Author
Erol Bulent Abay
Return Of The Ark
Eren Dervish, who is preparing to make a presentation at a symposium on 'Archaeology of Religion', finds himself helping Hacer Haran, who has become the suspect of a murder. His help to this beautiful woman, the fiancee of MIT Middle East chief Ibrahim Dizdar, will drag Eren, a deist, into the middle of a war against God. Eren, who finds himself suddenly in the cases of the finding of five bombs that were smuggled into the country and the rescue of the representatives of three monotheistic religions, will be able to get rid of all this chaos by exploration of a secret from Prophet Noah time. God has chosen him to entrust this secret, which was left as a lesson for those who remain behind, to its owners.
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Review
by Bailey Cavender
Worth reading 😎
Return of the Ark by Erol Bulent Abay is set in Turkey, originally written in Turkish, and is a compelling mystery. The novel starts out with a murder at a symposium on the Archaeology of Religion.
Eren Dervish is at the symposium to present. Suddenly, he finds himself helping the beautiful Hacer Haran escape the hotel. Hacer is wanted for questioning in the murder of another presenter, Professor Yafes. She is also the finance of Ibrahim Dizdar, who runs the Turkish version of the CIA (called MIT).
As Eren and Hacer race towards Ibrahim, they realize that their pursuers are not the authorities, but someone out to kill them. They also discover that Hacer's name was on a piece of paper clutched by the dead professor. Hacer and Eren are determined to find the reason for this connection, and the reason that Professor Yafes was killed.
Meanwhile, the world is in an uproar as major religious leaders of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism vanish. This sows discord among the three faiths, who blame each other. When five bombs also go missing and people named after prophets start turning up dead, Ibrahim realizes that there is a connection to the professor's murder.
The mystery is well-paced, and unfolds in a thrilling way. The reader knows who is the mastermind, but it is still exciting to watch it unfold for the characters. Readers also know that the Ark in the title is Noah's Ark, but the characters had an interesting path to discovering that fact.
The only issue with this book is that the translation is, at times, a little difficult to understand. The author does quite a bit to cancel this out, with helpful clarifying footnotes, but there are some places where the original Turkish did not translate clearly into English. Despite this, the story is compelling enough and the writing is strong enough that readers can see what the intent is and follow. Just be aware of that going in.
If you like the novels of Dan Brown, Umberto Eco, or novels from other countries, this Turkish novel is certainly one to check out.
Source : Reedsy-Discovery ( https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/return-of-the-ark-erol-bulent-abay#review )
and goodreads ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149610913-return-of-the-ark )