BookOpinion

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: If you have read any Craig Parshall novels in the past, then you are going to be delighted with “The Last Judgment.” This is the final book of the Chamber of Justice series, and like Mr. Parshall’s previous novels, it is full of emotional conflict, conspiracy, violent upheavals and resolution.

The primary character, Will Chambers, is an attorney who has been hired by the foster parents of Hassan Gilead Amahn, an Egyptian by birth but raised by a Christian mother who was murdered in Egypt for her beliefs. The situation evolves after Gilead arrives in Cairo and has been preaching on the streets and is arrested. After Will pulls some strings in rather high places, Gilead is released and journeys on to Israel. When Gilead reaches Jerusalem in order to reach out to Muslims there with the love of God, he becomes unknowingly involved in a cataclysmic event…an explosion on the Temple Mount, demolishing the al-Aqsa Mosque and resulting in the death of hundreds of Muslims. It is believed that a group called The Knights of the Temple Mount is responsible for this crime and seemingly, Gilead is their leader.

Gilead is charged with the crime and incarcerated, and Will Chambers is approached again by the parents and requested to defend their adopted son. Will’s lovely wife, Fiona, pleads with Will to not accept the assignment but after researching the case, Will feels this is an opportunity not only to rescue Gilead, but to wreak justice upon a man named Warren Mullburn, a powerful figure who has put Will’s career and life in jeopardy in the past.

Warren Millburn, the owner of a small chain of islands in the Caribbean, has few friends but many allies in the shady world of political intrigue. And now, he is preparing his biggest coup ever — manipulation of events in the Middle East that will ultimately put him in control of a global empire unrivaled in world history.

How is Will going to achieve the release of Gilead considering the turmoil between the Israelis and the Muslims? With the press, President of the United States and the Muslim states screaming for Gilead’s blood, it seems an unlikely event. And behind the scenes, Warren Millburn is assuring his own future as well as Gilead’s death.

An impossible task: An American attorney defending a Christian in one of the most volatile areas of the world. Whichever way this case is resolved, it is going to change the history of the Middle East.

Well, Craig Parshall has done it again. “The Last Judgment” is well written, fast paced, highly detailed and electrifying. This is a must read if you are a fan of political intrigue or law based dramas. However, I highly recommend that you begin with the first book in the Chamber of Justice series, “The Resurrection File” in order to follow the sequence of events leading up to this final chapter of Will’s life.

– Elizabeth Channery