The Sign

Although the book started very slow (the first 60 pages were BORING), it picked up speed and became a very engrossing read. I would highly recommend it. If you believe that man was created 5000 years ago, then this is not a book for you. It warns readers of the danger of the U.S.not heeding it's founding fathers wise advice of keeping state and religion seperate. I am all for Christian values and what is preached in the Bible. However, when the "poor" Christians in this country are hood winked by their false religious leaders to vote into power people who do not care about them or Christian values and practice adultery, sodomy and sieze power to make a quick buck for themselves and for their future generations to come at the cost of all American Citizens, I am apalled. No matter what the beliefs of the author, he has argued that point well and I agree that if Americans do not wake up, we will become a third world country addicted to TV and poor eating habits!!

Dr. Dominick Reese and his protege Dr. Danny Sherwood, from MIT are working in an ultra secret project in Skeleton Coast, Namibia. It's a processing computer program --more like massively distributed intelligence--creating an optical system based on corner cubed reflectors. As they are suppose to end the project something goes very wrong... In the Wadi Natrum dessert of Egypt, up in the mountains, the reverend Father Jerome starts hearing voices--"Are you ready to serve?" Two years later, in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica, Grace (Gracie) Logan, with her cameraman, Dalton Kwan, and her producer, Howard Finch are on the deck of the RSS James Clark Ross. They are witnessing the breakup of the arctic ice shelf. As Gracie begins her report, a massive shimmering sphere of light suddenly appears in the sky, enveloping the ship in a luminous blaze--disappearing as mysteriously as it arrived. The entire world witnesses the event as it unfolds. In the Deir Al-Suryan Monastery, in Wadi Natrum, Egypt, news arrive of the event. The abbot, Father Kirilios, is notified by Yusuf Zacharia and Father Ameen recalls that Father Jerome has been drawing the same "sign" that appeared in Antarctica on his caves near the monastery. Father Ameen takes matter on his hands and notifies Gracie's team who fly to Egypt and when they find Father Jerome another sphere appears over his head as he is presented to the media by Gracie's team. In Boston, Matt Sherwood, brother of the presumed dead Danny Sherwood, gets a mysterious visit by Vince Belinger who informs him that the "sign" may be a hoax created by his brother and that Danny may still be alive. The reader is then treated to a great thriller of adventure where Matt, Suba (Jabba) Komlosy, Danny's co-worker, Gracie, and two opposing "owners" of the sign fight an all out war for the story of a lifetime: Has God finally chosen to reveal himself through a Catholic priest? Or is someone accelerating the birth of a new age in which faith, hope, and belief, will fall before the altars of power greed and death? The book has a slow start and introduces too many characters at the beginning without properly developing them. I was forced to diagram all the names to be able to keep pace. Once you enter the second half of the book, it gets very captivating and it's hard to put down. I loved the pun given to Dan Brown on page 257: "Look at what a third rate sci-fi writer was able to pull off, and everyone knew he was only out to get stinking rich." I also loved the attacks on the GOP on page 372: "We just had eight years of an oil wildcatter I wouldn't even hire to run a car wash, eight years of a guy who thought his instincts were manifestations of God's will, eight years of criminal incompetence and unbridled arrogance that brought the country to its knees, and did we learn anything? Hell it took the economic meltdown of the century to just scrape through his victory. This was no landslide (election of President

this book was a great read, i was counting the hours to get back to it , every evening in the gym of my complex. Time flew on that treadmill and the read was very enjoyable. The action is very fast paced , it starts in Africa, then Boston and antarctica, to Egypt and Houston. It is a shame that people will judge it based on the political view, this is very narrow "mindedness" , the action and the thrill were great. Probably as a former Bostonian and MIT student it meant to me more than others !!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT

Unlike the vast majority of critiquers, I really enjoyed this book. It was a great chase/race against time and met my definition of an easy read. I had no problem with his view on religion or his view on Bush, though he tended to get a bit preachy, especially toward the end. However, the action never stopped and the story moved right along. Where I didn't like the way Matthew Reilly made the Americans the super bad guys in his books, and him being a New Zealander, I had no problem with Mr. Khoury (a Brit) using Americans as bad guys because he also used them as the good guys so it didn't look so biased. I almost put the book down because I thought it was a Christian novel, but it turned out to be just a thriller with all religions being knocked. Sure he gave Bush a good bashing, but it's not surprising considering the polarization our former Dubya caused with the rest of the world. As for the writing, as with other Brits, he tends to mix points of view with abandon, and breaks the "rules" us unpublished writers are stuck to. However, it was only annoying in a couple of spots where I wasn't sure who's head he was in. Also, Mr. Khoury resolved things in a way I liked, so that was a big plus for me. I can understand why Christians and Bush lovers would hate this book and that's fine. There are plenty of books I hate for my own reasons. In this case, I loved it. I will have to look for his other works. Highly recommended.

I just finished The Sign and couldn't put it down. It was a real page turner, and at the same time it had a lot of great ideas and comments that really made me think. I thnk it's Mr Khoury's best book so far. I loved Gracie and Matt, I thought they were great characters that felt natural and very real to me. I also loved Jabba and his banter with Matt. The story is fast paced and huge with great action that takes you around the world. I could already see it as a movie especially every time the sign shows up, from the great opening in Antarctica to the big moments at the end which I won't describe here not to ruin it for everyone who didn't read it yet. But reading the other reviews here, a word of warning: this book might not be for you! It all depends on what your political view is. Even though it's the characters in the book who are talking, I did get the feeling that Mr Khoury agrees with their point of view. I happen to agree with it, so it wasn't a problem for me, I loved it. But if you think keeping religion and politics separate is a bad idea (even though it's something our founding fathers wanted), if you think America was at its best these last eight years, if you think the war in Iraq wasn't a humanitarian tragedy, if you think the wrong person won the election and is now our president, and if you watch Beck and Hannity and Limbaugh and not Jon Stewart, then this book DEFINITELY isn't for you!!!