ( )