Terrible. Over Complicated.
The book is more like a high school student's hastily put together homework on Christian theology. There is fiction, sure, but it seems like an after thought from the author. The reader is thrown back and forth in time and space so many time, that you lose the thread pretty quickly.
Story has many gaping holes. e.g. At one point, Swakilki is shown as an expert killer who has avoided capture on many occasions, but easily gets captured in India. She is the ruthless killer of many, and yet fails to kill Vincent Sinclair only because she recognised a symbol on Martha's hand (What the F**K?). No details were provided on how Alicia survived the bullet fired by Prithviraj. In fact, there are absolutely no details provided for any of the events that happen towards the end of the book.

There are over 100 characters in the book spread across 100 locations. Add the time travel from 3000 BC to 2012 AD and you get confused easily.

I am not even going to remember any of the characters by end of this review and I don't feel bad about it. I just want to forget that I read this book.

I will not recommend this to anyone. If you want a good fiction involving Christian theology mixed with modern day murder suspense and thriller, go read Dan Brown. Those books are 100 times more believable and well written.

*Edit*
And yes, I forgot, there is a nuclear bomb in the book that goes off somewhere in Pakistan/Afghanistan region and no-one gives a fuck about that. I mean really? Oh, and yes, the bomb is initially planned to be detonated somewhere in middle east by the terrorists, CIA thinks they have moved the bomb to Russia, and both get fooled easily and the bomb is made to explode in entirely different location. *&@*@!@@#%&%*()#&*%


Just don't read it, ok? ( )

its more on the lines of Dan Brown's Da Vince Code.. the author has blend fact and fiction into a compelling storyline but it truly lacks the strength. it has all the ingredients but somehow lacks the grip and command. there is good amount of information as one reads the book but the authors fetish towards anagrams is bit too much to digest at times. nonetheless a good read for the amount of info it provides and it at least made me think of picking few more books on the subject.
PS: Rating is 3.5 stars ( )

Quite a gripping plot, but gets predictable at times. Another book modelled on The Da Vinci Code, this does well to keep you from putting it down. ( )

The Rozabal Line isn't just a book about the tomb of Rozabal in Kashmir. Rather, in the initial chapters itself it transports you round the world in a tizzy of events, people, religion and time. Written in the form of a timeline diary, it swings back and forth among eras bygone and the present as well as the future, connecting and often reincarnating events and people in the light of things as they are.

Work of fiction though it is, the narrative reads like a modern-day cold-blooded terror magazine, with images of 9/11 and the like only too vivid in our minds. We re-encounter conspiracies, blasts and brutal murders that have become so much a part of our lives, never knowing where the next attack might be or who the next victim. Worse, WHY these acts occur and WHO is behind them. The book has them all - Al Qaeda, Osama, Pakistan, Kashmir, Israel, the USA, the Mujahideen and the men of the Church. But revealed within and behind every face is another, and yet another, going back to the original and then shooting forward to its ultimate form.

Whether you believe in it or not, the drifting or transcending into a previous life through a `medium' is graphically depicted here. The forces that act against and with one another, be they Islam or Christianity, are fighting a myriad battles within themselves and without, until they reach their deathly culmination.

A lot of the story, revolves around whether Jesus really was crucified or not, did he really come to India and sire offspring, is his bloodline still existent - if so, should it be allowed to or squashed forever so that the traditional faith in the Church may remain unbroken? In this maze of cardinals, statesmen, academics, healers and terrorists is one basic learning... and you can read it on page 311! ( )

Review by Steve Oldner (hubby)

The Rozabal Line by Shawn Haigins is a historical conspiracy thriller in the same sub-genre as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Haigins writes about his story, ”From Jesus to Muhammad; from the Crusades to 9/11; from the Vatican to the White House; from Skull & Bones to the Illuminati; from Buddhist meditation to past-life regression; from the Virgin birth to nuclear destruction; and from Mary Magdalene to Osama-bin-Laden; The Rozabal Line has it all, and more.” Add to that a surprising ending, one I had to read a second time because I didn’t see it coming! I really enjoyed reading the book!

The press release states:

Bradenton, FL , Nov 21, 2007 - More than 100 years after the Russian explorer Nicolas Notovitch released his book "The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ" in which he translated some ancient Tibetan Buddhist scrolls that seemed to indicate that Jesus may have spent his lost years in India, there is a palpable sense of excitement in India once again.

The first reason is that William Sees Keenan has decided to produce a $20m movie entitled "The Aquarian Gospel" to be directed by Drew Heriot. According to the film's makers the Bible devotes just seven words to the most formative years of Jesus Christ's life simply saying "The boy grew in wisdom and stature". The Aquarian Gospel will attempt to fill that gap by following Christ's journey to the east where he encounters other traditions, and discovers the principles that are the bedrock of all the world's great religions.

The second reason for excitement in Mumbai and Delhi is that a new "Da Vinci Code" genre novel entitled "The Rozabal Line" by Shawn Haigins has taken the Jesus in India story and has supposed not only that Jesus spent his lost years in India but also that he survived the crucifixion and returned to India which was also home to one of the lost tribes of Israel. The novel has a controversial theme because it assumes that a Jesus and Mary Magdalene bloodline may exist in troubled Kashmir, along the Indo-Pakistan border, and that this bloodline could possibly be a present-day Islamic holy warrior.

Keenan's film will only be ready for release in 2009; Haigins' novel is available in the U.S. but will only be available in Indian bookstores in early 2008; but both have already created a discernible buzz in India. It will be recalled that India was one of the few places where the screening of "The Da Vinci Code" had to be temporarily suspended because of public protests and demonstrations.

The "Jesus in India" theory is not new. The German scholar, Holger Kersten, published "Jesus Lived in India" in 1994. He claimed that the tomb of a local Kashmiri saint, Yuz Asaf, located in Rozabal (Srinagar, Kashmir) was actually the tomb of Jesus. The researcher Suzanne Olsson also attempted to establish DNA evidence to link the two tomb sites at Rozabal and Murree where Jesus and Mary are supposed to have been buried. Dr. Fida Hassnain, former director of archaeology at the University of Srinagar has also written several books indicating the Yuz Asaf, Yeshua, Issa and Jesus were one and the same. The BBC has reported that the Bnei Menashe from North-Eastern India may actually be one of the lost tribes that reached India via Persia and Afghanistan.

Rozabal Line is stuffed full of historical events with a multitude of endnotes. Haigins’ blog, http://shawnhaigins.blogspot.com, has actual pictures of the tomb and clips from the BBC’s documentary. It’s definitely worth a visit!

Note: All reviews posted here are followed by a book raffle at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/.
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