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The Mullahs by David Maring iUniverse
book review by Peter M. Fitzpatrick
"The Society is composed of members who believe they are direct descendants of a sexual union between Lucifer, whom they refer to as the Serpent, and Eve, which produced the biblical child, Cain."
This is the second novel in a series that partly extrapolates from the current geopolitical conditions, namely, the rise of Islamic terrorism and the threat of nuclear terrorism by the enemies of America. Only it is not just the usual Axis of Evil at work. There is a secretive cult called "The Society" who are actively trying to bring about Armageddon and the return of Satan's rule over the planet. They are adept at deception and manipulation of all the usual enemies of Israel and America. And directly in their path is Professor William Weston, Head of the Department of Archaeology at Charleston University in South Carolina. He is on a mission to unearth a secret manuscript from the tomb of the Apostle John's burial vault. It supposedly spells out the message of the Book of Revelations in plain language, without symbolism or metaphor. Competing world powers, including the devil-worshipping Cainites, want to control that message and use it for their own purposes.
In action-filled prose, the author builds a fascinating world where supernatural and spiritual causes are revealed to be behind the contemporary headlines of our modern era. Assassinations and terrorism are given a framework of fictional sense-making imbued with historical and biblical meaning. Characters on the side of light are often literally subjected to seduction by the forces of evil through sexual temptation, making the battle between good and evil play out on a very personal and local level. That world-changing consequences hinge on how these characters choose to respond to such machinations shows how integral the author's vision of morality is. His is a religious view that seamlessly joins the narratives of our era with a fearlessly moral stance. Like a painter who judges his subject with a creator's eye, Maring draws well-defined lines between light and dark. The result is a thought-provoking and stirring story.