There are two types of good books, there are those mind-blowingly awesome books that touch you so deeply you feel the urge to chase the writer halfway across the galaxy just to let him/her know how great their work is. And then there are those books that are ‘just good’. You enjoy reading them and that’s it. To me, ‘The Sanctuary’ was of the latter type. Despite it not being exactly the ‘keep you on the edge of your seat’ type of thriller and the plot being highly predictable (I predicted the book’s major twist more than a hundred pages before it was actually revealed), I enjoyed reading this book.
Humans have always fantasized about immortality. Raymond Khoury is among the many writers who made that fantasy the main focus of their works. ‘The Sanctuary’, a historical novel published in 2007 and built around two interwoven stories from two drastically different eras, the 18th century and the 21st century, starts out in Naples 1750 where a gang led by the prince of San Servero threatens the Marquis, demanding he turns over whatever that thing is that he’s hiding. The Marquis then successfully escapes and starts a life of disguise under several names and in different lands. Fast forward to Baghdad 2003, where some soldiers find a secret underground lab, full of surgical equipment and horribly mutilated corpses. Fast forward again to Beirut 2007 where a gang of thugs take the archaeologist Evelyn Bishop as their hostage, leading Mia, a geneticist, on a long search of her abducted mother. Parallel to Mia’s search, others were on the same quest to acquire what they believe is in the possession of Evelyn. The villain of this novel is a doctor ‘the hakeem’ who, supported by more than one government, conducts brutal experiments on humans in line of his medical research to reach a certain life extending elixir. The elixir being the link of the three seemingly unrelated stories.
Though the plot held so much potential, the characters were all somewhat flat. They were all straightforward in a way, lacking the touch of human complexity that makes a character realistic and relatable and replacing it with a black and white, good or evil type of world. Only Sebastian’s adventures, combined with the historical facts thrown here and there throughout the book are what made it enjoyable to me.
I loved the concept behind the book though. One part I particularly enjoyed was the conversation between Mia and Kirkwood about the possibility of achieving human immortality. I mean, what could possibly be more interesting than a debate between two well informed fictional characters about a hypothetical concept that you’ve been obsessing about? All in all, it’s a good read if you enjoy slow paced historical fiction and aren’t looking for a highly thought provoking book.
“Greed and selfishness do seem to be central motivators of mankind.”
― Raymond Khoury, The Sanctuary
A Bookworm's Ramblings 