According to Jewish legend, there are 36 righteous people on Earth at any given time. Without them, humanity would perish. But the 36 do not know they are the chosen ones, and many are dying. A monk in Beijing, an economist in Mumbai, a glassmaker in Venice and more have all perished under bizarre circumstances, with strange marks on their backs.
Veteran Danish detective Niels Bentzon is called to investigate. He’s ready to dismiss the assignment - but then he meets Hannah, a brilliant astrophysicist mourning the death of her son. Together, they piece together the puzzle of these far-flung deaths, and a pattern emerges. Thirty-four have died, and only Bentzon and Hannah can predict the time and place of the final two.
©2012 Original material © 2012 A. J. Kazinski. English language translation © 2012 Tiina Nunnally. Recorded by arrangement with Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster. (P)2012 (p) 2012 HighBridge Company.
“A provocative thriller - somewhere between Dan Brown and Stieg Larsson.” (Danish Library Review)
"I shouldl have known"
The premise seemed so silly...and, yet, the reviews of the actual book seemed so good! An apparent "hit" in Europe!!! "The ending is incredible," they all said, which made me struggle and actually finish it (but, no, the ending was NOT incredible). What a waste of a credit, my time, and Simon Vance's voice. The book is ridiculous -- not because I can't be lured by ridiculous plots (I actually liked The DaVinci Code.) The writing is simply bad.. There are endless conversations about fate and goodness that are not thought-provoking enough. There are a slew of random characters and stories that have absolutely nothing to do with the story and simply lengthen the torture (At one point, I groaned when I saw I had 4 hours and 52 minutes left). There are serious loose ends (including the main mystery). Avoid it.
"A good idea, but..."
This is the classic case of a good story idea that did not pan out. The problems are all left unresolved. Instead of ending, this story just stopped dead in its tracks.
Not likely
I like Simon Vance; he is always good.
There is no point to having anything about the protagonist's wife in the book at all; she is just used to look up one of the murder sites and none of the marriage issues or travel issues is resolved at all.