Book info

• Title Stone of Fire
• Author J. F. Penn
• Year 2011
• Genre Thriller

When psychologist and religious expert Dr. Morgan Sierra's sister and niece are kidnapped, she's thrust into a deadly race against time to find twelve ancient stones that could unleash unimaginable power. With only days until Pentecost and the kidnapper's deadline, Morgan must use all her knowledge and resources to track down the artifacts. She's not alone in the hunt. Jake Timber, an enigmatic agent of ARKANE, a secret British agency investigating the supernatural, has his own orders to retrieve the stones at any cost. Torn between her desperate need to save her family and Jake's mission to secure the stones, lines blur as Morgan and Jake forge an uneasy partnership. From the holy sites of Israel and the Vatican to the desert of Tunisia and the Sonoran wilderness of Arizona, Morgan and Jake face sinister forces, ancient traps, and a fanatical enemy determined to use the stones' power for their own dark purposes. Danger, betrayal and a growing attraction complicate their quest.

Thoughts

I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, as I’ve been a follower of Joanne’s work in podcasting and promoting writing as a career. I enjoyed the story, one of your classic religion meets action thrillers where there’s a global chase in search of artefacts that could just see the destruction of the world. It’s a tough genre to stand out in but I think the characters in Pentecost do a good job at holding their own.

I felt like some of the stones they were chasing came a little too quickly - would the keeper really just hand it over like that, knowing it was an important relic? But then again, I adored the concept of a remote control helicopter helping pluck stones from ceilings in the heart of Venice.

Morgan was a gutsy heroine, and I liked that she didn’t buy into the myth until near the end, most of the time on the quest to save her family. It was a fast-paced pageturner which kept me reading until the very last moment and I’m intrigued where the series goes next.

Rating: 4 / 5