"The Rozabal Line" is an exciting richly detailed and tightly woven
novel. It is loaded with surprises and includes hairpin turns and slow
careful climbs to reach the highest peak of excitement, leaving the
reader breathless, with no time to recover because the next moment of
reading pleasure involves an unexpected drop into unanticipated depths.
All I can say is move over Dan Brown, you have a rival author who has
created a fantastic novel which interweaves four religious traditions:
the hidden secrets of Christianity, the teachings of Buddhism, Islamic
terrorism and the dark mysteries of Hinduism along with a secret
society, called Crux Decussata Permuta, plus a beautiful but deadly
Japanese female assassin. The characters are fully fleshed out, with
complex detail and variation of personality, making them come alive
with purpose and meaning. As the plot develops and thickens within the
first five pages of the novel, it hooks the reader into a game of
assassination, terrorist plots, and a religious mystery.
Victor Morgan, a Catholic priest from New York has had waking
dreams (or possible hallucinations or visions?) which started as a
young child. As he grew into his role of parish priest, his dreams or
visions became more frequent and very much more clear, especially after
his parents died unexpectedly. He was hospitalized due to the emotional
stress associated with his loss. Victor shared the contents of his
dreams with Martha his only living relative and aunt. She suggested a
clue, an explanation ... which was completely contrary to his religious
beliefs but which after some research made sense. perhaps he was
recalling past lives. He saw the past, where he was Simon of Cyrene who
carried the cross for Jesus when he fell on his way to be crucified.
His search to understand the meaning of his visions took him to India,
and to Kashmir, the place where a tomb exists which is marked
"Rauza-Bal" or Rozabal, "tomb of the prophet", named Yuz Asaf. Although
located in a Moslem cemetery, the tomb beneath the headstone contains a
sarcophagus whch includes carvings of feet with distinctive puncture
marks, marks which could be from only one thing, a crucifixion. Local
records indicate the time in which Yuz Asaf lived coincided with when
Jesus would have been alive ... had he not been crucified to death ...
or did he survive ... and possibly escape to Kashmir?
On the northern border of the Pakistani and Afghanistan border, an
olive skinned male Islamic leader meets with twelve followers who are
willing to sacrifice their lives in the name of their great cause .
..
The leader is plotting twelve huge terroristic events around the globe
from which he believed Westerners would not ever emotionally recover.
Swakilki travels around the world ... and leaves dead bodies within
her path. She was raised in a Catholic orphanage after her mother''s
unexpected death and was later adopted by a Japanese couple. Due to a
traumatic childhood, she was cold and calculating and ripe for
exploitation. She was trained in the tantric arts ... along with skills
to kill. The person who controls her activities and directs her actions
to commit these atrocities ... remains secret. Yet he had a very
important role in her past ... One of her victims was Professor Terry
Acton who was searching in the archives at the Department for the Study
of Religions which was part of the School of Oriental and African
Studies at the University of London. He inadvertently stumbled on some
information which could throw Christianity into a panic. Oddly enough,
during his early years he went to India to study under a yogi and
befriended Martha Morgan, who also trekked to India to discover truths
about her inner self. Many years later, they again met under most
unusual circumstances ...
Shawn Haigins combines these tantalizing elements and fascinating
characters to build a superbly enticing and intriguing story. This ok
will entertain and enlighten those who love a great murder mystery. It
may provoke some readers who are secure in their religious beliefs to
become shaken and less comfortable with themselves. A few will refuse
to even consider reading the book, given its controversial contents.
One must keep in mind, despite the author''s tremendous amount of
research, and ample citing of references and acknowledgements, it is a
work of fiction, created in the author''s imagination. This author is
very knowledgeable in various religious traditions. He has the ability
to create depth and complexity from a wealth of resources to build an
outstanding murder mystery.