Book Review: The Rose Conspiracy

I finished reading Craig Pershall’s Legal Thriller, The Rose Conspiracy. This is actually the first time I’d allowed myself to simply relax and read a novel since I finished reading Stephen Bly’s “Beneath a Dakota Cross” back in August. The book is a good reminder of how much fun a good read can be.

However, this means it’s time for my book review:

From the Book’s Description:

As the Smithsonian’s president examines a newly discovered account of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, an intruder steals in, kills him, and disappears into the night with the document.

Vinnie Archmont, an accomplished and stunningly beautiful artist, is implicated. She hires the brilliant but secretly guilt–burdened criminal law professor J.D. Blackstone.

Blackstone finds himself uncovering the Mystic Freemasons’ most guarded secret. He reluctantly turns to his uncle, a Bible–quoting Anglican priest and occult–religions expert. Enemies like a sorcery–obsessed billionaire English lord, a powerful U.S. Senator, and a ruthless prosecutor force Blackstone to employ all his cunning.

In the process, he is compelled to choose between spiritual counterfeit and Gospel truth, guilt and forgiveness…destruction and a new beginning.

The book is a fun paperback ride. Craig Pershall’s extensive legal knowledge plays into creating realistic scenarios (or at least as realistic as you get in a case like this.) The protagonist, lackstone ultimately carries the story. Whatever weaknesses the book may have, the presence of a quick-witted insomniac super genius as your viewpoint character helps keep you guessing.

When dealing with the subject of the Masons, it’s easy to get a little bit kooky, but Pershall stays away from this. Though, I did wonder at if the book was about to become a Christian Version of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, Pershall didn’t end up going there.

I should warn the book starts off very slow, and the abundance of back story in the first nine chapters was very disheartening and kept me reading only a chapter or two a day for several days. Once we got beyond the back story, the story moved at a good pace, but there were other mechanical writing issues as well as a lack of development in side characters. However, it didn’t bother me too much as a reader, more as a writer who knew that various rules were being broken and that if a writer without Pershall’s background submitted a manuscript like this it would not be published.

This isn’t to say, it didn’t meet my expectations.  In a Mystery novel, I expect an interesting plot that holds my attention, an element of unpredictability, and an ending that has a good payoff. On all three counts, Pershall acquits himself quite well (pun fully intended.)

Rating on a scale of 1-10: 6.2