Dr. Morgan Sierra embarks upon a desperate hunt for the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus, the third book in Joanna Penn’s ARKANE thriller series.
Exodus opens with the horrific death of curator Dr. Abasi Gamal at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt. ARKANE’s director, Marietti, asks Sierra to investigate the incident because of its brutal nature and also because it involves unfinished business with a former antagonist, the villainous Natasha El-Behery. Sierra leaves her hospital bed, although she is still recovering from injuries she sustained at the end of Prophecy, to take on this new assignment. She bids farewell to her critically injured colleague, Jake Timber, vowing to find El-Behery and bring her to justice.
In the ensuing action-packed pages, Sierra and El-Behery battle each other repeatedly as well as time itself in a race to secure the Ark before the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Accords take place. For Sierra, the Ark of the Covenant holds the key to preventing a devastating Holy War from erupting in the Middle East. El-Behery, working as a mercenary, has a more evil intent.
Fans of Sierra and the ARKANE series will find Exodus just as much a page-turner as its prequels. Religious myths, psychology and paranormal events continue to be intriguing dominant themes. The plot moves along nicely in exotic settings stretching through Egypt, Ethiopia, Sinai, Jordan and England. Penn’s expertise as a researcher and her knowledge of theology and mysticism move Exodus beyond being a basic adventure story.
Solid questions about good versus evil, God and religion are raised in the course of El-Behery’s brutalization of monks in an Egyptian Abbot and masons at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. Exciting as the plot purports to be, it is undermined by the inclusion of graphic gory details of violence. On the other hand, the one big sex scene between Sierra and yet another admirer, Dr. Khaled El-Souid, falls flat, offering mere hints of passion.
The body count is high in this book, and certain scenes gratuitous. In the end, the mystery of the Ark eludes Sierra and the reader as well. Getting there continues to be fun, however, because of Sierra.
Reviewed by Eveline Speedie for IndieReader