Reviews for The Templar Cross

The average rating for The Templar Cross based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-05-08 00:00:00 Stephen Jordan Warning: I am extremely biased towards books that have history, the army, and treasure hunts! These books will almost always get 4 stars from me because they allow me to escape the middle east where I'm currently stationed and follow a fictional character on an Indiana Jones type adventure! Books like these are my addiction. I found this one on a shelf in a restaurant on base. I am a sucker for anything having to do with historic fiction and action. Add the Templar's and anything that remotely reminds me of, "National Treasure" and I'm hooked. Main Character: LTC John Holiday Army Ranger, now history prof at USMA Side kick: Rafi Wanounou, Israeli anthropologist from Jerusalem Han Solo character (the bad-ass who keeps saving the MC and Side Kick): Emil Abdul Tidyman, Egyptian/Canadian mercenary with a heart of gold. Sustain: It's a series of books featuring your normal reoccurring action hero in the form of a retiring Army ranger LTC John "Doc" Holiday. Unfortunately for me this is the second book in the series so, I've started in the middle and missed a lot of the character development. Sustain: It drives me crazy when authors describe the history of everything to include local plant life before they advance the plot. And, when they finally advance the plot, you find out it adds nothing to the denouement. Mr. Christopher doesn't do this. He explains everything relevant in less than a page and it all ties together with the plot nicely. Improve: Some of the villains are too cookie cutter and honestly it seemed more like a video game script than a book. Due to the fact there was always a bad guy to defeat every couple of chapters. Also, one villain did not make any sense to the story whatsoever. He showed up playing the classic James Bond uber-villain for about 3 chapters and then disappeared until the end of the book. I read the book in 3 days and couldn't put it down, but when the villain from the first 150 pages pops up again after page 350 it didn't make sense. Improve: I got it. The hero is going to win, and that is exactly what I want. However, everything goes perfectly for the hero and his team. The weapons he picks up are always fully loaded, and he knows how to shoot everything with pinpoint accuracy. Nothing ever goes wrong. It reminds me of the movie, "Commando" with Arnold Schwarzenegger who manages to kill over 200 enemy soldiers without getting shot or having to reload. I don't want the hero to lose, but can't he maybe not show up in the right place, at the right time, with everything working like he had a plan all along? Recommendation: I'd start with the first book before reading this. I would have given this book three stars due to the lack of character development, but since I read into the middle of the trilogy I'll assume the author set it all up in book 1. I love books like this where I can picture the actors who would play the characters, and the plot is always moving forward. There weren't a lot of moments where I was worried about the characters but there were a few moments where I was emotionally invested. I'll read the third book when it comes out in paperback and I don't know if I'll go back and buy the first book as there are a number of books I'm working through right now.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-24 00:00:00 David Campbell I have to be honest, I gave the first Templar book 5 stars because I absolutely loved it. This book was sorely lacking in historical content, and I don't know where the series is headed at this point. I will continue to read the series, but if the next book is more like this one than the first one. I probably won't read the rest.