The Digital Renaissance: Review: The Secret of Scripture

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Review: The Secret of Scripture

The Secret of Scripture by Felix Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

A History Book Disguised as a Mystery

This is the second of the series following The Secret of Heaven; however, it can be read by itself (just don’t think too hard about any of it).

Preach Brother … This book is a historical conspiracy wrapped in a mystery presented through pontificating data dumps thinly veiled as dialog. There is no doubt that a lot of research went into this story; unfortunately the author seems compelled to beat the reader about the head and shoulders with all of it. The plot itself revolves around a murder of a mathematics professor on the eve of a tech conference in Tel Aviv … and apparently sets in motion events that are designed to bring about the fall of the Zionist State of Israel. While a fair amount of the information presented was accurate (more of less), there was little to no nuance and/or context presented with it, allowing the author to weave an entertaining, if improbable, conspiracy that subscribes to a number of obscure and mostly heretical interpretations (you have been warned). With historical and scriptural interpretations designed to titillate more than to inform (much like National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code), it can be fun to play with these "what if" concepts so long as you don’t take anything at face value. Of course … with all of this exposition, the plot moves at a glacial pace that is mostly saved by an excellent audio performance. With an awesome array of character voices and near perfect delivery, the only [minor] critique I would raise about the narration simply highlights some imaginative pronunciations that didn’t conform to the more conventional forms that I am familiar with … but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.