The
Diaries of Pontius Pilate
c. August 2012
Trestle Press
Genre: Contemporary Thriller
e-Book $4.99
briefly:
The Diaries of Pontius Pilate opens with the murder of a member of
an archeological team along the shores of the Dead Sea. We learn that the murderer
and victim are both spies observing the expedition and grappling with the fact that
the team has just discovered some controversial artifacts.
In fact, archaeologists Kevin Elliot Jill Gates have unearthed twenty mysterious copper scrolls. They manage to open one scroll far enough to take a series of digital photographs of the writings and email them to a Professor of Ancient Latin for translation. Unaware of the content, Kevin and Jill are unprepared when they’re caught between an ancient conspiracy of global power that’s determined to destroy the scrolls along with everyone connected to them and a small interfaith group of former military volunteers, the only force on earth that stands between the truth and certain death.
My review:
Joseph Max Lewis, former Green Beret, debuts with a page-turning
thriller. Although the author asked for a review and sent a review copy, I did
purchase the e-book.
Diaries is part conspiracy theory, part archaeology, part special
ops and technological suspense with some torture and a little romance.
The reader is sent between international and inter-denominational
power groups, but it’s not clear at first who are the good guys and which are
the bad, which only ramps the tension. Moving through Israel, the US, academia,
and anonymous torture chambers where evil reigns, readers gradually learn along
with archaeologists Kevin and Jill exactly the importance of the long-held
secret they unearthed. Never published, documented, or even more than faintly
rumored, the existence of Pontius Pilate’s, one-time Roman ruler of Palestine
at the time of Christ, investigation
into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus could affect the faith of the
world. Pilate hid the diaries perhaps too well, for they lay silent for two
thousand years, along with other artifacts from that horrible time.
Running from those who want to destroy evidence of the diaries and
anyone who knows about them, Kevin and Jill must figure out who to trust as
they are forced into close quarters on a ship. They wonder if they can even trust
each other. Over the course of time, they examine their feelings as well as
matters of faith while trying to keep the scrolls safe.
Diaries is not for the faint of heart, as scenes of massacre and
torture are somewhat graphic. Intriguing details of military operations are
detailed, as one would expect given the author’s background. Little formatting
glitches and occasional other errors don’t stop the action much; I occasionally
buzzed through extra-long passages of technology which others would probably
enjoy. The romantic relationship was a little rough and spastic, but the story
was not meant to be built around a romance, and those elements will only get
better in future work, I suspect. I look forward to more from this author.
