Imagine a world where it’s possible to clone the great minds and talents from our past. What would our world be like? How would it feel to walk down the street and run into the clone of someone you learned about in history class and greatly admired for the wonderful things they had accomplished?
Mystery, religion, and science are weaved together in a marvelously spellbinding way in this thriller that focuses on the search for one of the nails that Christ was crucified with.
Miriam approaches David, an antiquities dealer in St. Louis, to gain his help. David sees the possibility of regaining the love a friend wrongly took from him, and he believes that Miriam shows a desire to be with him again. Has he been reunited with his old love or is he being deceived?
Three nails were used to crucify Jesus Christ. Two of these nails have been destroyed. Solly, a brilliant scientist and David’s old friend, is the one that stole Miriam from him. He has made a dying plea for David to find the remaining nail. Why does he want a nail that was used to crucify Jesus Christ? The answer is simple and full of possibilities yet frightening: he wants to clone him with DNA collected from the nail. Jesus has already been cloned at least once, but Solly wants to continue doing so until the clone is perfected. Then other famous minds of the past will be cloned.
Drawn into the machinations of a secret Israeli society, David doesn’t know who to trust. One minute he is sure he can trust a person but the next minute he isn’t so sure. Twists and turns are around every corner. The Antiquities Dealer is a thrilling ride from the first page until the last.
I was sent a copy of this fantastic read in exchange for an honest review. If you would like your own copy of this book, I’ve provide an Amazon link below.
Amazon Link: The Antiquities Dealer
Favorite Sentences:
Perhaps the gods cheat us at chess, I mused.
I had an unsettling premonition that crazies were about to shatter the life I had worked so hard to achieve.
Well, if kidnapping and bearing false witness were okay, so was false swearing.
At her touch, I laid back on the couch, a frozen dreamer, fallen under the spell of a magical succubus, a lovely warm spirit who had floated as smoke under the doorway to suck away my soul.
Even ducks would have been depressed by this weather.
The snake’s hinged mouth gaped open widely, its curved giant fangs exposed and dripping, ready to bite.
New Words Learned:
augurs – predicts or foretells especially from signs or omens
cornices – ornamental moldings around the wall of a room just below the ceiling
denigrate – criticize unfairly; disparage
Diaspora – the scattering of the Jews to countries outside of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity.
dissolute – lax in morals; licentious
exegesis – critical explanation or interpretation of a text, esp. of scripture
expiate – atone for (guilt or sin)
gentrification – the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, raising property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.
keffiyeh – a Bedouin Arab’s kerchief worn as a headdress
klieg lights – carbon arc lamps used especially in making motion pictures
narcosis – a state of stupor, drowsiness, or unconsciousness produced by drugs
patina – an impression or appearance of something
pogrom – an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe
prestidigitator – one skilled in legerdemain : a performer of sleight of hand
profiteroles – hollow pastries typically filled with cream and covered with chocolate sauce
About the Author:
In retrospect, Ed Protzel can truly say he was glad he made the sharp U-turn to novels, after years of laboring in the world of screenwriting. But it was a bumpy ride, as was his upbringing.
Ed grew up in St. Louis, a mix of a Jewish father and a part-Cherokee mother. He lived for a short time in an orphanage when his parents divorced, and after high school lived in St. Louis’ Gaslight Square entertainment district among its collection of artists, entertainers, and bohemians. Ed attributes this experience to his unique perspective, reflected in many of his fictional characters—outsiders and gamesters, male and female, on lonely, often deadly, quests, seeking justice, love, and fulfillment against society’s blindness.
An award-winning author of genre-stretching fiction, his most recent novel, The Antiquities Dealer, i about a St. Louis gallery owner drawn into a conspiracy by a secret Israeli society to clone the great minds of history—beginning with Jesus Christ.
Ed has a master’s in English literature/creative writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Follow him on Amazon, Facebook, Twitter & Goodreads. Find him at http://www.edprotzel.com.
