Probably the best thing about The Bell Messenger is its unique plot structure.
It's about a college graduate who receives of box of seemingly random items from his eccentric uncle. There are several valuable jewels contained in the box, but the most intriguing piece in the box is an old Bible. The college grad wonders where came from. He probes his uncle for answers, but the old man's tight lipped. So the grad has to research on his own. He teams up with a beautiful girl to do the job.
The plot also shows snippets of the journey of the Bible. It was called the Bell Bible because a Confederate soldier passed it to his Union murderer just before death. It then falls into the hands of a street preacher, who also dies. It eventually ends up in Africa where a young couple finds it and brings it back to America.
The book is very different for a debut novel, probably because of Alton's hand in it. The main problem with it is I thought it could have been longer because of its rushed end. The fast movement of time in the past does not leave the opportunity for interesting characters. It's a shame because several of them were ripe for improvement.
The end is continued, but I'm not really sure why. It seems like it could end here.
The best part about this book is the fact that it's not an all out, change-the-history-of-the-world treasure hunt that lots of people are on. It's just a simple digging back into the past. This is also one treasure hunt that has no secret societies in it.
All in all, it was interesting and worth your time. It will be interesting to see what Cornuke will do next.
3 stars
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