Book Review: The Last Templar

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Last Templar     Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada HC
Raymond Khoury
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Fiction   Religious Fiction   Historical
Dutton, Feb 2006, $24.00, 400 pp.

In 1291 Acre, the Muslim onslaught devastated the last stronghold of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. As the city burned, Grand Master of the Knights of Templar William of Beaujeu, nearing death, knows they lost here, but sends Aimard of Villiers accompanied by his protégé Martin of Carmaux to escape with a mysterious chest on the only vessel left intact in the nearby harbor, The Falcon Temple, regretfully leaving behind their brothers to die.

At the present day Metropolitan Museum of Art, Treasures from the Vatican are on display when four masked men wearing the medieval garb of the Templar Knights ride horses out of Central Park into MOMA. As the tuxedo opening gala crowd flees, stunned archaeologist Tess Chaykin watches in fascinating horror as one of the horsemen says something in Latin before reverently grasping one of the objects before fleeing into the night. FBI Agent Sean Reilly heads to investigation assisted by his longtime partner Nick Aparo and Vatican envoy Monsignor De Angelis and soon Tess joins them in a quest that crosses three continents and over seven centuries.

The exciting thriller, THE LAST TEMPLAR contains two fine subplots with most of the action happening the present, but much occurring back in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The historical aspects seem more fascinating as the audience obtains a taste of the Templar Knights’ honor and faith while the present is fun but also suffers in part from the Browning of religious conspiracy theory novels syndrome. Still this is a fine tale that even Da Vinci would enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner