The Prophecy

 

               The Prophecy is one of the books that will keep the reader on the edge right from the beginning. The book somehow manages to keep the readers hooked right from its first line. It can be described as a complete entertainment package. It has a lot of action, wit, humor, the “friendships’ goal” factor, budding romance and a lot more. It’s written in a way that all the categories of the readers would equally enjoy. You don't need to read the earlier four books to enjoy this. Some parts might feel missing, but that is covered up by the author smoothly. You can enjoy the book without reading earlier parts as well.

               The prophecy starts in 1500s, when a man is giving instructions to his lawyer with what to do with the letter he has written. The next part talks about Louis Keller, in present day, whose ancestors have been protecting the letter even since it was written and he need to retrieve it. The story now starts with a fundraising event organized by Jonathan Payne, of Payne industries, attended by David Jones and all other rich people in the city. Ashley, a “gorgeous brunette” is present in the event who catches the eye of both the lead protagonists. She had a letter written in some unknown language and wanted them to decipher for them. Right after she hands them the letter, she is murdered and the action and the story begin to unfold.

The plot at the beginning looks very promising but somewhat weakens towards the end. There is a reference of the book The Da Vinci Code. The genre and writing style is similar at some points and yet unique. By the end of the book, the plot mixes up and feels odd. [Spoiler] There is a part where Randy Raskin, a computer researcher in Pentagon and a team member, warns Jones and Payne that killing Dubois is not going to save their lives, yet somehow at the end, in spite of killing him, there is no after effect at all. The prophecies are kept secret from us till the end. We don’t get to know if Megan is related to Nostradamus or not, why Megan was chosen and for what exactly was she chosen stays unclear. The family tree is not revealed.[Spoiler Ends] So basically, the ending was pretty unsatisfying and feels like an abrupt end to smooth story. The part where they were deciphering the letter was THE BEST part in the book. There is perfect explanation for everything that came up. The writing reaches the peak point during this part.

               Getting to the locations in the book. We get to read about Pennsylvania, Belgium,  Pittsburgh, Küsendorf, Philadelphia and Geneva in a chapter or two. The description of the location is really good. The readers can imagine the location while reading. All the adjectives are accurate without any second thought . This part is one the major highlights of the book.

               The lead protagonists are well developed, considering the complete series is about them, but all other characters are quite underdeveloped. There are a lot of backstories involved. The characters who die after one single dialogue are allocated with two pages of backstory, which is unnecessary. The main characters are sidelined. The main antagonist, François Dubois, doesn’t even try to create any relation with the story. It might feel like two different stories that just meet at the end for no particular reason. His obsession, or story was much less than he deserved.

               In conclusion, I’d say if you have nothing to do, travelling somewhere, or want to make a film, this book might be perfect. But if you’re here after reading Dan Brown books, this might result in some amount of disappointment. I am a huge Dan Brown fan, so this book is 2/5 for me. I don’t hate the book, but I’m not satisfied either. But it’s true that I did enjoy a lot reading it. Looking forward to read more by Chris Kuzneski.