Just couldn't get into this one, despite the very promising premise.

A nice little almost Di Vinci code-esque thriller that bounces back between Rome and Jerusalem. I had fun reading it but wondered how much of it is based in academic research and how much was creative writing. Either way, the story is well-paced and I didn't see a few of the twists coming. The characters seem plausible, but not fully developed. We never really figure out why the main character became a lawyer after an academic disaster, but whatever, it probably doesn't matter much. This would be a great vacation read!

Attorney Jonathan Marcus is an expert in the classics of historical artificial items. For his knowledge, that makes him a hot commodity. Jonathan is rushed to Rome. There he meets Bruce Tatton. Bruce shows Jonathan some stone artifacts. Jonathan identifies the item as pieces of a huge map of the city of Rome. They date back to the early A.D. century. What Jonathan has identified has caused a major interest. The Last Ember will have readers traveling from Rome to Jerusalem.

While I liked the concept of this book, I found it to be a little dry. Not to take anything away from Mr. Levin as I thought he did a good job trying to make this story as realistic and historically accurate as possible including the use of his insightful footnotes, I just wasn’t in the mood for a history lesson. Mr. Levin tried to fit so many facts into this book that it made the reading heavy and the plot moved very slowly for me. In fact so much that I had to put the book down and come back. The second time I picked this book up I found that I couldn’t get past the fact that I couldn’t find a connection with anyone thus far and gave up on this book about a third of the way in. Unfortunately, The Last Ember burned out for me.

If this were a movie it would be Da Vinci Code meets National Treasure meets Bourne Identity. A page turner but at times far-fetched. The bad guy is always one step ahead and has numerous fall back plans. Even when things don't work out there is always a plan. Lots of interesting history about Rome and ancient Jerusalem makes you think your decision not to learn Latin or Hebrew was a mistake. Much like the Da Vinci Code this book will stimulate discussion about religion and the relationships between the Catholic Church and Judaism. I can already see the movie with Nicolas Cage as Jonathan.

Listened on Audio

Interesting, very Dan Brownesque. Anything about Jerusalem is always fascinating, Minus points for reading like a historical textbook, and having such cliched plot points.

I enjoyed reading this novel, the plot was unique and I enjoyed learning bits about the Imperial Roman period. You could read my full review of this novel over at my blog: http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=3390