This novel has all the qualities of a best seller: Its superb plot is in many ways more credible and less confusing than “The Da Vinci Code.” Dr. Brown, incidentally, wrote “The Eighth Scroll”, before he ever read “The Da Vinci Code.”
“First time authors have an extremely difficult time breaking into the literary market these days,” says Brown who decided to self-publish hoping that book sales would attract the attention of a literary agent or publisher.
John Grisham’s latest novel, “The Broker,” made its hardcover debut at No. 1 in January this year with 2.8 million copies in print. However, he faced tough times in the beginning of his literary career. His first book, “A Time to Kill”, was published with a print of 5,000; Grisham bought 1,000 copies to advertise in bookstores and libraries, prompting him to say: “Writing books is a whole lot easier than selling books”.
Nowadays, a large budget and a chain of literary agents, editors, publishers, reviewers, retailers and marketing efforts are involved in “making” best sellers. The truth is that a book also turns into a best seller mainly because an authoritative source says it is.
Despite the difficulties of advertising a self-published book, “The Eighth Scroll” has seen an overwhelmingly positive feedback with five-star ratings on Amazon.com and Goodreads, as well as a host of good reviews.
“If the eighth scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls was actually discovered, its existence might very well shake religion as we know it to the bones, especially if it turned out to be the true gospel of Jesus or James, an actual historical document that would validate Jesus as a prophet. Judaism’s very existence might be looked upon as invalid, while orthodox Christianity might receive a jolt from which it would never recover. Laurence B. Brown combines history with powerful plot, characters and today’s reality to create the perfect read for those who enjoy thrillers, mysteries and suspense,” writes Lauren Smith, editor for the Virtual Book Review Network.
Brown, who converted to Islam 15 years ago, acknowledges that his personal interests revolve around the concept of saving something such as the environment, history, mankind and religion. He is concerned with saving the most important element of our existence, our souls. He is the author of three scholastic books of comparative religion, “MisGod’ed”, “God’ed”, and “Bearing True Witness” (Dar-es-Salam) all available for purchase through amazon.com.
Brown got the idea to write “The Eighth Scroll” while wondering what was so interesting about the Dead Sea Scrolls: “Who cares about a bunch of 2,000 year-old scrolls that tell us what we already know? Who cares? I’ll tell you who cares: Every secret service and every revealed religion in the world. When I learned why they care, I simply had to write ‘The Eighth Scroll’ to explain why,” says Brown who confirms that everything quoted in “The Eighth Scroll” is accurate and verifiable.
Thanks to his powerful descriptive style, Brown’s novel reads like a movie script. Fast-paced and thought provoking, “The Eighth Scroll” should be made into a film. The prologue, in particular, is awesome and superbly written … words have a magical effect that transports us to the heart of history, in the caves of Qumran on the Dead Sea, 68 CE: “When death approaches, your life will play before your eyes. The elder who told Jacob this, years before, now lay crumpled in a bloody heap before him, nestled in ringlets of his own intestines and oozing the stink of disembowelment … As though with a mind already detached, as though time itself paused to honor him with one last memory, Jacob recalled not his whole life, but only the last hour: He had been hunched over in the bowl of his cave, working frantically to hide the Essenes’ library of scrolls. One glance at the mouth of the cave at the darkening sky, mirrored in the vast expanse of the Dead Sea below, told him he had run out of time.”
A graduate of Cornell University, Brown Medical School and George Washington University Hospital, Dr. Brown has divided his time for the past decade between England and Jordan. He is currently searching for an agent to represent all of his novels including a recently finished action/adventure and another in progress.
Even If you did not like “The Da Vinci Code” you will enjoy “The Eighth Scroll” which is far easier to read than “Da Vinci Code.” This superb thriller, filled with action and plenty of food for thought is utterly convincing and will keep you on the edge of your seat. And long after you have finished reading it, you will still be thinking of the Dead Sea Scrolls and wondering what if…
