cover image The Lotus Cross

The Lotus Cross

Ray Anderson. Dark Planet, $16.99 ISBN 978-1-937632-86-1

Characters and plot are both a bit underdone in Anderson’s religious thriller. When a Ugandan rebel guns down the eight-month pregnant wife of Michael Drake, a British doctor working in Africa, Michael managed to deliver his daughter, Kyla, from his wife’s lifeless body. Four years later, Kyla’s uncle reveals to Michael that he possesses an ancient scroll that contains a description of the “apostle Thomas preserving the blood of the resurrected Christ” in a vessel known as the Lotus Cross. Michael’s quest for the relic takes on more than academic significance when Kyla is diagnosed with an advanced and fatal brain cancer. His hopes for his child’s survival hinge on finding the Lotus Cross, extracting the DNA “of the risen Christ,” and using that genetic material to develop a cure. He and his archeologist love-interest, Professor Julia Carter, must contend with a mole in British intelligence and a murderous Russian, who dispatches her victims with an ice pick. Readers will find few surprises. [em](BookLife) [/em]