Vigil

Written by Robert Masello

Narrated by Corey M. Snow

In the caves beneath an Italian lake, the fossil of a creature older than the earth has been disinterred.
In the Judaean desert, a legendary parchment has been discovered.
One reveals the secrets of Heaven.
One foretells an impending Hell.
And deciphering their message has been left to paleontologist Carter Cox-a man of science whose faith in the empirical is about to be shaken by forces of evil beyond imagining.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515975922

Robert Masello

Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, television writer, and bestselling author of many novels and nonfiction books. His historical thrillers with a supernatural bent have been published in seventeen languages and include The Night Crossing, The Jekyll Revelation, The Romanov Cross, The Medusa Amulet, Blood and Ice, and the Amazon Charts bestseller The Einstein Prophecy. His articles and essays have appeared in such prominent publications as the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York magazine, People, Newsday, Parade, Glamour, Town & Country, Travel + Leisure, and the Wilson Quarterly. An honors graduate of Princeton University, Masello has also taught and lectured nationwide, from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to Claremont McKenna College, where he served as visiting lecturer in literature for six years. A long-standing member of the Writers Guild of America, he now lives in Santa Monica, California. You may visit him at www.robertmasello.com.

Reviews for Vigil

[ailinel-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reminiscent of early James Rollins and with a twist of Dan Brown, Vigil is the first of Masello's books following renowned paleontologist Carter Cox. Carter presents as a fun, sympathetic character who is as at home in the classroom with his students as he is in the field working with a new specimen. As the story opens a honeymooning couple in Europe discover a cave recently uncovered by unusually low water levels. Inside are the fossilized remains of an unknown creature, one unlike any previously discovered. As Cox is called to aid in freeing the fossil, early lab tests in Rome return unbelievable results. The rock the fossil is embedded in, and the fossil itself, according to each untenable test, are from earlier than any life on earth, and long before limbed vertebrates like the fossil existed. As events unfold a young scholar works with furious dedication to put together fragments of a lost Dead Sea Scroll, certain that he was meant to find it and that he is meant to solve its mysteries. Carter's belief in science is sorely tested the longer he is involved with the fossil and the odd occurrences around it from impossible test results to shared uneasy feelings to a series of horrific accidents. A colleague close to an explosion involving the fossil claims repeatedly that he saw it come to life, and he's not the only person seeing strange things or noting inexplicable events in the city. The novel was a fun read and a page-turner. The mystery (for those familiar with the Book of Enoch, parts of it may be slightly less mysterious though still attention-grabbing) is intriguing, the two storylines flow together seamlessly, and Carter comes across as a knowledgeable and likable protagonist. I found the classroom scenes where he tries to teach young undergrads about paleontology and various theories in his field as interesting to read as the more suspenseful moments surrounding the fossil and the events Carter comes to play an unwittingly large role in.