3.5 stars. This is the first book by the author that I have read, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was a well written thriller with spiritual themes. This book can be read as a standalone though it is the third book in the series. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. There is a lot of violence

The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I'm not going to repeat that all info here. The author did a great job of explaining what is going on and what happened in previous books. There are a lot of clues in the storyline that keep you guessing what twists and turns will be revealed next. It definitely kept me riveted.

I look forward to reading more of Van Mayhall's books, including the first two books in this series. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and chose to write a review for other readers.

this book contains, fiction,t hriller, fantasy, religon, hstory. A great read.

The basic idea and plot behind this novel is a good one and has the potential to engage the reader thoroughly. For those who like a mystery linked to biblical themes, this holds all the ingredients to keep readers interested, so it bodes well to start. The characters are mostly well-rounded and hold some intrigue, though there is a tendency to slip into cliche and repetition in parts, which can be a little off-putting for readers. The main protagonists particularly fail to pique the interest at times, especially when considering the language choices and writing style, which feels somewhat repetitive in parts - something which needs a little focus before the next book in the series.
That said, the narrative does hold something of value through a storyline that holds lots of promise. A university professor and ancient languages specialist, Cloe Lejeune, along with her warrior son and several members of the Vatican elite, is faced with a battle to avoid the possible end of the world and their journey takes them to many places, using a fast pace and swift movement through elements of the storyline. There is constant reference back to the previous stories in the series - though this is quite invasive in parts and it takes up too much of the novel, particularly as the references do not really add knowledge to the understanding of the reader - we could get what is going on without constantly being reminded of past events. This is something that needs consideration.
If you are prepared to overlook some shortcomings and like stories in the ilk of Dan Brown, this will hold some interest for you.

7
By Van R Mayhall Jr

Reviewed by Heath Henwood

3 Stars

This is Mayhall's third novel in a series featuring Dr Clotile Lejeune, an ancient languages expert, who has discovered a cache of ancient scrolls from Biblical times. She, along with her son and clergy from the Vatican are continually thrown in religious fights with deadly groups.

This novel follows on, set three years after the last novel, with evil pretending all aspects of power and community across the globe.

Seven unlikely heroes are drawn together and link with Dr Lejeune in a quest to defeat the 'bad man', a reference to the devil rising to power. Together they face a battle that recurs every 1000 years.

This book is mostly fast paced, although the characters tend to be a bit of a strength of the imagination.

Fans of the first two novels 'Judas the Apostle' and 'The last Sicarius' will love this book, along with any end times fanatics.

Very well written relgio-biblical thriller. It stands alone fairly well but would be much easier to understand if the author's first two books have been read prior to reading this one. That is why I will be re=reading this book after purchasing and reading the first two. (Just my opinion.)

This is the follow up to The Last Sicarius, book 2 of the Cloe LeJeune series (Judas the Apostle being the first book in the series). The series deals with biblical history, prophesy and local history, as the main character lives in St Tammany Parish, aka out neck of the woods! the book picks up after the previous book ends, so the reader feels no loss of time. This is a series that DOES need to be read in order, so that full understanding of the timeline of events is known. Mayhall does a great job in bringing more complex to drama to the tale and winding up to a superb climax, that really makes the book a page turner! The good news is that the series is already been picked up for a potential movie! if you like books that mix history and drama, this series is for you!

DaVinci Code in overdrive. I absolutely loved this book the twists and turns kept you glued to your seat.

I was fully engaged and hooked in the first chapter. This takes off at a great pace and keeps it up throughout the entire book and I couldn't put it down. It's a real page turner and I'm on my way to purchase the other books in this series! I loved it!

Thank you for my ARC. Amazing story. I found myself one the edge of my seat wanting to find out what's going to happen next and hoping I'm guessing what's going to happen next. A fresh insight on revelations. Well done and I stayed guessing.

I started the book a little torn. I wanted to read it due to it's apolcalyptic theme but I was also wary due to it's being listed as a religious work of fiction. I've not had much luck in the religious fiction area but this was vastly different. It was definitely based on the bible and the characters were very well versed in the history of the book of Revelations. I was just afraid that it would seem overtly religious. I really enjoyed this book. I was first a bit tickled to find that the main character Dr. Cloe LeJeune was from Louisiana (which I am). So the local references to places in New Orleans made it seem more personal.
The story is based on the returning of Evil to the world as foretold by the Bible. Dr. LeJeune is specialist in ancient languages who has been working on scrolls found that could possible be written between Jesus and the apostles. Things that she is discovering in these texts seem to be coresponding to the worldwide spread of violence, plauges, and death. Meanwhile there are seven people from all over the world who have been approached by the same man who hands them a business card with the numbers 1-7 on them. They then all have an overwhelming compulsion to travel to New Orleans. Inevitably these people all find each other to prepare for the greatest battle in 1000 years.
This book was action filled, smart characters and it would seem there will be more to their stories in future books!

The myths of Christianity form the basis for a high adventure thriller as the forces of good and evil gather to fight for control of the world. The characters from the earlier story in this series are back, along with a collection of new good and bad people. It is not difficult to imagine the outcome, but the story is told in such a way that the reader quickly becomes emotionally involved, and the book can't be put down even if you know how it has to end. To me this is the mark of great writing.

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW, although when you get to my point about predictability you'll understand they aren't that much of a revelation.

Ignoring the fact that this is book three in a series of undetermined length, and the description on NetGalley didn't *really* give an indication there were other books before it (although I suppose you could interpret the last line of the description as that indication, but it didn't include any solid information about how many books came before), I gave this one a fair shot. I did not feel that I needed to read any of the previous books to understand what was happening in this one, because the author gave *so much* backstory throughout that reading them now would be a let-down.

In giving the book a fair shot, I also realized I had no interest in the other two books, especially if they were written the same way as this one. The story had good possibilities, but the writing fell flat and in the end I was left completely unsatisfied. I felt it was completely predictable from start to finish, and a good chunk of it didn't make much sense.

I'll go in list form:

* The author refers to most characters by titles instead of names, and constantly. For example, "the potentate," "the curator," "the monsignor," "the beast," etc. And it wasn't just an occasional thing to switch up between the title and their name. Rarely is the monsignor referred to by Albert. Once we hear the curator's real name, he's never referred to by it again. We are told that the pope is Pope Francis, but once that's out he's just simply the pope. And I don't remember ever hearing the potentate's real name, but that didn't stop the author from saying the word "potentate" five times in the first two paragraphs.

* Cloe says "Oh my God!" a LOT, and especially in front of clergy. I know when I'm in church or around clergy, I do my best to stay away from the OMG phrasing. Wouldn't someone who's supposedly as super-Catholic as Cloe do the same? There are other clergy-friendly ways to express shock and dismay.

* What is the time frame of this book? Days? Weeks? Months? It feels like it takes only a couple of weeks, but in that time already we have widespread famine and plague that have killed millions. How long has this unrest been going on? There is no clear indication of any lengths of time, except at the end of the book when we get a wrap-up one week after the final battle. The framing of time makes zero sense.

* Why does every random building they have to escape from have a convenient secret passage or back way out that no one knows about? One time, maybe two is OK, but three or more and we're talking laziness.

* How old is the monsignor supposed to be? He talks like an old man but fights/acts like a young soldier.

* Like I said before, it was 100% predictable. Cloe is wondering who the 7 are? Well duh, it's the seven random people who show up in New Orleans. When she puts that information together, it's like we're supposed to be having a lightbulb moment with her. But I'm not, because I figured that out from the second I was told there were cards being handed out to random people by a purported angel. The spy? That was obvious from the moment the character was introduced. She made an off-handed comment, Cloe wonders at it, we hear possible distrust once more... of course she's the spy. How could she not be?

* Icar falls victim to trope - he's a classic villain who puts too much of the important work into the hands of his minions. Michael is tasked with killing Cloe and Robby but doesn't, when Icar could have easily done it himself. Cloe was right in front of him. We see later that he has no qualms about snapping someone's neck. If he really wanted them both dead, why not do it himself? If he's so powerful, he wouldn't have been so easy to escape from, or so easily defeated (and really, that ending? He went down easy). And when Michael is chasing the group on the river in his own boat, the spy was on the "good" boat, so why not just have her do away with everyone? She had military training and a gun. I'm sure she could have handled it. Killing them was the goal at that point. The fact they were able to escape when one of Icar's team was right there with them is a big plot hole.

* The end was completely unsatisfying. The last sentence made the entire book feel like it was cut off mid-thought. I pushed the page trying to get to the next one (because in my copy the last sentence was the very end of the page) several times until I realized no, that's the end. Of the book. That's how this book ends.

There was a lot of potential here. The author clearly has some talent. But there was too much stereotype, too much revealed early and then acting like it was an ah-ha moment later, too much too much. I am not a fan, won't be picking up the others, and really don't recommend this to much of anyone.

I continue to love the characters and am already looking forward to the next adventure. It pains me to say that I did not find this book as completely engaging as "The Last Sicarius". For want of a more literary explanation which I find myself at a loss to conjure, I can only say I frequently felt something like watching a movie where someone kept hitting the fast forward button for a minute or so. I was left a bit disoriented and asking myself "now, how did we get here?". The action made sense, but the path there sometimes seemed jumpy. BUT, I did enjoy the book, and thank Mr. Mayhall for another enjoyable read.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley to review.

I enjoyed the story, as I enjoyed the first two books in the series, but as with those first two books, this one has some writing technique issues that I keep hoping the author will improve upon in future works. There is a great deal of telling as opposed to showing, and I don't think I've ever seen "screamed" used this many times as a dialogue tag.

In all fairness, part of the "showing not telling" was used to remind the reader of what had happened in the previous books. This is a tricky thing to handle at the best of times.

Having said that... this book's plot romps along at breakneck speed, with the characters once again chasing an ancient mystery of Biblical proportions. The technical issues weren't enough to keep me from sticking with the story because I wanted to find out what happened next.

This book also has an end-times eschatological interpretation that I don't remember having encountered before. I personally subscribe to a different interpretation, but this aspect did not detract from my enjoyment of the story at all.

The author left an opening for yet another sequel which does not quite rise to the level of a cliff-hanger. I will be sure to keep an eye open for the next book.

As before, my fewer-stars rating has to do with the writing technique, not the story.

I didn't finish this. The writing quality was very poor.