Legitimate Power

In Arnona, Israel, while digging in his back yard, an ordinary man with a nagging wife finds two ossuaries with unusual contents. Who knew that such an innocuous chore, and the subsequent selling of the puzzling items to an antiques dealer, would lead to global involvement of the world’s superpowers - and murder?

Digging up old skeletons is nothing new to the world, but throw in some unidentifiable markings, strange bone configurations, and an otherworldly crystal displaying strange properties and suddenly every hypothesis about man and technology is thrown out the window. Multiple POVs provide an in-depth look at all the players of this political thriller and help tie it all together. However, the story suffers from unnecessary governmental exposition, which continually slows the fast pace to a crawl and frustrates the reader. Just as the intrigue and excitement ratchet up, the long-winded passages bring it crashing down again. In addition, where like-minded individuals might rejoice in the plethora of scientific jargon, non-interested parties may end up with the thousand-yard stare. However, there is plenty to love in the thrill of the chase and the anxious anticipation of each faction’s next move. Tidying up some editorial issues and trimming the exposition would make this heart-stopping, country-hopping, global puzzle a joy to unravel!

Carol Conley