The Last Templar opens with a hail of fire and flashing sword, as the burning city of Acre falls from the hands of the West in 1291. A young Templar knight, his mentor, and a handful of others escape to the sea carrying a mysterious chest entrusted to them by the Order's dying Grand Master. The ship vanishes without a trace.
In present day Manhattan, four masked horsemen dressed as Templar Knights emerge from Central Park and ride up the Fifth Avenue steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the black-tie opening of a "Treasures of the Vatican" exhibit. Storming through the crowds, the horsemen brutally attack anyone standing between them and their prize. Attending the gala, archaeologist Tess Chaykin watches in silent terror as the leader of the horsemen hones in on one piece in particular, a strange geared device. He utters a few cryptic Latin words as he takes hold of it with reverence before leading the horsemen out and disappearing into the night.
In the aftermath, an FBI investigation is led by anti-terrorist specialist Sean Reilly. Soon, he and Tess are drawn into the dark, hidden history of the crusading knights, plunging them into a deadly game of cat and mouse with ruthless killers as they race across three continents to recover the lost secret of the Templars.
©2006 Raymond Khoury; (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Books on Tape. All rights reserved.
Semi retired magazine editor and part time university adjunct instructor who is often distracted by his 10-year-old daughter.
"A Good Listen"
I thought about listening to this book after enjoying the DaVinci Code about a year ago. Then I recently noticed it was narrated by Richard Ferrone, who does such a great job with John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series. Ferrone is good here, too, but not to the level of his Sandford reads. The author's jumping back and forth between the 14th and 21st centuries was sometimes hard to follow. Some of the premises of the plot, such as the link between the Vatican and the CIA were also a little hard to swallow. And the hurdles that some of the main characters are able to leap in the latter stages of the book are somewhat unbelievable. And Christians who read this book should never lose track of the fact that the book, like the Davinci Code, is a work of fiction. You'll feel better about it.
"Fantastic"
I have two friends who agree with me. If you enjoy DaVinci or Templar lore, this book is for you. Great story line and intriguing to the end. Lots of action and interesting premise for a story compared to other Templar stories. The reading and intonations of the narrator are excellent as are his other readings. You will not be disappointed!
"Fun listening"
Though some of the things in this book were a bit unrealistic, it was a fun read kept my mind busy while I was stuck at work and traveling. If you're looking for something similar to DaVinci Code, this might be a good choice for you.
"Great book"
I have read the paperback and the audio is awesome. The narrator really bring the charactors to life. The history parts that most people skim through when they read were very interesting. I listen to this book several times, and still love it more each time.
"A disappointment"
The premise for this book is intriguing but the author apparently didn't know quite what to do with it. His protaganists are very unappealing. The woman is a liar and self serving. After every deception, she ruminates how much she regrets the lie and then does it again at the next opportunity. The man is absolutely the worst FBI agent ever penned. He continually ignores the woman's behavior that interferes with his investigation with a "promise me you won't do it again". It is typical for authors to advance a plot with behavior by protagonists that doesn't make sense given who they are but this author's uncharacteristic characters are ridiculous.
The ending seems conjured to meet an editor's deadline. It will leave you wondering if you missed downloading a part.
"Sporadically intersting"
Richard Ferrone did an excellent job in this narration. This is perhaps the only reason why I finished the book. Otherwise, I found the plot hardly believable, and to me it was the book equivalent of a bad Hollywood action flick.
"Great Book"
Top performance from both narrator and author. Thoroughly enjoyed the book and it's great attention to detail.
"The Last Templar Rocked"
The Last Templar was an awesome book that kept you guessing on where it might lead which kept me interested and excited. I was constantly trying to guess where the story would go and was seldom right.
"From horses to sewers"
This is a practice in moving cardboard characters around without motive. From the opening scenes when he describes the horses as grey and chestnut with black manes (By defination chestnuts have RED manes, if they have black manes they are BAY) through the pointless trip through the sewers, this was a book written by a novice. You can't get involved with romance style characters who do dumb things without reason. This one REALLY didn't grab me! Things came up, then were let drop. How did they get the horses INTO the park? Later they had the insight that they were probably police horses. Fine, doesn't it seem likely that a police department would NOTICE their horses missing??? And maybe a police department would report them!!! If they HAD the horses they certainly didn't get returned and someone would have noticed them missing. The rest doesn't get any better. There are so many loose ends I could weave a blanket!