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| The Amulet
| | Dean Klein
| The Amulet (one of three very high-concept works of eerie fiction by this author) is a three-part Christian thriller. Inspired by the great and classic film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the single most mysterious line in all the gospels, the novel required four years to write. Given its utterly startling premise, it has already proven to be of interest to one of the largest motion picture studios in the world. Below is a small precis of the work:
In 1947, a monumental archeological discovery is made near the ruins of a previously unknown and long-extinct Jewish community. An ancient relic is found. To the shock of everyone that sees it, it appears not to have aged a day in two thousand years.
For decades subsequent to its discovery, the find is kept hidden, knowledge of its existence never made public. Yet, one day, something inexplicable happens. Its private owner suddenly becomes terrified of it. He hurriedly contacts the Israeli Antiquities Authority, informing this organization of what he possesses, the existence of something that defies description. The IAA laughs at him, only reluctantly accepting his donation. Two months pass. During that time, to the IAA’s sheer astonishment, all rigorous scientific test results confirm the relic’s authenticity...that it indeed dates to Israel of the first-century. But that is not the only thing that stuns the IAA. It appears to exhibit supernatural properties. One night, while studying the antiquity in an underground laboratory, the worst screams ever heard in human history reverberate through the building. Armed guards nervously enter the room, their gun hands shaking. What they find cannot be explained. And the relic goes missing, lost to the IAA forever.
Thirteen years after these events, unrelenting nightmarish dreams beset Emanuel Tov in the United States. In these dreams, he is told to go to Israel for a reason he does not know. Leaving his family astounded at his abrupt decision to attend an Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem, it is there he learns of the existence of something that, according to his frightened rabbi, ‘should not exist...'something that scares me to my soul.’
Emanuel’s only path to understand what is happening to him is to attempt to study the deadly relic even at the risk of his own life. And what he finds written on it nearly drowns him in fear and hysteria. Now deeply afraid of it, he leaves the room vowing never to return. But the relic’s hold on him is unbreakable, drawing him back, drawing him in, compelling Emanuel to accept an incredible fate decreed for him centuries ago.
The Amulet is a roller-coaster ride of a tale – taking the reader on a captivating journey through a labyrinth of settings and dialogue no less than chilling, powerful, provocative and, to be sure, spiritual and uplifting. But the genre pervasively present throughout the tale is that of high suspense. Emanuel embarks on a daunting mission to learn of a stupefying destiny set for him two thousand years ago. And upon fulfilling that destiny, one he had resisted and fought against all the way, the world and the Vatican begin to become afraid for no one can explain what is happening.
Thoughts as held by many of the story’s characters in the face of these astonishing occurrences are presented...thoughts of joy and, yes, thoughts of doubt. Thoughts of repentance. Thoughts of dread. Many reject what is happening as hoaxes: many do not. The world begins to panic. There is chaos and riots in the streets. Prelates shout at prelates in their worry and fear. Churches, synagogues and mosques are jammed with fearful worshipers, countless millions believing that what is happening presages End of Days. And then, upon the gripping and rapid-fire – shocking – events that lay the foundation for the conclusion of The Amulet, when the world is at its most fearful, the light of the world touches the world again.
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