The Messiah Stones

AN ORDINARY MAN.
AN ANCIENT SECRET.
A REMARKABLE QUEST FOR FAITH.
John McGowan lives a quiet, uncomplicated life--until he inherits a extraordinary legacy from his long-missing father. Fifty years before, archaeologist Bill McGowan made a wondrous discovery in the Holy Land: a set of carved, glowing stones that contained amazing revelations about the coming millennium. But the stones were lost.
Now John must embark on an incredible journey to unravel their mystery. With his wife, Sarah, at his side, he will witness a series of miracles that will challenge all that he believes. He will experience mystical dreams and visions. And finally, he will travel to Jerusalem, where he will come face-to-face with his ultimate destiny.
Powerfully moving and relentlessly suspenseful, The Messiah Stones is a tale of the human spirit in search of a secret, in search of faith, and in search of the Eternal that connects us all. . . .


From the Trade Paperback edition.

First novelist Benig makes thirtyish college professor John McGowan the recipient of an incredible gift. John's father, who deserted his family when John was five, leaves an unexpected epistolary bequest that changes John's sedentary life forever. The letters detail the discovery of ancient relics that foretell the date of the final coming of the Messiah. John and his wife begin a search for truth that insinuates itself into their very beings. This mystery, written in memoir form, is at once contemplative, philosophical, and spiritual. Though there's no murder here, it still abounds with suspense. Recommended.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When John McGowan responds to a letter informing him that he is the sole beneficiary named in a mysterious will, he embarks on a quest that leads him, his wife, and several others to change their lives. The will is that of his father, who disappeared when John was five. Bill McGowan was one of the discoverers of three stone tablets fashioned by the hand of God that absolutely promise the Messiah's coming in 2000; he became the stones' guardian until he was killed in 1967. Now his son is called to take up the guardianship; how he comes to accept that mission is this inspirational novel's story. Villard is banking a 150,000-copy first printing that the current bull market in pop theology will make the book a big hit. But first-time author Benig's prose is bland, his plot considerably more talky than eventful, his characters flat, and his religion a farrago of that twentieth-century hybrid, Judeo-Christianity, and New Age-ish stuff like reincarnation and out-of-body experiences--that is, it's at least mildly heretical. Ray Olson