Review: THE VIRGIN OF THE WIND ROSE by Glen Craney

Book length - 407 pages
Available now on - www.amazon.com | www.amazon.co.uk

                                                BLURB
While investigating the murder of an American missionary in Ethiopia, rookie State Department lawyer Jaqueline Quartermane becomes obsessed with a magical word square found inside an underground church guarding the tomb of the biblical Adam.

Drawn into a web of esoteric intrigue, she and a roguish antiquities thief named Elymas must race an elusive and taunting mastermind to find the one relic needed to resurrect Solomon's Temple. A trail of cabalistic clues leads them to the catacombs of Rome, the crypt below Chartres Cathedral, a Masonic shaft in Nova Scotia, a Portuguese shipwreck off Sumatra, and the caverns under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Intertwined with this modern mystery-thriller, a parallel duel is waged:

The year is 1452. One of the most secretive societies in history, Portugal's Order of Christ, is led by a reclusive visionary, Prince Henry the Navigator. He and his medieval version of NASA merged with the CIA scheme to foil their archenemies, the Inquisitor Torquemada and Queen Isabella of Castile, who plan to bring back Christ for the Last Judgment by ridding the world of Jews, heretics, and unbelievers.

Separated by half a millennium, two conspiracies to usher in the Tribulations promised by the Book of Revelation dovetail in this fast-paced thriller to expose the world's most explosive secret: The true identity of Christopher Columbus and the explorer's connection to those now trying to spark the End of Days.

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REVIEW
THE VIRGIN OF THE WIND ROSE by Glen Craney is really two individual stories, one past,  and one present, that are interconnected along the way. In the present day tale, we have the super-religious Jaqueline Quartermaine, who is a very intelligent lawyer for the State Department in Washington. When she discovers that her fiancé has been killed in Ethiopia, she is determined to uncover the truth about what has happened to him. Teaming up with an unlikely ally, Elymas, they must work together and escape danger at every turn, as relics from history fall into the wrong hands. Alongside the action, is the story of Christopher Columbus, where the world of the ancient explorers is brought to life, with mysteries of their own. With plenty of historical detail and action along the way, THE VIRGIN OF THE WIND ROSE by Glen Craney has plenty to hold your interest. While I felt there was a little too much historical and religious detail at times, I admire the research that would have been involved in writing such a book. This is not a quick, short, easy read but a detailed, historical novel brimming with suspense and intrigue. 

BOOK RATING - 📖📖📖📖 4

Author Bio:
Glen Craney is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and lawyer. The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences awarded him the Nicholl Fellowship prize for best new screenwriting. He is also a two-time indieBRAG Medallion Honoree, a Chaucer Award First-Place Winner for Historical Fiction set during the Middle Ages, and has three times been named a Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist. His debut novel, The Fire and the Light, was recognized as Best New Fiction by the National Indie Excellence Awards and as an Honorable Mention winner for Foreword's BOTYA in historical fiction. His novels have taken readers to Occitania during the Albigensian Crusade, to the Scotland of Robert Bruce, to Portugal during the Age of Discovery, to the trenches of France during World War I, and to the American Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. He lives in southern California. For more information:
Website - www.glencraney.com
Twitter - twitter.com/glencraney
Facebook - www.facebook.com/GlenCraneyAuthor

*I voluntarily reviewed this book for the author