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There are currently 22 member reviews
for The Jericho Deception
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Barbara H. (Richmond, IN)
Dangerous Project
"The Jericho Project" by Jeffrey Small is an interesting read. It is both a thriller and a detailed search to create the Logos, a machine that produces a religious experience bordering on meeting with God. The book also involves a conspiracy to misuse this machine to transform Islamic fundamentalists into avid Christians.
Logos was being developed on the campus of Yale University primarily by two faculty members. Funding is nearing the end when suddenly new funding appears. This somewhat mysterious new funding marks the beginning of intrigue, murder, and conspiracy in the novel.
In the beginning the book has several chapters through which the reader meets a group of seemingly unrelated characters in a variety of locales. All of these come together in the story, which becomes extremely exciting in the second half. The main characters in the story in the beginning are very benign, but the characters involved in the conspiracy are malevolent, and pitted against the protagonist., require action and ingenuity on his part.
The Jericho Project is very detailed, thought-provoking, and also very exciting.
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Molly B. (Longmont, CO)
Fun and Creativity Outweigh Flaws
This was a fun and interesting read, despite belabored elements. The premise is fascinating – that a machine can trigger divine revelations. Deeper understanding of the relationship between physical and spiritual worlds results from epileptic seizures or their replications by human-directed energy, via machine. Mr. Small's story line about the use of this ability is wild – to convert different religions to Christianity through machine-created mystical experiences to promote world peace, and to change the balance of power in terrorist countries, not through commerce or war, but through religion. I forgive Mr. Small for beating me over the head with the romantic and personal dilemmas, where the obvious is stated and then restated, because I enjoyed his crazy story and his nuggets about God. One such offering is that God is in a dimension that we humans can't understand, and that "Art, nature, beauty, love, peace, and the mystical states associated with religion may be our glimpses at this divine reality."
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Angela S. (Hartland, MI)
Hooked from the beginning.
I was intrigued by the plotline for the The Jericho Deception and the book did not disappoint. I was hooked from the beginning. Normally a book that toggles between characters in each chapter is confusing, but in this case, the layout built the suspension and increased the pace of the reading. It would be easy to imagine this book becoming an action packed movie along the lines of The DaVinci Code. An interesting, thoughtful storyline full of action and deeper insights into who we are, what we believe and how we are all linked together.
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Colleen T. (Lakewood, CO)
The Jericho Deception
I found this book to be tedious and somewhat predictable. The story line was interesting and the characters were ok, but I kept getting irritated at the numerous times the author felt the need to describe in detail how this or that was going to happen – boring! I also didn't like how I felt like I was watching a movie as I read. There were way too many "scene" changes for my liking. Or, if you like, the flow of the story was broken up a lot by switching from one location to another. I'm no writer, but this story needs editing.
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Jan C. (San Antonio, TX)
Jericho tumbling down
It was average read. Not a lot of twists and turns. Characters seemed flat without any deep development. The story jumped around. Antics of amateurs seemed unbelievable. The plot did not seem completely plausible.
I would not recommend this book.
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Carole P. (Framingham, MA)
Jericho Deception
It took awhile to get into this book. Each chapter was a different locale, different characters. Once I got them straight , the book was easier to follow. I do feel this was too long. However, I did want to finish it because I really liked the main characters. The story line was intriguing too. Although I am not always interested in religious based fiction, this managed to catch and hold my attention. Without giving anything away, I will say that this premise was both awesome and terrifying. I gave it a 3, but really it is a 3.75.
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Judy G. (Carmel, IN)
Jericho Deception
The first chapters of the book were exciting. I was primed to read more about the physician (Moussa) and his daughter (Amira)! From that point on the book felt like an average read for me. Good but seriously lacking depth in both character development and the key spirituality element. Aspects of the writing around the God concept and oneness were beautiful; but yet the writing wasn't sustainable enough to be of real interest to those seeking to learn more about spirituality. I found the romance element distracting by it's improbable and inappropriate interjection in the story line at times. For example, when you have Axe breathing down your neck you don't stop to reflect on a romantic interlude. Wolfe was portrayed as a major player in the intrigue but his character was vague. I don't believe this book merits a BookBrowse highest rating.
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