Book Of Judas

Philip and Simon Trenchard lost their parents at the age of seven and eight in a road accident, and were brought up by their beloved grandfather, the eminent archaeologist Sir Lawrence. At his funeral, years later, their world is about to be shattered once again - in fact the entire world as we know it faces an Armageddon of unimaginable evil. In Sir Lawrence's will, he entrusts to the brothers the terrible secret he uncovered in the Holy Lands - some ancient apparently Biblical scrolls. But these were not the testaments of Mathew, Mark or John but of Judas... 'The truth was potentially explosive. We had found the map and instructions to the biggest religious discovery of all time... Not only that, but if the Book of Judas really existed it was prophesised that its unearthing would destroy the pillars upon which the entire Christian religion had grown... It had the power to unlock the devil himself.' The very knowledge of their existence is deadly. Now Sir Lawrence is gone the Vatican is determined to claim the secret that undermines its raison d'être and their hired agents will stop at nothing. Worse still, is the knowledge that the Antichrist's disciples on earth, The Satanica, have unleashed an assassin of pure, implacable evil leaving hideously mutilated bodies in his wake as he follows the Trenchard brothers on their quest. In a terrifying, nail-biting mission that takes us from leafy Oxfordshire to the Dead Sea; from Greece to the Vatican, the brothers travel the world to save the world - and themselves - from Satan's ultimate revenge.

Just when you thought thrillers packed with nightmare visions of Armageddon, cold warstyle treachery and undercover agents' derringdo had crumbled along with the Berlin Wall, Richard W Hollands revives the genre with an exciting new angle and a whole new axis of potential evil! The appositely titled Paradigm Shift is exactly what it says on the tin. It moves the diplomatic, political and military intrigue and shenanigans from the traditional Uncle Sam versus the Soviet Bear to Asia specifically India and Pakistan. What hasn't changed is the nature of the good guys in this case US President Whiting whose true grit in the face of a sinister conspiracy that threatens to change the world forever is the stuff of every action thriller you ever read. So what exactly is the titular Paradigm Shift? A plot hatched by a lunatic Indian Prime Minister and China to take India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear war, shut off the world's oil supplies and hold the western world to ransom. As the civilized world's brought to its knees, two undercover agents race against time to take out the madman and restore sanity and here's where Hollands introduces the romantic element by teaming up cynical Special Forces veteran Luke with the dangerously gorgeous Kirin, an American agent of Indian descent. As the chances of success dwindle, a strange and unspoken love grows between the two battlehardened professionals. But will it ever be consummated? The answer seems to be 'only if their mission succeeds'. Read this riproaring and riveting apocalyptic thriller and find out! P Dodd's The Bookseller Review