Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
Peter Crossman, one of the inner thirty-three Templar priests receives the task of training the new Knight Simon while they break and enter into a Newark warehouse linked to the kidnapping in Jerusalem of UN peacekeepers. The case turns weird when mushrooms flinch at the sign of the cross, and Peter and his partners traverse the mighty Hudson several times in pursuit of an idol that in the wrong hands could begin the Apocalypse now. His team also competes with the Teutonic Knights, the CIA, and a few free lancers seeking the same icon.
Using paradox, puns, and parody, James B. Macdonald provides a powerful satire that seemingly jabs "modern" institutions to include the CIA, history books, Hemingway, the Rosetta Stone like Revelation interpreters, and several other targets. The novel never takes itself seriously, but ironically provides a fully developed lead protagonist who serves as the needed center to the delightful story line. THE APOCALYPSE DOOR is one of the juiciest satires to come along in years as the plot swiftly disses many of society's untouchable giants.