The Fraternity Of The Stone (1992) - Plot & Excerpts
The Fraternity of the Stone is thriller writer David Morrell's second book in his Mortalis espionage trilogy which began with The Brotherhood of the Rose and ended with The League of Night and Fog. In Fraternity, Morrell explores a theme he touched on in Brotherhood - a professional assassin who tires of the violence and seeks redemption through religious contemplation.Drew MacLane was one of the government's best assassins until the day he saw what he believed was a sign from God. For six years, MacLane sought solitary salvation in the confines of a Catholic monastery where he saw and spoke to no one except a little church mouse he called Stuart Little. Then Stuart mysteriously dies after nibbling part of MacLane's sparse meal. Venturing out of his room, MacLane discovers all of the monastery's residents have been poisoned. The only survivor, he flees the monastery to seek help from the Church. Hunted by unknown assailants, MacLane becomes entangled in the search for the identity of an assassin known only as Janus who is responsible for the murders of several Catholic priests. Working with a mysterious warrior priest, MacLane struggles to save both his own life and his eternal soul. Eventually he learns in the world of religion, as in the world of espionage, it's frequently difficult to tell the good guys from the bad guys.Morrell builds a compelling plot that intertwines an ancient group of holy warriors dating back to the Crusades with modern political machinations. MacLane is a literally a tortured soul, forced to kill repeatedly for his own survival while growing more fearful of losing his own salvation with each death. Mixed in with the action and suspense is a detailed narrative of the history of the Catholic Church and its diverse religious orders that is presented with such finesse it never interrupts the flow of the story.Morrell is considered by many to be the father of the modern thriller. With The Fraternity of the Stone, he retains that honor.
Picking up with ideas he started to explore in Brotherhood of the Rose, Morrell continues to look at the long term impact spending your life killing would have on the soul.Can a person find peace and forgiveness when everything they've ever done has caused destruction and pain?Of course, this is all done with the backdrop of some amazing set pieces, including the opening sequence where we meet our protagonist, Drew, a spy who has withdrawn from society and become a monk. His newly found peaceful existence is ended when a hit team kills his fellow monks and attempts to kill him as well. Of course, it's no surprise that he escapes to find the people responsible but Morrell finds a way to take what seems to be a pretty standard thriller and make it something more.Last Words: With it's combination of three dimensional characters and original action sequences Fraternity's starts with momentum that doesn't let up.More spy news and reviews at http://www.spywrite.com
What do You think about The Fraternity Of The Stone (1992)?
Ex secret agent/assassin Drew withdraws to a secluded monastery to atone for the sins of his life. He intends to spend the rest of his long life there in silence and solitude. But then the entire monastery is poisoned and he finds himself pursued, as members of his former life are hunted and killed. He accepts help from the Fraternity of the stone in order to find the man behind the killings. I enjoyed the book, it's fast paced and full of the details Morrell is famous for. I liked Drew and the story is a good thriller because it doesn't seem that far-fetched to me. Killers for God isn't a new trope but its' still a compelling one.
—J.F. Penn
Morrell is one of the best contemporary American talents in the thriller genre. He's always been unique and enterprising in pursuit of his plots and characters. Forget about the embarrassing current crop of hacks like David Baldacci. Stick with Morrell. In the wake of his monster success with, 'The Brotherhood of the Rose'--this title, 'Fraternity of the Stone' follows very much the same winning formula. Its slight flaw is that it doesn't strike off into new territory. Morrell's astute descriptions of fighting craft and warrior psychology are so good however-- that one can orgive him for sticking with a proven formula. Its something you CAN'T do with writers like Baldacci et al..
—Feliks
MISLED BY TITLE AND DISSAPOINTEDThe title of this book can led many readers to confusion in a way I thought that this book, using fictional elements would extend to describe how the Fraternity of the Stone operates in the shadows, who are their associates, how they conduct their covert operations in order to protect and maintain the influence of the Church worldwide. I expected to learn something new about those things which seem hidden and for this reason, very attractive But the fact is that what I have found was your average action thriller, poorly written which had a great beginning but began to falter after a few chapters due to the lack of background research of the author, who only seems to know the methods employed by the security teams and intelligence agencies to train their agents in the use of weapons, hand to hand combat and property assault After reading Morrell for the third time it seems to me that he likes to highlight the action scenes in his books based on what I have mentioned above, which is great if the author is skilled managing suspense, something he is not very proficient at. I think that Mr Morrell is a long way yet to attain the level of Frederick Forsyth or Robert Ludlum creating this kind of mystery/action thrillers, and this book is convincing evidence
—Manugw
