Adventure Annotation

The Quest:  A Novel By Nelson DeMille

 

Summary: Set in 1975, The Quest follows two journalists and a photographer Frank Purcell, Henry Mercado, and Vivian Smith who are in Ethiopia covering a Civil War.  They come across an elderly priest who has been sentenced to death.  Just before death, the walls of the priest’s cell explode and he is hurt, but free.  Insisting that he is dying, the priest tells Purcell & Mercado of the Holy Grail.  While the journalists originally escape Ethiopia (after close calls of death from local tribes and government.  The trio decides to go back to Ethiopia.  Feeling that for whatever reason they have been chosen, the trio makes their way through the jungles of Ethiopia searching for a mythical monastery that hides the Holy Grail.  Many obstacles stand in their way, but the draw of the Grail leads them on.

 Genre: Adventure, Suspense

 Appeals:

 Pacing – Quick in action parts but a much slower pace in others.

 Characterization – The characters in the Quest are believable as people even though they seem to be against all odds in their quest to find the holy grail.  What transpires at the monastery at the end is open to different interpretations. 

 Storyline – The Quest combines many genres including adventure, mystery, and suspense.  DeMille includes a lot of actual history within the storyline as well as undertones of faith and religion.

 Tone/Mood – Certainly a dark tone is found in The Quest, due in large part to the actual history of the Ethiopian Civil Wars and the brutality of the fighting.  Purcell, Mercado, and Smith rely on faith to see them through numerous trials that they come across.

 Frame/Setting – Civil War torn Ethiopia in the 1970s.  Much of the novel is set in the jungles.

 Read Alikes:

 Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Shadows of Steel by Dale Brown

Scavenger by David Morrell

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston

The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly