The Last Templar

First paragraph:

Acre, Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1291
The Holy Land is lost.
That single thought kept assaulting Marten of Carmaux, its brutal finality more terrifying than the hordes of fighters swarming in through the breach in the wall.
He fought to block the thought, to push it away.
Now was not the time to lament. He had work to do.
Men to kill.

The last templar is mentioned in flashbacks intertwined with modern day new York, single mum Tess Chaykin, FBI agent Sean Reilly, and an intriguing murder mystery.

There are shades of The Da Vinci Code but The Last Templar is not long winded or verbose, instead it is tight and twisty, way ahead of anything written by Dan Brown.

There is not much to complain about in this book. Both Tess and Sean do stupid things that make their life worse. If they were smart, the story would be a hundred pages shorter. I prefer a story where the heroes succeed against smart criminals because the heroes are smarter instead of just lucky.

This is a good book to read on a long flight, varied to keep you awake, and relaxed enough to let you sleep.

Conclusion

Forget the Da Vinci Code associations, buy the book as a good story about a single mum meeting a male FBI agent and investing a murder mystery together.