Book Beginnings and Friday 56 - The Eden Prophecy by Graham Brown

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader. To play along, please do the following:

• Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments below.
• Be sure to share the name of the book and the author so we know what you are currently reading.
• Feel free to share your first impressions with us based on the first line.
• Link your post at Rose City Reader, or if you don't have a blog, leave it in the comments below. 

I'm currently reading The Eden Prophecy by Graham Brown.  This is from the beginning:

Southern Iran, 1979

The desert wind cried like a beast in mortal pain. Ahmad Bashir listened to it as he crouched in the shelter of a hastily erected tent. As the wind howled outside, the tent’s thin walls flapped and strained against the poles and stakes that held them in place. The storm was getting worse, not better.

My Thoughts:

Already this doesn't sound like a place I want to visit and I sure as heck would not want to be stuck in the middle of a sand storm.  I don't know if I would be able to last in this kind of environment - even for national security.

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice. To play along:

• Grab the book closest to you, any book will do.
• Turn to page 56.
• Choose the fifth (5th) sentence or a few more (just don't spoil it too much).
• Post it on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, post it in the comments below.
• Link your post to Freda's Voice.

My Friday 56 is also from The Eden Prophecy:

     He would do all that the Master requested, because it was his purpose.  

     Today he waited at the end of the boulevard in a dilapidated shelter that had once been a bus stop and watched as a young man in ratty jeans, boots, and an oversized hoodie walked the trash-littered sidewalk toward him.

My thoughts:  I don't think the Master is a benevolent leader and I can already tell by this person's attitude that he's not one of the good guys.  


About The Eden Prophecy:


The wisdom of faith. The power of science. The evil of man.
In the U.N. building in New York City, a U.S. Ambassador contracts an unknown virus after opening a threatening letter. In a slum near Paris, a rogue geneticist is found dead, tortured and defiled. His last message, a desperate plea for help, was sent to an old friend and fellow outcast, the ex-CIA agent and former mercenary named Hawker. His final legacy appears to be the fingerprints he left all over the letter to the Ambassador.

Consumed by thoughts of revenge but fighting to see the truth, Hawker teams up with NRI operative Danielle Laidlaw on a quest to find the killers and track down the secrets his dead friend may have lost or sold.

From the streets of Paris to an underground auction in the catacombs of Beirut to the merciless deserts of Iran, Hawker and Danielle find themselves hunting a murderous cult leader whose scientific arsenal could lead humanity to a new Eden—or unleash hell on the Earth itself.

So what are you Friday Book Beginnings and Friday 56? Please play along and if you decide to follow my blog, let me know in the comments and I'll return the favor.