THE BOOK OF JUDGES

In Fields’ thriller, a trio of young professionals unexpectedly find themselves caught up in a murder mystery spanning millennia.

Arriving at Judge Maloch’s house for a meeting, new lawyer Josh Sutton witnesses the old man’s murder. Escaping with the laptop that Maloch died to protect, Josh enlists the help of doctoral candidate Samantha “Sammi” Bollinger and her tech-savvy friend Mark Roth to decode the mysteries left behind. These include an email from a man called Master Zhou, who may have ties to the mysterious organization known as Falun Dafa, an offshoot of ancient China’s Xiulian tradition that emphasizes achieving a “higher state of consciousness” and is now viewed largely as a cult. The three eventually come to suspect that Maloch’s murder is directly related to those of various historical judges hinted at in the Bible itself, and that it is up to them to stop the next murder—if they can escape the assassin who is hot on their trail. Interspersed between the scenes of modern-day action are flashbacks to ancient judges who experience a type of divine guidance (called “The Words”) that simultaneously helps them and puts their lives at risk. Fields delivers a twisty thriller with a delightfully unusual plot that takes readers from 11th-century Normandy and England to 13th-century Beijing and beyond. The glimpses into various human rights cases over the centuries—and the judges who struggled with those cases within the contexts of their respective ages—add richness to the present-day murder mystery. The protagonists’ deep dive into Biblical secrets is somewhat reminiscent of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2003)—historical purists may balk as the action grows increasingly outlandish (and even strays toward possible ancient alien sightings: “If you look at the actual language used in the Bible...God’s appearances could easily be that of an extraterrestrial”). Ultimately, these elements combine for a fun and thoughtful adventure through the ages.

A unique premise with just the right balance of camp and mystery.