Exciting, But Not About Witches At All . . .

    Salem's Cipher by Jess Lourey
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From the first few pages, Lourey had me hooked.
 
This is an exciting roller coaster ride with a ticking clock, a long-lost treasure, and so much fun to read. Lourey skillfully blends historical people and facts with fiction to keep the pages turning.
 
If you enjoy Dan Brown’s novels, you’ll love this one, too.
 
The main characters are women—strong women. Smart women who rely on themselves to decipher the complicated, hidden puzzles left for them by history. What’s at stake? The future of the United States of America. Salem Wiley and Isabel Odegaard have been trained from childhood to take on this challenge. Imagine their bewilderment in finding this out—as they were never let in on that little secret.
 
A woman presidential candidate is ahead in the polls with the election just days away. So far ahead, she’s scared the hell out of an old patriarchal secret society, and they’re doing everything they can to stop her. Everything.
 
There are a few (minor) continuity issues that took me out of the story and made me go back and recheck things, but they didn’t deter my interest by any means. For that reason, I wish there was a 4.7 star rating. But I don’t feel it’s fair to give it a 4. (Gave it a 5 in online review.) Not with the way I wanted to get back to the book as soon as I could. That doesn’t happen often enough.
 
I also had a problem with the tag line on the front cover, The witch hunt never ended. It actually made me hesitate to start the book, as I have little interest in reading any more about the Salem witch trials, and that line made me think that would be the focus of the story. The characters do take a trip to Salem, Massachusetts, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the witch trials—or witches at all, for that matter. So, I don’t think Lourey’s publisher did her any favors with that one.
 
There’s a 2nd book, Mercy’s Chase, featuring Salem Wiley, who has become a cryptanalyst for the FBI, and I can’t wait to dive in.

Check out Jess Lourey's website here: JessLourey.com

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