The Last Testament

Title: The Last Testament
Author: Sam Bourne
Publisher: Harper Collins 2007 (First)
ISBN: 978-0-00-726606-7
Pages: 567

Jonathan Freedland is a British journalist writing under the nom de plume of Sam Bourne. He is touted by the Mirror as ‘the biggest challenger to Dan Brown’s crown’. This one is a thriller crafted on the Dan Brown mould, the story unfolding around the decipherment of cryptic messages by an ultra-nationalist archeologist in the holy city of Jerusalem. The plot of the work can be summarised as follows.

Shimon Guttman is a hardcore Zionist and archeologist who happens to stumble upon a piece of clay tablet among the antique smuggled-goods market of Jerusalem which he recognises as the will of Abraham, believed to be the common ancestor of the Jews and Muslims. The will specifies the bequeathal of Mount Moriah, present day Temple of Jerusalem or Al Akhsa Mosque - depending on which side you are on. Guttman tries to inform the Israeli Prime Minister, who had started a peace dialogue of this development and in the public meeting, he is shot down by security guards who mistakenly take him for an assassin. Maggie Costello, who is on the American side of the negotiating team, along with Uri Guttman, the deceased’s son tries to find out where the clay tablet is hidden by the professor. Meanwhile, a U.S secret operations group tries to kill anyone associated with the knowledge of the existence of the tablet as they fear it to wreak the peace process. The protagonists follow the clues given by the archeologist in his last message to his son on a DVD and finds out the historical document on the Israel Museum. It turned out that Abraham had entrusted the safe keeping of the city to both of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, considered to be the forefathers of Jews and Muslims respectively. This fact convinces all parties of the need to share the capital city in a fraternal spirit and the story ends in a happy note.

It is to be definitely noted that I am hugely disappointed in the end. If it was not for Mirror’s hyperbole about the author’s credentials, my expectations wouldn’t have raised sky high and would definitely have found this one out to be pretty good to read, being a real page turner. Though it lacks any depth of knowledge or intricacy of plot, it is nevertheless a good effort to stress the need for keeping peace in a sensitive region which is historically the birthplace of mankind’s civilisations. Abraham’s will to share Jerusalem between brothers, kept secret till the very end of the book is politically correct but turned out to be an anti-climax. Trivialisation of international dialogue is also a thing found very hard to digest. The offices of the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian leadership would obviously find better means of secretly communicating with each other than through chat rooms of the internet game ‘Second Life’!. This book also follows the classic Hollywood story line, that of a secret American operation trying to scuttle their own efforts among other fronts. The work is so amenable for turning out to be a movie.

The author is no serious contender to Dan Brown, as clear as daylight. The suspense, thrill and the subtle unfolding of the plot is sorely lacking in this book. Also, the body search of the protagonist, Maggie Costello is described in lurid detail bordering on soft porn. We close the book with a distinct feeling that it has not delivered what it promised. The ease with which the couple finds mail passwords of the professor is laughable. In one instance, the heroine guesses the length of a gmail password by the astrisks showed on the login field!

The book is recommended however, as it treats the pressing Middle-east issue as a thing to be resolved at the earliest and puts forward a solution which must be appealing to both sides and to the entire world.

Rating: 2 Star