Book Review - The Parsifal Pursuit by Michael and Patrick McMenamin

Book Review

The Parsifal Pursuit

by Michael and Patrick McMenamin

About the Authors



Michael is a first amendment and media defense lawyer in Cleveland,  and author of the critically acclaimed Becoming Winston Churchill: The Untold Story of Young Winston and His American Mentor  and co-author, with his son Patrick McMenamin, of "The De Valera Deception".  He is a former Army counterintelligence agent and Army JAG officer and a member of the Association for Intelligence Officers and the International Thriller Writers Association.  Living in Cleveland, OH.

Partick, his son and co-author is an award winning journalist at  FOX-TV.  He is a Phi Beta Kappa cum laude graduate of the University of Rochester with departmental honors in both 20th century European history and film studies.  Prior to ABC, he worked as a free lance film production assistant for camera crews. Living in Brooklyn, NY.

Authors Website         

Book Description

By the spring of 1931 a conspiracy is underway in Germany to assassinate President Hindenburg and restore the Kaiser's son to the throne, threatening the peace of Europe. At the behest of her godfather Winston Churchill, the adventurous journalist Mattie McGary, a rising star in William Randolph Hearst's press empire, and her lover, Bourke Cockran Jr., a New York law school professor and former Army counterintelligence agent, get involved.

A brutal struggle opposes the old Germany and the new; the reactionary industrialists backing Kaiser Wilhelm II versus the racist radicals behind the Nazis and their leader, Adolf Hitler. Winston Churchill is drawn into the fray.

An epic quest to recover an ancient Christian artifact, the Spear of Destiny, is underway! The spear was used by Roman centurion Longinus to pierce the side of Christ to end His suffering on the cross. But the spear—long on display at Vienna's Hofburg Museum—is suddenly missing. Hitler wants it every bit as much as the Kaiser and Winston Churchill.

Mattie travels to the Austrian Alps on a danger-filled search for the spear. When Cockran joins her, both their lives and their romance are in jeopardy because of the handsome and mysterious leader of her expedition who saves her life and seeks to seduce her. Will she find the spear and retain Cockran's love? 

Our Book Review

An enthralling page turning adventure based around the most challenging and changing time in history, as to date, the unrest and turmoil of Europe in the early 1930's and the rise and influence of an Austrian General namely Adolf Hitler and his nemesis our own Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill is out of politics and his information relating to the fact that the Spear of Destiny resting place has been located, he enlists the help of his god-daughter and her lover to find it before Hitler can.  All parties believe who finds the Spear of Destiny, which is allegedly the spear that killed Christ, will have the ultimate power and rule the world.  But who is the secret force who is killing anyone who threatens to remove the spear? 

As this is one of my favourite times of history, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.  The rise of Nazism and the way Hitler got to power unchallenged, the hidden agenda and secrecy surrounding Germany, Britain and America to meet their own means are first rate.  In a time of power struggle, the unrest and danger presented are conveyed excellently.

Reading this book was like travelling back in time, as you follow the characters through Europe you sense and feel the emotions they are feeling and you want to shout out to warn them or send them a message to help them with their quest.  I found the book easy to read and each part describing the events happening to each character are short and sweet, giving the reader time to think reflect on what is happening and, in my opinion, making it more enjoyable.  Being based loosely around historic events, the way the characters have been inter weaved is superb and show the level of care the authors have taken.

As this is the second book in a series, I cannot wait to read the third to find out what awaits the characters in the next instalment of the Gemini Agenda.

Our Rating

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