This book so nearly got 5 stars with me that I'm almost disappointed that it didn't. The reason I felt I couldn't give it 5 stars is because the first chapter is really hard going, I really struggled to get through the opening of The Eighth Scroll and was slightly wary that if the whole book was written in the same way then I wouldn't make it through, I shouldn't have worried, once it hit the modern day it was engaging and I was completely immersed in the storyline.
When I was asked to review this I was told that Dr Laurence Brown was being referred to as "the other Brown" in reference to the likeness of this storyline to those books produced by Dan Brown, I loved The Da Vinci Code and have actually read all of the Dan Brown novels so if there was another author on the market who wrote a similar style of novel then I was definitely interested. I didn't really know anything about the Dead Sea Scrolls other than they were something to do with religion but I figured that religion always provided an interesting backdrop to a novel and it backed up the theory that Dr Brown was heading down a similar route to Dan Brown.
The actual storyline of The Eighth Scroll was brilliant and I felt that I could relate to all of the characters. One of the things that I liked is that Dr Brown has a strong belief in God but also has a very specific view of religion. Some of the things that he writes may be considered controversial to a number of people who have strong beliefs but, having studied religion as a teenager, I was thrilled that he highlighted areas of the bible which contradict other areas, something that has always frustrated me. I also liked that I felt I was being educated on a number of things concerning religion without actually being lectured to, something which is quite difficult to achieve when tackling such a complex subject.
In conclusion I thought that The Eighth Scroll was a brilliant book and I hope that Dr Brown enjoys the same success as Dan Brown has as he definitely deserves it and I can't wait to read whatever he publishes next.
