A chronically down-on-his-luck forty-five-year-old man, Zoro, gets a job as chauffeur for a billionaire named Max. It turns out that Zoro’s highly critical and very controlling mother arranged the job, as she knew Max through Zoro’s deceased father, Isaac. Max has been searching for something, or rather four somethings, for decades, but he found only three of them. He believes Isaac found the fourth and hopes that Zoro will help him find it also. What are these things? They are sketches by Michelangelo and they supposedly contain the secret Name of God, and anyone who knows the Name will control the power of Heaven. However, there are those who would do anything to stop Max and Zoro.

Does this sound familiar? I have not read The DaVinci Code but I believe, from what I have read about the book and the movie, that there are definitely similarities. There are also similarities to other, lesser-known books as well. Max tries to teach Zoro how to unlock the third quadrant of the mind, beyond the conscious and the subconscious, through methods that blend Socratic teaching, Zen Buddhism, the Rational Emotive Theory of Albert Ellis, and the script theory of psychology (see works by Silvan Tomkins and Roger Schank). The lesser-known books to which I referred are the hilarious comedy-mystery-thriller, Book of Nathan, by Curt Weeden and Richard Marek, and the thought-provoking Elijah’s Coin by Steve O’Brien.

The settings and the characters are described well, but the character development seems forced. The relationship between Max and Zoro was strange. Zoro is forty-five years old, but his behavior and emotionality reminded me of a twelve-year-old, and Max treats him as such. Zoro’s history is well-described and partially explains his immaturity, but he was not a sympathetic hero for me, and there was no reason for Max to see great potential in him, but he did. The story is interesting, but seems to ramble at times. The lessons that Max teaches Zoro become repetitive. Even though my copy is an Advance Readers Copy, I found very, very few editing issues and, from a technical or proofreading standpoint, it was ready to publish.

If you want a fun read with some religious and philosophical ideas, this one is okay. I would recommend the Book of Nathan more highly, though.  A masterful blend of comedy, philosophy, and tragedy can be found in Blue Road to Atlantis by Jay Nussbaum. A drama-mystery with potentially life-changing ideas describes Elijah’s Coin.

I received a free copy of this from the authors in exchange for a balanced, objective review.

Thanks to Stef for adding this book to the database.

Recommended: No