Eren Dervish, who is preparing to give a presentation at a symposium on 'Archaeology of Religion', suddenly finds himself helping Hacer Haran, who has become a suspect in the murder of Professor Yafes. His help to this beautiful woman, the fiancée of MIT Middle East Chief Ibrahim Dizdar, will drag Eren, a deist, into the middle of a war against God.
Sureyya, a rich, powerful and ambitious woman, blames God for what happened to her and declares war on him with all the companies she owns. Sureyya plans her revenge against God when she learns that Yafes Nuhoglu, who devoted himself to finding Noah's Ark, has found it by her sponsorship in a place that has never been cared for before. Her aim is to make humanity question the existence of God.
Finding himself suddenly caught up in the discovery of five bombs smuggled into the country and the rescue of the kidnapped representatives of three monotheistic religions, Eren will be able to get out of all this mess by finding the location of Noah's ark. God has chosen him to entrust this secret to its owners as a lesson for those who are left behind.
Eren Dervish, who is preparing to give a presentation at a symposium on 'Archaeology of Religion', suddenly finds himself helping Hacer Haran, who has become a suspect in the murder of Professor Yafes. His help to this beautiful woman, the fiancée of MIT Middle East Chief Ibrahim Dizdar, will drag Eren, a deist, into the middle of a war against God.
Sureyya, a rich, powerful and ambitious woman, blames God for what happened to her and declares war on him with all the companies she owns. Sureyya plans her revenge against God when she learns that Yafes Nuhoglu, who devoted himself to finding Noah's Ark, has found it by her sponsorship in a place that has never been cared for before. Her aim is to make humanity question the existence of God.
Finding himself suddenly caught up in the discovery of five bombs smuggled into the country and the rescue of the kidnapped representatives of three monotheistic religions, Eren will be able to get out of all this mess by finding the location of Noah's ark. God has chosen him to entrust this secret to its owners as a lesson for those who are left behind.
At the luxury SPA floor of the hotel in Sapanca, the elevator door opened with a strong 'bing' sound. The two lovers in bathrobes, who had obviously just stopped kissing, hung their heads, and looked around, then exited the elevator. Although it was obvious from the dim reddish lights and the lack of relaxing music that the spa has been recently closed, the humid, warm air and exotic scent still lingered.
Realizing that no one was around, the young man said: "That way, darling,â and pointed in the direction of the SPA's giant Jacuzzi pool.Â
"Stop it..." her lover said to the man who didn't behave as they walked down the dimly lit corridor, but their playfulness continued until they reached the jacuzzi.Â
When they came to the great hall where the jacuzzi was located, the moonlight filtering through the giant windows overlooking the forest was illuminating the environment, albeit a little. The young man immediately took off his bathrobe and entered the pool softly from the edge. While the woman was taking off her bathrobe, she looked around and: âWe won't get caught, will we? Let's not be disgraced,â she whispered.
âDon't be silly darling... Think how long we waited for this fantasy. It's been an hour since the SPA closed. And who will see us in this darkness? Look, there is no one. Everything is fine, nothing will happen, come on,â he said, taking his lover by the arm and pulling her into the pool.
The jacuzzi, whose water was still warm, seemed to bind the two even more. As they hugged and kissed lustfully preparing to become one, the man found the button on the side of the pool behind his lover, reached out and turned on the giant jacuzzi. The jacuzzi began to bubble the water with a great roar. When they have just reached the point where they were about to lose themselves, the woman startled in fear and "There is someone in the pool!" she exclaimed.
The man, looking in the direction she was looking, also noticed something moving on the water and was startled. "Who is there?" he shouted.Â
When there was no answer, he reached out and nudged the dark figure with his fingertips. When nothing happened, he wanted to grab and lift it, and when he did, he screamed and threw himself backwards. At the same time, the woman was screaming at the top of her lungs, her eyes bulging out of her sockets. The entire SPA resounded with terrible screams for minutes. What the man lifted was a severed head with his eyes and mouth open, veins dangling from his throat, which had floated up from the bottom of the pool when the jacuzzi started.
Return of the Ark by Erol Bulent Abay is set in Turkey, originally written in Turkish, and is a compelling mystery. The novel starts out with a murder at a symposium on the Archaeology of Religion.
Eren Dervish is at the symposium to present. Suddenly, he finds himself helping the beautiful Hacer Haran escape the hotel. Hacer is wanted for questioning in the murder of another presenter, Professor Yafes. She is also the finance of Ibrahim Dizdar, who runs the Turkish version of the CIA (called MIT).
As Eren and Hacer race towards Ibrahim, they realize that their pursuers are not the authorities, but someone out to kill them. They also discover that Hacer's name was on a piece of paper clutched by the dead professor. Hacer and Eren are determined to find the reason for this connection, and the reason that Professor Yafes was killed.
Meanwhile, the world is in an uproar as major religious leaders of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism vanish. This sows discord among the three faiths, who blame each other. When five bombs also go missing and people named after prophets start turning up dead, Ibrahim realizes that there is a connection to the professor's murder.
The mystery is well-paced, and unfolds in a thrilling way. The reader knows who is the mastermind, but it is still exciting to watch it unfold for the characters. Readers also know that the Ark in the title is Noah's Ark, but the characters had an interesting path to discovering that fact.
The only issue with this book is that the translation is, at times, a little difficult to understand. The author does quite a bit to cancel this out, with helpful clarifying footnotes, but there are some places where the original Turkish did not translate clearly into English. Despite this, the story is compelling enough and the writing is strong enough that readers can see what the intent is and follow. Just be aware of that going in.
If you like the novels of Dan Brown, Umberto Eco, or novels from other countries, this Turkish novel is certainly one to check out.