552
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #30,639 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★☆
Indiana Jones meets Albert Einstein
First, a brief apology for the trite review title. But seriously, a college professor protagonist, Nazis and a mysterious, ancient sarcophagus with mystical powers coveted by all? How can you NOT make a comparison to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” :)
Although I didn’t care for Massello’s “The Romanov Cross”, I am a huge fan of Albert Einstein. So “The Einstein Prophecy” was a no brainer Kindle First pick for July. Fortunately, I liked it a lot more than “Romanov’s” perhaps because I was more interested in the subject matter but I thought that the author did a better job of character development and in keeping the story moving.
Set in 1944, primarily in Princeton, NJ, “Einstein” is pretty much your standard mystic thriller ala Dan Brown. There isn’t much to say about the plot. Seriously, the title and first paragraph of this review should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. OK- maybe not the breakneck speed of "Raiders" but the themes are there.
I always enjoy reading about Einstein and having other historical figures like Robert Oppenheimer and Kurt Godel also show up as characters was another plus. Some conversations and events are a little out of their actual time line, but, hey,- it’s fiction :) For those that are interested, I don’t remember any foul language and the sex scenes were mild. But if you are squeamish about “devilish” themes be aware they appear in this book- but not “Exorcist” scary.
On the downside- boy, was this predictable. The story moved right along but can’t say I felt the slightest surprise at any point- including the end. And a few times it seemed that the author was trying to work in too many historical facts to the detriment of the story.
The predictability almost pushed this down to a three star for me but since I stopped expecting to find a rare treasure like “The Butcher’s Boy” or “Old Man’s War” in Kindle First a long time ago, my expectations were just for a quick interesting read. And I got exactly what I was looking for- a few pleasant hours of escapist entertainment.
