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Old Blood by John Reece Birch Island Books
book review by Peter M. Fitzpatrick
"A rock protects a root, a root feeds a tree and a tree reprocesses our carbon dioxide. Isn't it obvious that a rock is part of the life force?"
Police in five different cities around the world are finding dead bodies hacked to death by sword blades smacked across their neck. What is even stranger, they are found lying in a pile of large feathers. While detectives in London, Paris, and Chicago start to pool their resources, battles between supernatural-like beings begin to take place. It becomes more apparent to the investigators that some "secret society" using feathers as a symbol has either ecological activism or political activism against the rulers in Iran as a motive. Who is this secret society? Is it the CIA or the MI5? Exiled Iranian activists or agents of the Iranian government? Who are the perpetrators and who are the victims? And why are all these dead bodies missing any kind of mutation in their DNA?
The author winds all these loose ends together in a tightly constructed plot that draws on ancient history, genetic bloodlines, and the possibility of "angelic" beings who have co-existed with us since the beginning of time. In the meantime, he explores modern phenomena like neo-paganism and goddess worship, drawing parallels to the ancient Neolithic cultures that flourished from around 10,000 BC to 2000 BC. This era was so marked by advances in human culture, from the beginning of agriculture to the building of great monuments like the Pyramids, some believe that aliens must have intervened. Reece artfully asks the question if these "aliens" might not have been the "angels" of our myths and religions. And in page-turning action, he shows how the "fallen" variety could be hell-bent on regaining control of Earth. This is an intelligent and nuanced thriller that will open up your mind while it starts your adrenaline flowing.