The Patmos Enigma by Ken Fry (My Goodreads Review)

The Patmos Enigma by Ken Fry

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A splendid biblical thriller entwined with religious myth and celestial occurrences etc. An archaeological team in Israel discover an ancient ossuary. It contains six of the famous Seven Seals. The main characters of the archaeological team are Simon Rockwell, Rachel Carver, Joshua Agar and Julian Gallo.

The discovery has diabolical consequences as ancient and hidden Christian orders are awakened. The Keepers or AWC will go to any lengths to acquire the religious seals. They will do vile murders to gain the coveted prize. When the reader is introduced to the Grand Keeper and what he stands for, there is a complete wow moment!

In competition against the Keepers are the Guardians. Father Luke is the champion of this secret movement. He is aided by a splendid computer programme called Earthworm. It gives the Guardians their edge.

The missing seventh seal is all to play for. All seem to know the caves where a rough estimation of the seventh seal is to be discovered. The archaeological team are being watched by both sides as the religious quest is allowed to continue. But which side will snatch the final seal to complete the Seven Seals?

1. The dark Keepers who will destroy the Holy Roman church to start a new super divine world order?

2. Or will the Guardians’ order win and protect the Status Quo?

It is all up for grabs with hidden groups in the corridors of power, deep inside the Vatican. So secret that even the Pope is unaware of the existence of these strange Christian orders.

I like the way the reader is drip-fed the archaeological find at the beginning with the various consequences and cameo flashbacks to characters of ancient times. Then the Pandora’s Box of paranormal and underground forces suddenly begin to bloom as the story progresses. Everything comes to a very dramatic climax. A very enjoyable read.

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Dario Argento's Dracula Movie

I've always watched Dario Argento's movies because the first horror or X film I ever got into the cinema to watch, was Suspiria - a great Argento movie. I loved the film Suspiria and have watched it so many times. In my view it is his best. Therefore, I keep watching Argento films hoping he will get the right ingredients, as he did in Suspiria.

However, to date, I've yet to come across an Argento movie that even comes close to the atmospheric suspense that Suspiria had for me. When I saw the title in my supermarket; Argento's Dracula, I thought, 'Wow! maybe good old Dario has pulled another one out of the bag. It would be about time too, since 1977.

The front cover boasted good actors: Thomas Kretschmann and Rutger Hauer. Therefore, with ill deserved confidence, I bought the DVD and that evening, with arrogant aplomb, I sat down to watch the Argento version of Dracula.

Oh dear! I waisted a couple of hours of my life. I felt robbed and cheated and begin to wonder when Argento will make another movie that could even compare with Suspiria. I can't help thinking that actors of Kretschmann and Hauer's mold might be a little disappointed by the finished product too.

I'll keep watching Argento movies because of the one good one I have seen - Suspiria. I will keep living in hope, but everything he has done since can't begin to compare. In my humble opinion, Argento's Dracula did not flick any switches for me. It is not important that it drifted from the original story because there are so many good adaptations of Dracula. So a different slant is fine and I expected such. It's just that the presentation of the whole thing was dreadful. The acting and all. It just did not work. It was worse then a bad Hammer House horror.

Keep trying Dario and look at all the grand suspense you created in Suspiria. You got it all right in that. You just never seemed to be able to build upon it it.