No surprise to my readers that Robert Liparulo is a favorite author of mine. So happy to see his new novel The Thirteenth Tribe come up in the CFBA Tour, I immediately signed up. Published by Thomas Nelson, The Thirteenth Tribe will supply a unique premise and take you on a journey from an archaelogical dig site on Mt. Sinai to the catacombs of Paris and back to a specific location in the USA.
Jagger Baird is your prototypical tough guy with a tender heart toward his wife Beth and son Tyler and a hefty beef with God. This former Army Ranger doesn't resent his wife's Christianity or his young son's faith, but for him the car accident that took his closest friends' entire family and left Jagger with a prosthetic arrm and "fractured" memories also left him with a major grudge against this God he can't understand. As much as he distrusts God, he loves and trusts his wife for handling his withdrawal and distancing himself from her and Tyler after the accident. Jagger lands a security job on the Sinai dig site with lodging for his family at the monastery of St. Catherine's. This new gig is his way of establishing a fresh beginning for his family. One of the senior monks has taken a liking to them and particularly to Jagger's little boy, eager to show the home-schooled child and his mom the many historical pieces of the monastery in the ancient layered city.
The strange arrival of two helicopters at different times in restricted air space sends Jagger on a search for an individual perched up on the hills above the site. This sets off the beginning of non-stop conflict where Jagger is forced to trust a stranger called Owen who also arrives via air after unexpected explosions and tragedy. When everything goes absolutely wrong, Owen is the only one who supplies potential solutions to the havoc playing out in Jagger's family.
In some ways The Thirteenth Tribe is a typical Robert Liparulo thriller. Guys and gals, you know you're going to get lots of explosions, multiple weapons, fighting, wounding, dying, and high-tech scheming and execution. In many ways Robert is ahead of his time. He takes the most sophisticated technology and stretches it to the next level while mixing in historical facts and antique weaponry to demonstrate how the art of killing remains the same.
The Thirteenth Tribe twists our thoughts with its premise and shows us the struggles of Jagger Baird who doesn't argue against the existence of God but resents His perceived cruelty, epitomizing the anguish of the soul most humans must face and conquer to become a believer. And that conflict is what separates this novel from other Liparulo thrillers. It doesn't touch lightly and bounce away from the subject: it tackles the problem headlong and wrestles with it. It's a bold step for Robert as a writer because I'm sure over the years he's gained a lot of fans who haven't been challenged by faith issues in his stories. There's always been a thread of spiritual content for anyone to see in his previous books, but this story leaves no doubt about the gospel. I say: Bravo!
At the heart of this story, which starts at a moderate pace but accelerates with a rush, is a depiction of the human condition. Lost, helpless, subject to fake and phony spiritual theories, closed to truth, we either come to the end of ourselves or we don't. We either exalt our false ideas or we discover how very little we know of the big scheme.
With some quirky and bizarre characters and concepts, some subtle – some not – symbolism, and a clever and well-delivered surprise toward the end, The Thirteenth Tribe fires on all of its high-octane cylinders.
http://www.robertliparulo.com/
Lord, you know the blessings I pray over Robert. Please continue to reward him for his graciousness to others. Supply the stories you have for him to tell and bring the increase. Please protect him and his family and keep them safe from all harm. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
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