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SWORD OF GOD opens with the discovery of a bloody cave on Jeju Island off the coast of South Korea and a missing team of US Special Forces, the MANIACs. Called back into action from retirement, Jonathon Payne and his partner, DJ Jones, set out to locate the missing team of operatives, whose leader was trained by Payne. Operating with very few clues, what Payne and Jones soon discover is that this is a 'black op,' a covert operation that has gone off the radar of US intelligence. In some ways, this is a misleading beginning to the actual center of the book’s main drama. What the clues in South Korea lead to, is, in fact, a plot to blow up the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during the hajj. Readers spend the first half of the book racing with Payne and Jones around Jeju only to discover that the real plot is being launched half a world away. Is this clever plotting by author Chris Kuzneski or simply a ruse to throw readers off track? The section on Jeju, particularly at the beginning of the book, is confusing and unsettling. Once the reader has found his or her way to the story of the Special Forces and their actions, it is time to switch to a cave in Saudi Arabia, where the real heart of the book can be found. As the story switches back and forth between the action by Payne and Jones in Korea and a female archaeologist working in an excavation underground near the Grand Mosque in Mecca, readers are left shaking their heads in wonder. Where is this story going? Mysterious figures lurk in the shadows, strange packages are delivered. Once Kuzneski has his readers firmly with Payne and Jones in Saudi Arabia, everything gets a lot more interesting and begins to make a lot more sense. The author provides a rich history of the hajj and Islam, enough to make the story come alive with real meaning. There are references back to 9/11, and everything is tied up neatly by the book’s end. Authentic detail about construction by the bin Laden family in Mecca makes the story even more compelling. By the time the story has finally focused on the main action taking place in Mecca, readers will be hooked, although they must take a circuitous route to arrive. There are a few plot devices that seem to wrap things up a little too neatly when time is running out on the story, but if readers can hang in through the confusing first half of the book, they will be amply rewarded by the finale of this thriller.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, September 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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