Archeologist Dilara Kenner flew from a dig in Peru to Los Angeles International Airport at the insistence of long time friend Sam Watson. Just as Watson was telling Dilara he had information about the disappearance of her father three years before, and that the lives of billions of people were at risk, he was killed. As he was dying, he told her to contact Tyler Locke as soon as possible to ask for his help.

After locating the combat engineer on an oil rig off the coast of Newfoundland, the two agreed to meet. As her helicopter approached the platform, it mysteriously crashed into the ocean. Tyler’s daring rescue saved Dilara from drowning.

Dilara explained to Locke that her father disappeared while on a quest to find Noah’s Ark. After explaining the death of her friend Sam, they decided the words he left her must include clues to the location of the Ark.

In the meantime, a plane carrying Hollywood star Rex Hayden to Honolulu became a ghost plane while flying over the Pacific Ocean, turned around seemingly on its own, and eventually crashed in the Mohave desert. When Gordian Engineering, Locke’s company, was called in to find the cause of the crash, no bodies could be found, only bones.

Tyler enlisted his friend Grant Westfield to help find out the cause of the airplane crash. During their investigation, they found an extremist group stole a weapon from the site of the Ark capable of killing billions of people, and they have just seven days to find the Ark and stop whoever is trying to destroy the earth.

Boyd Morrison’s debut novel, The Ark, starts out fast and never slows down. He has written a chilling thriller that draws the reader into the action with a skill not usually seen in a first novel. The brilliant concept, well-developed characters, and break-neck pace bring the story to life. Morrison has created an interesting take on the story of Noah’s Ark that is unnerving to those who know the biblical account.

An interesting note in Morrison’s quest to have The Ark published shows how ingenuity and tenacity can go a long way toward success. When no publisher would accept his book, he decided to sell it through Amazon’s Kindle program and his own website. After selling over 4,000 copies by word of mouth in just a few months, he found a publisher, rights were sold in 18 foreign countries, book tours and extensive marketing campaigns were arranged.

Boyd Morrison earned a PhD in industrial engineering, was a Jeopardy winner in 2003, and became a professional actor in commercials, on stage, and in films. Now he can soon add best-selling author to the list, with one of the finest thrillers in recent years. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys solid, thrilling entertainment.

A special thank you goes to Simon and Schuster for providing a complimentary copy of The Ark for review. If you are interested in purchasing this book, you can buy it at Amazon.com.