The Lost Treasure of the Templars

The Hounds of God, Book 1

By: James Becker

Narrated by: Leighton Pugh

Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

An absolutely gripping Templar conspiracy thriller, perfect for fans of Mario Reading, Dan Brown and Scott Mariani.

An ancient sect. A modern mystery. The most dangerous secret ever unearthed.

Antiquarian bookseller Robin Jessop has acquired a strange medieval volume. What appears to be a book is a cleverly disguised safe, in which she finds a single rolled parchment, written in code. For encryption expert David Mallory, the text is impenetrable. Until an invaluable clue opens the door to a conspiracy, stretching back seven centuries. Now Jessop and Mallory find themselves on a desperate hunt that could change history, topple an empire and bury them both alive. Because soon they’re not only the hunters. They’re also the hunted.

©2016 James Becker (P)2016 W. F. Howes

Critic reviews

“A thrilling historical mystery full of ingenious clues and unexpected twists.” (Good Book Guide)

Kept me glued on

I listened to this book in one night. Couldn't stop, lots of action. If you like the Templars you will like this book. Narrator versatile.

The ending was anti climactic to say the least.

The ending was anti climactic to say the least. Loved the book until the last 5 minutes.

Plot over character

The plot and history of the Templars were interesting but there was little character development.

over explained

I felt the story didn't flow as it should. the writer over explained every set up, that it couldn't enjoy it the flow and get into the actual story.

loved it

I could not stop listening great narrative interesting story that moved quick and kept me interested

Slow start but then WOW

The story gets off to a slow start but once Robyn and David meet its a nonstop race to the finish line. Moving on to the next leg of the journey.

Absurd

I tried to enjoy this book. I love stories about regular people getting caught up in mysteries. But...

It started off well enough, And I was even ready to excuse the preposterous notion that a middle aged female antiquarian book seller could break the wrist, separate the shoulder and disable two large professional hit men, But while they were immobilizing said hit men her partner says "the law always favors the perpetrators." (The fuck you say??) This being the reason they didn't immediately call the police. And then he makes a comment about the fact that, by taking the pistol off of their would be assassins, they would do time for possessing that gun because Britain is not a free place where everyone apparently can't be armed to the teeth like in the freedom loving USA where you can be shot for looking at someone the wrong way, etc. Well, that was the implication anyway.

So then, after escaping from their would be killers the two decide to simply get a hotel and try and solve the mystery rather than doing the completely rational thing of heading to a police station and explaining that people are trying to kill them. Even IF (and that's a big if) there is some misunderstanding with the cops about the whole convoluted nature of the events there would be no safer place to try and figure out what the hell is going on than comfortably ensconced in a police station.

I see what he was going for. The author that is. He wants a Hitchcockian thriller where there is no safe place, on the run, etc., Something in the mode of DaVinci Code and so on. But the clown couldn't even be bothered to come up with a reasonable premise for why they SHOULD be on the run. Just something about the coddled nature of killers and the oppressed victims of violent crime in the British judicial system or some such bullshit. Beyond absurd. Even if there is some urban legend about some ridiculous event like the character Mallory suggests, it's really a class thing. The middle class book seller and independently wealthy IT tech would have nothing to worry about. If anyone thinks differently they need to get their heads out of their asses and OFF of the internet.

Save your money and time. Suspension of disbelief is one thing. Suspension of logic and humanity are another.

PS. The narrator needs to learn the difference between an Italian and a Russian accent. Italians use both definite and indefinite articles, Russians do not. It was not convincing and just one more reason this sucked.

So much unnecessary detail

No comparison to a Dan Brown novel. The mundane details in this book are exhausting and so unnecessary. The only reason I continued to listen was to learn more history about the Templar knights, which turned out to be pretty sparse and repetitive.

Boring

I looked forward to this book, but what I found was that it was predictable, and not interesting.

Too much detail

The underlying story is ok, but the book is overloaded with so many detailed descriptions of minor and inconsequential events that it makes it an unenjoyable listen. Also character reactions to the situations they were in where hard to believe. I won’t be bothering with the next books in the series.