templar salvation

Templar Salvation is Raymond Khoury's follow-up to The Last Templar. There is a three year gap between the two story lines, but the two main character's pick up where they left off, pretty much, in their efforts to uncover the origins and the secrets of the Knights Templar. I've said it before in another Templar book review, there is a lot of traction left in the Templar myth, and they'll be writing stories about them for decades--if not millennia--to come.

In this book, Khoury addresses religion, all religion, but especially the three Abrahamic religions, and the impact the Knights Templar had on those religions, and he speculates on their relationship with the pope at a time when the pope decided that to be a good Christian you had to suit up, march off and start killing people for believing in a different version of God. And take over the holy land by force. Khoury's spin on how the Knights Templar gained control of the temple, and how they later became so rich and powerful make for an interesting read.

Khoury writes a good story, but its all pretty pat, so there aren't a whole lot of surprises in the story arc; the fun is in the backstory. I smell a triple!