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The Sign
by Raymond Khoury
| List Price: |
$26.95 |
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$17.79 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$9.16 (33%) |
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Hardcover
Publisher: Dutton Adult
ISBN13: 9780525950974
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Another cutting-edge thriller set at the intersection of science, religion, and history from the bestselling author of The Last Templar
New York Times bestselling author Raymond Khoury— whose debut novel, The Last Templar, has sold more than a million copies in the United States, and whose second, The Sanctuary, was also a major national bestseller—returns with The Sign. Like the first two, this new thriller combines gripping contemporary suspense with a high-concept mystery rooted in history, philosophy, religion, and science. And like those novels, it is bound for bestseller lists nationwide.
In Antarctica, a scientific expedition drops anchor for a live news feed. As the CNN journalist begins her report, a massive, shimmering sphere of light suddenly appears in the sky, enveloping the ship in luminous white light before disappearing as mysteriously as it arrived—the entire event witnessed by an incredulous world audience.
Meanwhile in a dusty bar in Egypt, a dozen men are lazily discussing the state of the world when the brilliant, glowing symbol on the television stops them cold. One man breaks out in a sweat, crosses himself repeatedly, and rushes out of the bar muttering the same phrase over and over again: It can’t be.
Across the Internet and around the globe, a stunning controversy threatens to consume the world: Has God finally decided to reveal himself? Or is something more sinister at hand?
Raymond Khoury/Steve Berry interview
STEVE BERRY: Your new thriller, THE SIGN—I’m gonna come right out and say it: I think it’s your best one yet. What do you think?
RAMOND KHOURY: Tough call. It’s my new baby, and much as I adore its elder siblings, it does have that newborn magic to it.
STEVE: Trust me, it is. It’s also a bit of a departure from your first two books, in that it doesn’t have the past-and-present storylines. Knowing how stories kind of take on a life of their own, that wasn’t a conscious decision from the get-go, was it?
RAYMOND KHOURY: No, it wasn’t premeditated. It’s just the way the story came out. The whole story happens in the present. It takes place over a few manic days—I think you’re familiar with that pacing, right?—and it deals with the present, it’s about a ‘what if’ situation that’s very today and now, there’s a mystery, something to figure out, but there’s no throwback to the past, no long lost secret to uncover.
STEVE BERRY: It’s also very topical. Your editors must be pleased.
RAYMOND: I guess it happened that way because the story came out of some very strong feelings I had, feelings about what was going on around the world, in the US and abroad.
STEVE: Tell me about that process. Where the story came from.
RAYMOND: It’s where they all come from, isn’t it? That kernel, that one thought or one observation you have that just sticks and triggers a book, the one that bugs you late at night and that you can’t shake. This one came to me while watching the news one day, and every item, one after another, it was all bad news. Not just bad, but it was like a lot of people were behaving so insanely in so many places around the world—and, sadly, a lot of it was fuelled by the manipulation or distortion of religious faith—
STEVE: —by intolerance—
RAYMOND: —exactly. Intolerance and closed minds. And it got me thinking. About how divided we are, about how so many people all over the world believe in the absolute infallibility of their faith and how it rules every aspect of their lives—you know what I mean, ‘we’re right, everyone else is wrong,’ that medieval mindset—and wondering if anything could ever unite the planet under a single faith.
STEVE: One global religion. RAYMOND: Well, imagine if something did happen that convinced everyone that what we had until now, all these different religions that have grown over the last few thousand years—what if something new came along that was so overwhelming that it was impossible to ignore? Would we listen? Would we drop our previous faiths and embrace it?
STEVE: But your book’s about much more than that. Without wanting to give too much away, it’s really a political thriller, isn’t it?
RAYMOND: It’s always so hard to talk about a book without giving too much away—
STEVE: —it’s the fine line we walk.
RAYMOND: True. But yes, you’re right—it’s really about the absolute power something like that would bring—and how it could be abused. Cause above all else, it’s a thriller. There’s got to be a brilliantly dastardly scheme, right?
STEVE: Always. And this one certainly is dastardly. One thing I’ve noticed, though, in all three of your books so far—they’re all, essentially, about the big questions that face us: why we believe, whether or not we have to die. Religion, longevity, life and death, science vs. faith ... Big questions. And in this one, you revisit—though in a completely different way—the power of religion, the good it can bring as well as the bad, something that was also central to THE LAST TEMPLAR. Will this always be your signature genre—books that have a big, central ‘theme’ at their core?
RAYMOND: You asked me earlier about where the story came from. For me, in order to get excited about a book, it has to have a big central theme about how we live at its heart, something I’m interested in exploring. It’s got to be about something I care about deeply. That’s what drives the story and the characters forward for me. That’s what I hope makes the books stand out. That they’re not just page-turners—which ain’t easy in itself—but that they’re also about something. I see it in your books too. A point of view about things, a passion for laying out interesting information about a topic that interests you. Michael Crichton used to do that very successfully. Dan Brown, of course, does it brilliantly. That’s what makes the books worth writing, I think.
STEVE: And in reading the book, it’s clear you still had tons of research to do, even though there isn’t a historic mysery to unravel?
RAYMOND: Absolutely. Some of it was about history—the monasteries in Egypt, for one. Again, part of the story, organically. Had to be done, and we do love our history, don’t we?
STEVE: Guilty as charged.
RAYMOND: But for this book, I didn’t need to do that much of it—nothing like what you did for THE CHARLEMAGNE PURSUIT, for instance. Which I loved, by the way. Particularly since you beat me to using the Voynich Manuscript in a story!
STEVE: We do seem to be spookily in sync with our writing—as further evidenced by THE SIGN’s opening in Antarctica—
RAYMOND: —I know!
STEVE: So tell me—Matt and Gracie. Are we going to see them again?
RAYMOND: I don’t know. On the one hand, I envy your situation with Cotton Malone, you’ve got a solid anchor for your books, you’re building this great world around him, his son and Stephanie and Henrik and Cassiopeia—who I hope we see again real soon—and it’s meaty and it’s epic and like the rest of your readers, I’m hooked and I want to know what they do next. You’ve got that, Lee Child has had it since day one with Reacher, Harlan Coben with Myron Bolitar, the list goes on. Great characters. I’d love to do that one day, but it has to feel right. I wasn’t in that frame of mind in my first two books, certainly the world after the end of THE SANCTUARY would be a very different place from the world Mia started out in at the beginning of that book. Tess and Reilly, I could maybe bring back. A lot of fans have asked for that. But with THE SIGN, Iinitely think Matt and Gracie are characters that I could bring back. I’d like to put them through another wringer, and it feels like it would come naturally. But before I do that, I’m writing the next book which introduces a new lead character, so they’ll be getting a bit of a breather.
STEVE: They sure can use it. Good luck with the book.
RAYMOND: Thank you.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| A Book for the Rest of Us! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I, for one, am sick to death of all of the pandering to right-wing Christians and politicians in the US. The Sign is a fast-paced thriller that reflects my politics, and it is a wonderful change. Any book that bashes Bush and the rest of the right-wing nutjobs in this country is worth buying. I'm adding Khoury to my list of must-purchase authors. I hope he proves to be prolific. As I DO plan on being "Left Behind," I want to be sure to have plenty of reading material. This book isn't War and Peace, but it is just perfect for a quick, entertaining read.
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| Quick, Frustratingly Predictable, Read |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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This is another mindless thriller that pretends to have a "heavy" message. I felt obligated to submit my first book review because after reading this tripe I was so disgusted that I had to vent more than just to my wife.
If you are a liberal that thinks the capitalist Christians are destroying the world through man-made global warming, you'll love this book. If you are a conservative and Christian who is highly skeptical of "agendas" (like me), you will find yourself mostly dissatisfied. Usually the discourse in this type of novel has informative merit but it is lacking in THE SIGN. Character development was minimal and most characters weren't even likeable. I looked up the author's bio to see where he lives because the context of the American characters and the current social climate in the USA seem so off base for what is supposed to be a contemporary (circa 2009) novel. Mr. Khoury is a native Lebanese who lives in London that also works in L.A. writing about American culture. OK, that explains it.
To the author's credit, some of the action sequences are compelling.
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| Fair Story but a Political Platform for Mr. Khoury to Bash Conservatives |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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I've read the Last Templar prior to The Sign and thought it was a good read. This book, however, read more like a political spin against the conservative people of the world. It is obvious that Mr. Khoury is biased against the Christian Faith and demonizes the Christians as an intolerant and unforgiving sect. In reality, Mr. Khoury doesn't bother to mention the fact that suicide bombers and most all terrorists are of a faith quite different than the Christian. In short, the story was OK and would have been much better without the political bias. This will be the last book I read by this author.
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| Liberal Political Diatribe - suggests those who believe in god are idiots |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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If you are looking for a page turner novel look elsewhere. The premise of this book was hard to swallow from the beginning. I thought it would pick up or get more plausible as it went on. I dragged my way through it. About 100 pages before the end, one of the characters goes into this political diatribe that almost made me put the book down. Here I thought I was reading a sci-fi page turner, a fast paced adventure, and I find out 100 pages before the end that it is only his political agenda wrapped up in a pretty cover. He more or less calls all people who believe in God idiots who should be shipped off with the conservative majority before we ruin the country. If you have a conservative bone in your body, the last 100 or so pages will be nothing but offensive. I will not ever pick up another of his books. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and finished the book thinking that maybe the end would level things out. No such luck. It only got worse. Think a Michael Moore movie wrapped up in text and binding.
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| The "Sign" is STOP, do not waste your time on this flop. |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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I read a lot of books, three a week, and this (Novel?) is one of the worst I have come across in a long time. I read the Last Templar, which was up there with a four star, and the Sanctuary, which I give a three, but this one was outrageous. I read a novel to be entertained, not to be subject to the bashing of the conservative principles of many great Americans whom Khoury manages to liberally sprinkle throughout his book. If Khoury wants to share his political and religious beliefs he should do it in a non-fiction book and label it as his opinion. This way many of us would not have shelled out good money to be preached too instead of entertained by a good yarn. The characters were poorly developed, and some such as Matt were unbelievable. The first 60 or so pages I read held my interest then the author's political and religious beliefs began to surface more and more. I tried to remain open minded and hoped to get past the rantings, alas, they continued. Khoury, rather than allude to American political figures he disagrees with attempts to defame the name of many Americans by putting them in his book. Mr. Khoury got me to waste my money this time. Dear reader do not make the same mistake. This book is extremely disappointing. I won't be buying anything by this author again. If you really feel you must read this story (I will not call it a novel) get it from the library so you can return it and not feel cheated. I rated this book one star, only because it will make a god door stop.
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