A simple candle, stolen from a Jewish family during the holocaust years. Hidden inside it, the clue to something far greater.
Many want it - the CIA, the Vatican’s secret service, a reclusive billionaire, Israeli authorities, Islamic jihadists - because this piece of an ancient map is the key to a powerful link with the biblical world.
It falls into the hands of the billionaire who funds an expedition to a corner of the Jordanian desert. All the players are converging there and in the search party is a traitor.
The suspenseful story bounces between Nazi-occupied Vienna and the present day, from the terrors of a wartime children’s hospital to a guns-and-daggers climax in the unforgiving desert that hides so much. It isn’t the first novel to mould a thriller around a search for biblical treasure but it’s a tense and compelling story crafted by a Spanish writer and a competent translator.
CONTRACT WITH GOD by Juan Gomez-Jurado (R194,95, Orion)
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Kevin Jacobs