The 13th Tribe by Robert Liparulo

 (In The 13th Tribe) Back when Moses met God on Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel sinned and created a golden calf to worship. Thousands were killed, but 40 were dealt a much different card- the curse of immortality on earth. Over time, the seriousness of their curse settles in, and they will do anything to earn salvation. Eventually this group who dubs themselves the 13th tribe turns to killing sinners in the hope that they will please God enough to earn their salvation.

Jagger Baird has recently been in a horrifying and traumatic car accident. He lost his arm, his friends, and his love for God. In an attempt to start over, he and his family move into a monastery by Mt. Sinai. Being a security guard for an archeological dig, Jagger is on the lookout for anything suspicious. Unsuspecting, Jagger finds just that; and much, much more.

When I first saw the current cover of this book, I instantly pictured an epic clash of ancient Greek immortals with Einstein knowledge, therefore also possessing weaponry and technology a century before their time. And then my mind went wild with the idea, and basically by the time I started the book, it was like I had already seen the movie. Except... they were two completely different things.

I would like to address the whole immortality deal because in novels, immortality can mean several different things. These immortals are not "deity-grade" immortals. That is to say, they can still be injured. To give you an idea of the type of immortality they have, it would be somewhere above Middle Earth's elves, but below Homer's Achilles. Well, they would be below the Greek demigod Achilles if he hadn't died. Does that make sense? Swords don't fling off of them, no. But they are still ridiculously hard to kill.

So what was this book like? For my fantasy mindset, it was nothing like my mental movie. Yet, that does not mean it disappointing. The 13th Tribe is equal parts God/theology, suspense, and thriller. While some of the plot-turners I had seen coming early on, others were quite surprising. I loved the characters in this novel- they really grew on me by the end. As far as pacing and suspense? There are seldom few books that force me to flip through the pages as fast as this one did. The suspense got my heart beating so fast at one point that I actually set the book down and went for a jog to use up the energy! I got very immersed in the story. I'd also like to add that the theology in this book really got me thinking. Being able to see the world from the view of the immortals about the mortals, and then the mortals about the immortals was quite fascinating. Anticipating the next installment in The Immortal Files!

 I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze, in exchange for my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.