After the adventure in The Alexander Cipher, Daniel Knox is back. This time his partner Gaille is along for the ride as well, and the mystery revolves around an ancient theory surrounding Moses and the Jewish people.
The Exodus Quest is a similar length to the previous book, although there’s no indication by the author this time about how long it took to write. The overall quest here is intriguing and I really enjoyed the parts in which the various characters put forward their thoughts and theories and discussed the possibilities in front of them. But, like with The Alexander Cipher, I found some of the subplots uninteresting and I’m not sure the book needs to be as long as it is.
But what really cripples the book is that I found Gaille’s portion of the story much more interesting than Knox’s. His story arc was mostly a lot of chasing and all I wanted to do was get back to the main search. I suppose its a backhanded compliment in a way – Adams is able to craft an intriguing story and his writing shows a great love and passion for the material, but the story that’s wrapped around that isn’t gripping.
I also felt it strange that there’s no resolution to the romantic angle between Knox and Gaille, when it seemed that, at the end of the first book, that they were going to end up together. So, the central quest is good and I admire Adams’ passion and ingenuity in coming up with conspiracies, but the rest of the book is weak, filled with repetitive chases.