Friday, December 7, 2018

"Dead Sea Rising" by Jerry B. Jenkins -- Book Review

About the Book  


FROM #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR JERRY B. JENKINS COMES A HEART-STOPPING ADVENTURE OF HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS
Nicole Berman is an archaeologist on the brink of a world-changing discovery. During her first dig in Jordan, she believes she has found concrete evidence of a biblical patriarch that could change history books forever. But someone doesn't want the truth revealed. While urgently trying to connect pieces of an ancient puzzle, a dangerous enemy is out to stop her. 
From a criminal investigation in Manhattan to the birth of Abram in ancient Ur, Jerry Jenkins weaves together a tale of drama and suspense that will draw you into the lives of two families separated by 4,000 years of history yet sharing remarkably similar struggles of faith. Dead Sea Rising combines the thrill of a whodunit with the moral and political intrigue of the ancient, and modern, Middle East. But be prepared. Once you begin, you won't be able to stop until you reach the final page!
-- DR. CHARLIE DYER, PROFESSOR-AT-LARGE OF BIBLE, AND HOST OF THE LAND AND THE BOOK RADIO PROGRAM

My Thoughts

I had never read a book by Jerry B. Jenkins before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I do not know if "Dead Sea Rising" is written in his normal manner, but it flips back and forth between modern day Manhattan and Biblical Ur where we follow Terah (Abram's father). The longest chapter was 8 pages. The majority of the chapters were 3 pages or less, including one that was only about 1/4 of a page long. I found it distracting to flip back and forth so much. I thought it would be better to have larger chunks in each setting at least. There didn't seem to be any sort of tie in with the two timelines, either, other than I'm assuming she is wanting to find something to do with Abraham in the archaeological dig in Saudi Arabia. I'm assuming that the tie in becomes more apparent in future books. I did find the book to be well written even though I didn't appreciate the style with which it was written. I found the mystery surrounding Ginny Berman's injuries to be interesting. I was disappointed that we didn't get a complete wrap up of the story and have to wait for the next book to continue the mystery. I didn't very much like Terah and his personality. I also thought that it strayed from what we do know of him. The Bible says "Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran." In the book, he takes it to mean that Terah was 70 when he had his firstborn--Abram. I do not believe that Terah was 70 when he had his first child, nor is it evident that Abram was his firstborn. The Bible frequently lists the person most important to the Jews first (Shem, Ham, and Japeth, for example) and therefore listing them out of age order. The book also makes it that Terah has one wife. He obviously had at least 2 wives/concubines as Abram's wife Sarai was also his half sister, the daughter of his father but not of his mother. I am interested in finding out how Jerry B. Jenkins resolves the issues of Terah's other children in subsequent books.

Jerry B. JenkinsAbout the Author  

Author of more than 195 books with sales of over 70 million copies, including the best-selling Left Behind series, Jerry B. Jenkins is former vice president for publishing and former chairman of the board of trustees for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. 

Jerry's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. Twenty-one of his books have reached The New York Times best-seller list (seven debuting number one). 

Jerry owns the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, through which he trains writers online


"Dead Sea Rising" is available in hardcover:
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Worthy Publishing (November 13, 2018)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1617950092
  • ISBN-13: 978-1617950094
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.1 inches

and in Kindle edition:
  • File Size: 3528 KB
  • Print Length: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Worthy Publishing (November 13, 2018)
  • Publication Date: November 13, 2018
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B07CH84GHP

I got a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received for my review.

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