The Last Secret

by Lynn Sholes, Joe Moore, Joe Moore

Book Overview

In this riveting follow-up to The Grail Conspiracy , famed journalist Cotten Stone is at the top of her craft until one of her discoveries is proven to be a hoax. Without a steady job, credibility, or a shred of self-respect, the struggling reporter fades from the limelight. A year later at a famous Inca site, she unearths a crystal tablet that predicts the Great Flood and another final "cleansing"--yet to take place--to be led by the daughter of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073870931X
• ISBN13: 9780738709314
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Midnight Ink
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Mystical, mysterious, intellectually suspenseful supernatural thriller

Reviewed by Michelle Anne Cox-Lomas for Reader Views (1/07) Cotten Stone is a news reporter looking for a good scoop that will bring her back into the respectability of the public eye. She was once on the top and was well known for uncovering "The Grail Conspiracy." Then she thinks she is onto something else that will bring more truth to the people, only to find out that she has been set up and that her new discovery is a fraud. She loses her job and her sense of self worth, but, she never gives up. She knows that there is another story out there that will gain back her great reputation in digging for the truth. She has the courage to go where no woman was allowed to go before and she has the determination to bring the truth into the light. She is no ordinary soul, for her father, was one of the true Fallen Angels from the war that had taken place in heaven with God. In this, her second adventure, you will find out all about her heritage and how she comes to understand what her true mission is here on Earth. Her current adventure will take you deep into the Peruvian jungle, where a mysterious architectural exploration is taking place and a hidden crystal tablet holds all of the answers about the Great Flood of Noah and the future cleansing of Armageddon. As the encrypted crystal tablet is being analyzed, something strange happens and all of the people that she had been with mysteriously commit suicide in a variety of ways. She sees the tablet being levitated by a swarm of fireflies that are hot enough to set a human being on fire! She runs away and is the only one to barely escape with her life. She is found in the jungle by a Shaman who helps her to discover her true inner being. He teaches her how to tap into her God given Angelic ability to transform herself, by concentrating, meditating, and tuning into the liquid light. This ability helps her to calm herself of anxiety and realize the truth of other dimensions. She was told that there were 12 crystal tablets that were given to a variety of cultures to help them survive the Great Flood. She knows that somewhere on the tablet is a message for her, a very special message that will help her to save people during the final cleansing. She needs to find one of the tablets and she gets close to another discovery, but, that slips out of her hands once again. Then, she finds out, from a very good friend at the Vatican, an old friend who she loves very much, that there is only one remaining tablet and they are going to have to do a lot of research and journey far to find it. She knows that she must find it! The intensity of the world at this time is turning dark, for the Fallen Angels have a plot to take as many souls as they can and turn them completely away from God. The rate of suicides increases daily and people are taking their lives for no apparent reason. Cotten Stone knows that she is on a mission and she has to discover the mystery of the Crystal Tablet before it's too late. She is cons

A skillfully crafted page-turner

Journalist Cotten Stone is back in The Last Secret, the second installment in Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore's series of religious thrillers. (Read my review of The Grail Conspiracy.) The book starts with a deliciously suspenseful chapter: the pilot of a Virgin Atlantic Airbus announces his suicidal intentions mid-flight, prompting scrambling on the ground as a criminal psychologist tries to talk the pilot out of it, and scrambling in the air as two F-18 Hornets prepare to shoot the aircraft down. But the pilot's death is just the first we hear about in a world-wide rash of suicides, a phenomenon connected with an age-old battle between good and evil: the Nephilim, the fallen angels who signed on with Lucifer back in the day, are preparing for the Final Conflict and attempting to bolster their ranks with the souls of suicides while they can. While the death toll mounts, Cotten Stone finds herself at an archaeological dig near Machu Picchu in Peru. An unusual artifact is unearthed, an elaborately incised crystal tablet which, evidence suggests, may have been inscribed by the hand of God. Readers coming to the series for the first time will be curious as to what makes Cotten Stone so special, a woman who has destroyed her career and her credibility with a stunt on a par with Geraldo Riviera's opening of Al Capone's vault. The authors do fill in Cotten's back story eventually--let's just say she's unusually suited to the task of fighting evil--but they take their time doing so. Readers will have to wait some 150 pages to find out why Cotten is the Chose One. But that's one of the things I liked about the book, that information revealed in The Grail Conspiracy is dribbled into the new story rather than dumped on readers in chunks of explanatory prose. The Last Secret is told from multiple perspectives, among them that of the intriguing Lester Ripple, a nerdy, obsessive compulsive scientific genius, whose story is woven through the book until it intersects with Cotten's. I'm hoping Lester figures somehow in the next book in the series, Indigo Ruby, which is due out in September 2007. Needless to say, I enjoyed The Last Secret. Like its predecessor in the series, it's a skillfully crafted page-turner with likeable characters. I hope that Cotten Stone and her demon-fighting cronies are in for a long run. Debra Hamel

Must read

I rarely am interested in sequels because I discount them as marketing ploys. It was a rare treat therefore to read The Last Secret. Not only was it, in my opinion, a story that stood on its own, but this fast paced thriller far exceeded the 1st of the Cotten Stone trilogy (The Grail Conspiracy). I read it in one sitting, and it blew my mind. If you are like me alternatively cursed and blessed with a wild and hairy imagination and the kind of mind that is always asking "Why not?" then this is the book for you. Can you imagine quantum physics meets the struggle between good and evil set in play by an impossibly old relic that could change the course of history? Not many people can. My gratitude and kudos to Sholes and Moore for this truly original read. This story was made to be a movie. Before Hollywood can ruin another fabulous story, go out, read it, and imagine it for yourself.

Cotton Saves The World

WOW, Cotton Stone is glamorous, smart and like any good reporter she needs to uncover all the secrets. I read the "The Last Secret" in just two sitting. You just have to keep turning the page to find out what Cotton will do next. And she goes to some very fascinating places. This book moves right along like an action adventure movie but better because it has a wonderful message for all. These two authors know how to tell a really good story. I loved the "The Grail Conspiracy" and now I can't what to see what happens to Cotton and Father John next.

Captivating!

I read THE LAST SECRET in two sittings. Sholes and Moore have penned another exciting thriller. I'm not sure how to identify the audience, other than fans of Dan Brown, James Rollins, Douglas Preston and a few others. THE LAST SECRET is a story that doesn't center around the Templars (and aren't they overdone now!) or the Grail, or Jesus and Mary Magdalene. But there is a religious, or rather a spiritual core, that spins around quantum physics, bringing the two together. Instead of there being a divide between science and religion, THE LAST SECRET has a premise that does just the opposite. It is an original idea told with a fresh voice. I read THE GRAIL CONSPIRACY by the same authors. For whatever reason it seemed to slip past a lot of readers and movie agents (it could be a blockbuster). I hope that it will find its way by word of mouth to many more. Anyway, I can't say enough. I think Sholes and Moore are still on the top of their game with THE LAST SECRET. From Texas to the Andes to the desert southwest, Cotten Stone is embedded in intrigue and the constant fight between good and evil. She is a deftly drawn character that will stay with me for a long time. THE LAST SECRET gave me a lot to think about even after I finished reading it. I can't wait to see what Sholes and Moore have up their sleeves, or on their computers, next.