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A teenage computer prodigy is strangled in Mumbai. A far-right extremist is killed in a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. A wealthy businessman is murdered in Thailand. A pimp in Brooklyn is found stabbed to death and mysteriously covered by a brown shroud.
What connects the victims is an ancient prophecy that foretells the end of everything. Now it's up to fledgling New York Times reporter Will Monroe to prevent it. But his investigation could cost Monroe the woman he loves, as it leads him into a dangerous shadow world of fundamentalist religion, mysticism, and biblical prophecies—and toward a set of ancient texts that could save humankind . . . or destroy every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth.
Chapter One
Friday, 9:10 p.m., Manhattan
The night of the first killing was filled with song. St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan trembled to the sound of Handel's Messiah, the grand choral masterpiece that never failed to rouse even the most slumbering audience. Its swell of voices surged at the roof of the cathedral. It was as if they wanted to break out, to reach the very heavens.
Inside, close to the front, sat a father and son, the older man's eyes closed, moved as always by this, his favorite piece of music. This may have been a preview, a warm-up for the Christmas season, but that did not lessen its power. The son's gaze alternated between the performers--the singers dressed in black, the conductor wildly waving his shock of gray hair--and the man at his side. He liked looking at him, gauging his reactions; he liked being this close.
Tonight was a celebration. A month earlier Will Monroe Jr. had landed the job he had dreamed of ever since he had come to America. Still only in his late twenties, he was now a reporter, on the fast track at the New York Times. Monroe Sr. inhabited a different realm. He was a lawyer, one of the most accomplished of his generation, now serving as a federal judge on the second circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. He liked toacknowledge achievement when he saw it, and this young man at his side, whose boyhood he had all but missed, had reached a milestone. He found his son's hand and gave it a squeeze.
It was at that moment, no more than a forty-minute subway ride across town but a world away, that Howard Macrae heard the first steps behind him. He was not scared. Outsiders may have steered clear of this Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, notorious for its drug-riddled streets, but Macrae knew every street and alley.
He was part of the landscape. A pimp of some two decades' standing, he was wired into Brownsville. He had been a smart operator, too, ensuring that in the gang warfare that scarred the area, he always remained neutral. Factions would clash and shift, but Howard stayed put, constant. No one had challenged the patch where his whores plied their trade for years.
So he was not too worried by the sound behind him. Still, he found it odd that the footsteps did not stop. He could tell they were close. Why would anybody be tailing him? He turned his head to peer over his left shoulder and gasped, immediately tripping over his feet. It was a gun unlike any he had ever seen--and it was aimed at him.
Inside the cathedral, the chorus was now one being, their lungs opening and closing like the bellows of a single, mighty organ. The music was insistent:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Howard Macrae was now facing forward, attempting to break into an instinctive run. But he could feel a strange, piercing sensation in his right thigh. His leg seemed to be giving way, collapsing under his weight, refusing to obey his orders. I have to run! Yet his body would not respond. He seemed to be moving in slow motion, as if wading through water.
Now the mutiny had spread to his arms, which were first lethargic, then floppy. His brain raced with the urgency of the situation, but it too now seemed overwhelmed, as if submerged under a sudden burst of floodwater. He felt so tired.
He found himself lying on the ground clasping his right leg, aware that it and the rest of his limbs were surrendering to numbness. He looked up. He could see nothing but the steel glint of a blade.
In the cathedral, Will felt his pulse quicken. The Messiah was reaching its climax; the whole audience could sense it. A soprano voice hovered above them:
If God be for us, who can be against us?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?
Macrae could only watch as the knife hovered over his chest. He tried to see who was behind it, to make out a face, but he could not. The gleam of metal dazzled him; it seemed to have caught all the night's moonlight on its hard, polished surface. He knew he ought to be terrified: the voice inside his head told him he was. But it sounded oddly removed, like a commentator describing a faraway football game. Howard could see the knife coming closer toward him, but still it seemed to be happening to someone else.
Now the orchestra was in full force, Handel's music coursing through the church with enough force to waken the gods. The alto and tenor were as one, demanding to know:
O Death, where is thy sting?
Will was not a classical buff like his father, but the majesty and power of the music was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Still staring straight ahead, he tried to imagine the expression his father would be wearing: he pictured him, rapt, and hoped that underneath that blissful exterior there might also lurk some pleasure at sharing this moment with his only son.
The blade descended, first across the chest. Macrae saw the red line it scored, as if the knife were little more than a scarlet marker pen. The skin seemed to bubble and blister: he did not understand why he felt no pain. Now the knife was moving down, slicing his stomach open like a bag of grain. The contents spilled out, a warm soft bulge of viscous innards. Howard was watching it all, until the moment the dagger was finally held aloft. Only then could he see the face of his murderer. His larynx managed to squeeze out a gasp of shock--and recognition. The blade found his heart, and all was dark.
The mission had begun.
Continues...
Excerpted from The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne Copyright © 2006 by Sam Bourne. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Very good book. Main Characters could have been stronger but all in all, very good.
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Posted December 25, 2011
Kept on the edge of my seat although slightly repetitive. Amazing story, so muchbresearch and time was invested into it as you can tell. Great read.
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Posted December 5, 2011
I read it for a book review in a british literature class. I picked it based on the requirement of the author being british... i couldnt put it down! It surely is not the davinci code, but it is a great book.
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Posted January 26, 2008
From the moment that I picked up the 'Righteous Men' I was intrigued by the unique story line. I read it in a matter of days, and felt that every minute of my time was time well spent. Since I completed the book, I have passed it on to my entire immediate family and now it has moved on to my extended family. It is getting rave reviews from all age groups and lifestyles. Sam Bourne has done a great job as a fiction writer! I have to question whether the 'reviewer' read the book based on her review, and paltry one star.
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Posted November 6, 2007
I am not an avid reader. The last book I read was The Firm about 15 years ago, and needless to say I do not like to read much. I happened to pick this book up by chance and once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It kept me interested the whole time and I didn't think there was any 'filler' information at all. I can't see how anyone would not like this book.
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Posted January 24, 2007
This is a good book, no doubt in my mind. The 1 thing I didnot like is his 'Will' is so much like Preston&Child's William Simthback. Even the same news paper.I would like them to let their charters meet and work togeather on a story.
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Posted November 28, 2006
The book I admit is a little different than that of the Da Vinci Code which I loved. This book however does deal with a mystery that has has it's roots based in some facts. The story reads very well the characters are sympathetic and the story moves very fast. I read this in two days and was pleased with the ending.
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Posted September 17, 2006
The book sounded really interesting, however it is just very disappointing. It is so boring, I can't even bring myself to finish it. Maybe the ending is great, but it's just not worth wasting the time trying to get there. This is an emotionless book. No humor, energy, fear...I mean nothing. There is absolutely NO suspense in this story at all. The only thing this book inspires is sleep.
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Posted September 17, 2006
If you want to know what the book is about, read it your self. I read it because it said it was comparable to the Da Vinci Code, which it was. The beginning was slow, but it set up for a great ending. After page 300, you will not, and can not put it down. I recommend it to everyone. PS Da Vinci Code is second to Angels & Demon¿s I rate this book in the Top 10
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Posted September 7, 2006
I think this books sucks, and the only reason I bought it was because it was said to be comparable to the davinci code. This book shouldn't be on the same shelf as the davinci code.
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Posted September 10, 2006
Will Monroe, a rookie journalist for The New York Times, is trying his best to impress his superiors and his colleagues. His first assignment, ¿your garden variety gangland killing¿ will not make the front page unless he makes it into a bigger story. Will digs deeper in an effort to find something interesting, something newsworthy, and something that will get Will¿s name on the front page of The New York Times. Will Monroe gets his front page, but at what cost? Howard Macrae, the person who is now the corpse lying, covered in a blanket, on the dirty streets of Manhattan is not what he seems. To everyone who was acquainted with him, he was a pimp, an exploiter and a user of women. But to one woman, perhaps the one who knew him better than anyone else, he was a saviour, a righteous man. Will Monroe is intrigued by Howard Macrae¿s story, but does not think much more of it. Howard Macrae was only his means of getting that front-page slot. His next assignment, the death of Pat Baxter, considered by most to be a Unabomber, seems similar to the previous case Pat Baxter, a man who had a dangerous and militant reputation was not what most people perceived him to be. He was another righteous man. Will Monroe stumbles across more and more of these `Righteous Men¿ and becomes buried deeper into a world that is dangerous for him and all who care for him. The Righteous Men is a wonderfully fast-paced tale set, in a well-researched religious backdrop. Every character that emerges is pivotal to the plot and their own predicaments usually only add to what turns out to be, for Will Monroe, a race against time to solve the clues and save the person most dear to his heart. Of course, books of this type will inevitably be compared to The Da Vinci Code (I am sure The Righteous Men will do as much for the Hassidic religion as its counterpart has done for Opus Dei). But The Righteous Men stands on its own as a very enjoyable thriller that may not have you guessing to the very end, but will certainly let you to enjoy the ride.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.British expatriate Will Monroe is a reporter for the New York Times who sees a nebulous link between two murders in which both victims were described as righteous by those who knew them even Will assumes the deaths are a weird coincidence, but digs a bit deeper. As more similar deaths occur that baffle police around the globe, Will follows the trail to Washington State.------------- However, while he is there, he receives an electronic message that his pregnant wife Beth has been kidnapped. He rushes home in a panic and realizes neither the police nor even his influential dad can help rescue his wife. Through a friend he learns the message came from an Internet café in Crown Heights Brooklyn, home of the Hasidic Jews. Will goes there to try to find Beth, but runs into trouble with the Rebbe who wonders who the outsider is working for. Soon the clues send Will searching for answers in the Torah, which begins to enable him to connect his spouse¿s abduction to the murders of THE RIGHTEOUS MEN once the thirty-six are dead life on this planet as we know it will end, but why Beth remains a mystery until Will completes the shocking circle that engulfs him.------------------- Dan Brown meets Hasidic Jews in this somewhat convoluted religious End of Days conspiracy thriller that uses the Jewish Kabala as the focus. The story line starts straight out straight forward with an interesting murder mystery in which no motives seem to surface and the only tie is that those killed were considered righteous. The tale soon spins into a wild all over the place religious thriller that is exciting, but also difficult to follow with too many religious themes taken from the apocalypse to the messiah to the kabala, etc. Still this kosher Da Vinci tale is refreshing and very enjoyable especially when the reporter crosses the Bay to Brooklyn.---------------- Harriet Klausner
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Posted November 11, 2008
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Overview
A teenage computer prodigy is strangled in Mumbai. A far-right extremist is killed in a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. A wealthy businessman is murdered in Thailand. A pimp in Brooklyn is found stabbed to death and mysteriously covered by a brown shroud.
What connects the victims is an ancient prophecy that foretells the end of everything. Now it's up to fledgling New York Times reporter Will Monroe to prevent it. But his investigation could cost Monroe the woman he loves, as it leads him into a dangerous shadow world of fundamentalist religion, mysticism, and biblical prophecies—and toward a set of ancient texts that could save humankind . . . ...