The Last Testament - Sam Bourne

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The Last Testament follows Maggie Costello who is an Irish woman working as a peacekeeper in the United States. Israel and the Palestinians are on the verge of signing and historic deal, but when Israeli bodyguards shoot a man heading towards the Israeli prime minister, only to find that the man is not armed with a gun with a bloodstained note, the deal is starting to look less likely, as tit for tat murders begin to take place.
...chance to make up for the mistakes she is made in the past. And since her relationship is in ruins there is nothing to keep her from leaving for the Middle East.


Soon Maggie finds that the murders are not as random as they first seem, and her investigations put not only their own life in jeopardy, but could uncover a true that could end the Middle East hostilities for ever, or it could spark an all-out war.


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Synopsis

The Last Testament follows Maggie Costello who is an Irish woman working as a peacekeeper in the United States. Israel and the Palestinians are on the verge of signing and historic deal, but when Israeli bodyguards shoot a man heading towards the Israeli prime minister, only to find that the man is not armed with a gun with a bloodstained note, the deal is starting to look less likely, as tit for tat murders begin to take place.

Therefore Washington decide to call in one of their star negotiators Maggie Costello. However Maggie is not as confident about her abilities as Washington are, although she believes that this may be a chance to make up for the mistakes she is made in the past. And since her relationship is in ruins there is nothing to keep her from leaving for the Middle East.

Soon Maggie finds that the murders are not as random as they first seem, and her investigations put not only their own life in jeopardy, but could uncover a true that could end the Middle East hostilities for ever, or it could spark an all-out war.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book, it's the first book I've read from Sam Bourne, and he's now I on my list of favourite authors.

I will admit however, that I thought at first that I wasn't going to enjoy the book because it started off quite slow. But about a quarter of the way through the book it started to get much better, and the pace of the book picked up considerably, and I struggled to put it down, so it meant a few late nights.

The main characters in the book are Maggie and Uri, Uri is the son of the man who was shot at the beginning of the book. Of the two Uri is the most sympathetic character, even though Maggie seems to have gone through a lot of trauma in her life.

Despite the slow start the writing flows nicely, although if you don’t have any knowledge at all of the Middle Eastern conflict, you might find yourself getting a little lost in places. And of course a basic knowledge of the Old Testament comes in handy. Even without any knowledge of these two things I think anyone would still enjoy this book though.

I didn’t see the identity of the bad guys coming, although the outcome of the main storyline was obvious from the very beginning, there really wasn’t any other way that Bourne could have written it. Even knowing how it was going to end didn’t spoil the enjoyment of finding out how they got to that point.
 

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