Book Review: Sword of God by Chris Kuzneski (Jonathan Payne & David Jones #3)

I am a fan of religious conspiracy thriller novels. As a fan of the genre, I noticed in the past decade, religious conspiracy thriller has been thriving. It all started, when Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code gained mass popularity. Today, the reading world is full of religious conspiracy thrillers. Interestingly, these books often revolve around Christian extremism, and we rarely see a religious conspiracy thriller with a story about extremism from other religions. This is why, when I found out about Sword of God, is a religious conspiracy thriller about Islamic extremism, this book immediately grabbed my attention. I trekked to my local library, borrowed a copy, and consumed it within the space of 3 days. Today, I would like to share my thoughts about this book in a (spoiler-free) review.

Synopsis:

In Mecca, a young archeologist works her way to discover an artifact of unimaginable significance. In the meantime, in South Korea, an elite special-forces officer was murdered. To solve the mystery, the military called in former agents Jonathan Payne and David Jones on a black ops mission. The only problem is, Payne and Jones have no idea where to start. In other words, Payne and Jones are on their own.

As they gradually stripped away the layers of mysteries surrounding the murder in South Korea, Payne and Jones uncovered a plot that might throw the entire world into a war. Payne and Jones realized, there is only one way for them to finish this mission: They must uncover the truth before it's too late...

What I think about this book:

New York Times Bestselling author, Chris Kuzneski, wrote Sword of God. This is my first time reading Kuzneski's book, and I like the way he wrote this book. For starters, Kuzneski's writings move at a very fast pace and the story is packed with actions. The dialogues in this book are humorous, bringing the characters to life. When I was reading this book, I didn't want to put this book down or taking a break. This is because the story is exciting, and I always felt the need to find out what would happen in the next chapter.

Having said this, I do think a weakness resides in the structure of the book. Let me explain. Sword of God is divided into two major plots. In the first plot, readers follow the journey of a young archeologist in Mecca. In the second plot, the story revolves around the murder investigation in South Korea. While these two plots did converge in the end of the book, but the convergence came too late, and it did not feel natural. In other words, when these two plots finally combined, it felt forced and didn't connect very well. This means I also felt the ending was anti-climatic.

The main characters in this book, are Jonathan Payne and David Jones, both are retired special-forces operatives. These two characters are very likable. Their dialogues are humorous, and the humor further flashed out their personalities, while reflecting their close friendship. However, like most thriller novels, this book lacks character development. i.e. at the end of this book, both Payne and Jones seem unaffected by the life-threatening events they experienced. Personally, I think the lack of character development is a weakness in this book.

In terms of this book's theme, Sword of God stands out from other books in this genre. It is because this book is one of the very few religious conspiracy thrillers about Islamic extremism. Like all other books in this genre, such as The Da Vinci Code, Sword of God is bound to be controversial in the eyes of some people. However, I personally think Kuzneski doesn't seem to be using sensationalism or controversy to gain popularity for his book. 

In conclusion, I like Sword of God. This is my first encounter with Chris Kuzneski's books and it certainly won't be the last. This book has a well crafted story that is both fun and exciting. Meanwhile, this book will most likely pave the way for a reader to think about the relation between religious extremism and the modern world. If you like reading religious conspiracy thrillers, then make sure you check out Sword of God.