Sanctuary
The Knights Templar again, with another secret they have guarded across the centuries: the elixir of life, no less. However, the Templars seem to have many more ancient relics and recipes to discover, which must be good news for thriller writers.
Sanctuary is The Da Vinci Code with multiple plot-lines, time-slips and immortal (or at least ageless) protagonists. It is all absurd, but if the pseudo-history and pseudo-science is left aside, one has a fast-moving thriller set in present-day Beirut (don’t be deceived by the blurb which speaks of Naples and Baghdad, which get scant attention) in which a kidnapped American is rescued from a band of Middle Eastern terrorists.
The Beirut setting is very authentic, as it should be, as this is the author’s home town; and the characters are convincing, apart from the nagging thought that people so hell-bent on finding the elixir of life really should not be so careless of their personal safety. Predictably, most of them meet violent ends by being shot or killed in helicopter crashes.
