The Testament by Eric Van Lustbader ***

Lustbader has written many action-filled books including a number of captivating stories with a Ninja or Far East flavour. Most recently he completed the Bourne Legacy based on the character of Jason Bourne created by author Robert Ludlum. The Testament has excitement, action, drama, intrigue and in that context it is an entertaining read.

Unfortunately one can be distracted by the incredible similarity of this book to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Most of the elements are the same, almost identical. There is the good guy, Braverman Shaw, who on the mysterious death of his father inherits an onerous task. It requires all of the fighting skills he acquired through training as a youth and more importantly an incredible capacity for untangling a maze of ciphers that his father left for him to solve.

There is the “good girl”, Jenny, who is assigned to protect him as a guardian and yet you are not really certain whose side she is really on.
There is a religious organization, The Order of Gnostic Observatines, (that does have some historical roots) that is hiding a protecting “The Testament” supposedly written by Jesus Christ. In addition they have also been harboring “the Quintessence” an all healing substance that can lead to immortality. Braverman inherits from his father the responsibility of being the keeper of this cache.

There are the bad guys, a secret society named the Knights of St Clement that was established by the Pope at the time of the crusades to locate the Testament and the Quintessence to support the church. The bad guys will not stop at any atrocities to succeed in obtaining the cache. The pursuit of Braverman is the essence of the book. The plot is further complicated by a group that has infiltrated the Knights and contaminated the whole mission as they want the cache for themselves.The 480 pages of this pulp fiction are filled with enough mystery and action to keep one reading. It is just too bad that one keeps thinking didn’t we already go through this with Da Vinci