Mystery Book Reviews

Book Review: The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox

Mar 13, 2009, 16:16 GMT

In the sunburnt deserts of eastern Turkey, archaeologists are unearthing a stone temple, the world\'s most ancient building. When Journalist Rob Luttrell is sent to report on the dig, he is intrigued to learn that someone deliberately buried the site 10,000 years ago. Why?

Tom Knox, pseudonym for Sean Thomas, journalist and all-round good guy, has pulled out all the stops in The Genesis Secret when it comes to action, entertainment, twists and turns.  The novel is a strong example of what makes action adventure worthwhile reading – like David Gibbons’ work, The Genesis Secret is not just well researched, but anchored very much in what is currently happening in archaeology at present. 

It also helps to bear in mind that the author spent some time at Gobekli Tepe and his main character is a journalist.  So, he had a good solid background in both instances and he does not disappoint when it comes to spinning a good yarn.
The main character, Rob Luttrell is a nice guy. Maybe a little too nice and a little too trusting.  He gets sent to Turkey on a nice easy assignment by his editor to cover an interesting snippet about a new temple discovered. 

Once Rob arrives at Gobekli Tepe he is struck by the strangeness and the beauty of the place.  With a young female French archaeologist called Christine Rob tries to puzzle out the secret of the place, the acts of violence against the leading archaeologist and he tries to figure out the significance the site has to various religions from the area, one of which is akin to Satanism.

 There is a lot of information that gets imparted but because it is done quite well, it does not become tedious or boring.  The scenes are written to great effect and although there are no true kapow!punch! scenes, the action sequences are gripping and you don’t feel you have to skip tedious fight descriptions or weapon porn descriptions.

Back in Blighty, bad things are happening to random people.  A murderous gang butchers their way across various historical sites and it is up to DC Mark Forrester to find out why.   Personally, I liked Mark Forrester more as a character than I did Rob.  Both characters are normal guys, taken outside of their comfort zones, and pushed up against something truly nasty and it is a case of sink or swim.  Both of them do admirably well.  But it is Mark’s solid strong and methodical character that made me like him a lot – he was happy to look at the evidence but not be blinded by what they represent.

There are twists, turns, revelations and reveals aplenty in The Genesis Secret.  There is also some very solid research.  In fact, the storyline is not something I’ve come across before and it was such good fun to read something that had not been done before and rehashed by a hundred authors since (Jesus, The Holy Blood, Mary Magdalene – you know, the usual…).  And I’m hoping that there will be more adventures from Tom Knox, nee Sean Thomas, featuring Rob Luttrell and Mark Forrester. 

For more information visit the excellent website of the Genesis Secret  - but be warned – unless you’ve read the book do not go past the About The Book pages because there are a lot of spoilers and Tom/Sean says so himself, so be warned.  

The book is available to order now on Amazon UK and from April 30th via Amazon USA.