Hello and thanks for stopping in again.  Today I am featuring The Last Degree by Dina Rae

Title: The Last Degree
Series: Book #1
Author: Dina Rae
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Paranormal, Political, Suspense, Thriller, Christian
Publisher: Dina Rae
Ebook
Words: 93000
Purchase for only $1.99:  Amazon

The Last Degree is a fictionalized account of how Freemasons and other secret societies set up the world for takeover. Ancient writings foretell a ‘Shining One’ who emerges as the world’s prophet. A murder of a Most Worshipful mason resembles a secret oath. A cop gets too close to solving the crime. Paranoid preppers go underground, preparing for war.

Headlines such as the Norway massacre, meltdown of the European Union, unscrupulous media, animal die-offs, Middle Eastern unrest, and U.S. shrinking power make the plot relevant to present day. This book is an ode to Christians, Birthers, 2012ers, Truthers, preppers, and/or other conspiracy junkies who enjoy Dan Brown, Jesse Ventura, Brad Meltzer, Alex Jones, Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye.

Excerpt and more - The Last Degree by Dina Rae

Review:  Stars:  4

I was given a PDF of this book for purpose of honest review by the author.  I was not compensated for the review, and it is honestly given and all words are my responsibility.

I will say that if you are a fan of conspiracy theories, and enjoyed Dan Brown, you most certainly will appreciate this book.  The author has gone into great detail to research the history of secret societies and the lore that fuels their mystique.  This story focuses on the acts of two main groups, the Preppers (or Prepared ones) and the Freemasons, and the battle to control the world.

The Preppers are working against the goals of the Freemasons, who condone all manner of activities to obtain their goal of unilateral governmental control, including murder, satanic ritualization and political upheaval.   Like many conspiracy theories, there is never truly one clear cut and defined “good” guy or “bad guy” – all have their reasons and their failures, and use the means to justify the end result.

I found this book enjoyable, with a few exceptions.  In places I found the writing to need some editing, there were typos that made little sense from a proofreading perspective.  I’m strangely neurotic about these things. There were also some issues with story continuity and realism – you cannot, for example, take a taxi to the Statue of Liberty.  As a first novel, I thought it was a well created and crafted work, and hope that the author continues to expend what obviously was a copious amount of research time to get little distinctions correct.

If you are looking for a read that will open the door to yet another master plan to take over the world, you can’t go far wrong reading this book.  My expectation is that the story is the first in a series, which would explain the unfinished feel at the end, and only hope that the subsequent volume will do this first book justice.

I gave this book a solid 4 stars.  The book is genre listed as Action / Adventure / Paranormal – among others, and may be rather disappointing for those looking to find more paranormal and layers of political intrigue. But, it will have great appeal to those who appreciate conspiracy theories and enjoy some historical facts and context in their reading.  It was, a solid effort and an enjoyable read.