The Copper Scroll: A Novel by Joel C. Rosenberg
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Copper Scroll is the latest installment of the Last Jihad series by of fiction thrillers by Joel C. Rosenberg.
Joel Rosenberg first came to national attention by writing the first book in the series, The Last Jihad, about a terrorist attach by hijacking an airliner and flying a kamikaze attack against the United States. Not to impressive unless you realize the book was written nine months prior to 9/11.
Not unlike author Dan Brown, Joel Rosenberg writes from a foundation of research and fact that lend an authenticity to the story.
Rosenberg starts with the mystery of a copper scroll which was found amongst the Dead Sea scrolls more than half a century ago. Unlike most of the Dead Sea scrolls this scroll lists location of treasure which would be worth over a billion dollars today. Sounds made-up doesn’t it? Oddly enough this part of the story is pure fact.
Newly discovered secrets about the Copper Scroll unleash a series of events that engulf current and former CIA operatives, leaders of the United States, Israel, and Iraq in a race to unlock the secret.
Although this is the fourth book in the series, it was the first one I have read. I found that that the book stands well by itself.
As a work of fiction it was a well constructed, very enjoyable story with good characters.
On a second level, although the style is similar to that of Dan Brown, the moral of this story couldn’t be more different. While I have found Dan Brown to be an engaging writer, his message seems to consistently be “you can’t trust religious faith”.
As a Jewish Christian, Joel Rosenberg’s message of “there is something to authentic Christianity” comes through loud and clear. As a Christian I really enjoyed this aspect of the story.
On a third level, I was intrigued by the author’s unique ability to project events into the future, in this case mixing the Copper Scroll with prophecy from the Bible.
Note: The author has written a non-fiction book, Epicenter, which deals with with the Biblical Prophecy aspect in more detail.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Dan Brown style book or political thriller.