I'm not sure how many stars to give here. On the one hand, I like the concept. An English knight and a Rabbi in Crusader Israel work together, along with Muslim friends, to decipher a hidden code and root out bad players. There's a lot of action and some good twists and turns. The ending was solid, with some unexpectedly heavy parts mixed into the redemption and resolution .

However, I got bored somewhere in the middle and began to skim. There were some plot holes (why would the bad guy throw the important paper in the garbage and not into the fire, like other parts of the story?), probably too much Hebrew for the average reader, and some very predictable elements. The romance was cheesy, and the physical parts were cringey.

I'll go with 2,75 rounded up. Historical fiction fans may enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Köehler Books, and Michael Cooper for the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

I enjoyed this book. I found it to be an informative, exciting story about a fascinating time in history. And for the most part, the pacing is very good. However, I found the characters flat; I neither loved the protagonists nor hated the antagonists. It was like I had no stake in the characters and don’t miss them now that I finished the book. I found the theology fascinating, but it sometimes came at the expense of pacing. Nonetheless, this book is well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Köehler Books for the advance reader copy.