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The Chosen One: An Archaeological Thriller of Ancient Secrets, Modern Conspiracies, and a Truth Buried for Two Thousand Years.

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The greatest secret ever, which was hidden for centuries in a cave... ...has finally been revealed.
The sudden change in weather forced Erez, who hiked for his pleasure in the Qumran region, to take shelter from the heavy rain in a dark cave.
Soon he will discover that this cave is actually an ancient burial cavern, which contains hidden secrets from the past.
Remarkable mural paintings of an extinct culture, strange symbols, and a small jug with an ancient scroll make Erez believe that the descendants of the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect, still exist.
Erez embarks on a memorable historical journey following secret clues in order to solve the mystery that will change his life. Will he find them?
The Chosen One is a fascinating book. An intense, immersive plot, full of upheavals and adventures, a fine, intensive reading experience that is derived from the cultural treasures of us all.
Perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, and James Rollins.
If you are looking for an addictive read with much to teach-this is it.
Get it now!

322 pages, Paperback

Published November 10, 2022

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About the author

Rafael Shamay

36 books22 followers
Rafael Shamay was born in Israel in 1965 and spent his childhood in a city by the Mediterranean Sea. His dream was to write stories about archaeological mysteries that interest people in order to give them a different historical perspective.

An engineer by day, and in his spare time, especially on weekends, he writes fictional novels that combine facts and events that really happened. He likes to listen to music and watch suspense films. Sometimes in the evening, he likes to take a walk on a familiar walking route.
Additionally, he likes hiking in nature and traveling to other countries.

He also writes a blog about relevant topics that interest him. He runs a Facebook group of novice writers.

You are welcome to follow his Facebook page 'Buried Secrets,' where you will find his books, and receive updates and pre-news of his newest works.

He began writing his first book 'The Chosen One' in the year 2000, which took him 11 years to complete.

The book was a great success and received excellent reviews in his country and much was written on it in local newspapers.

Rafael was interviewed on national radio by Jonah Nebenzahl on her popular show 'The World We Live In,' about the book he wrote.

Dr. Lea Mazor, head of the Department of Bible of the Hebrew University, published an article on her blog about Rafael's book, named: 'Mystery of the Sons of Light'.

His second book is named 'A Light in the Dark' and is in bookstores now.

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5 stars
8 (47%)
4 stars
1 (5%)
3 stars
4 (23%)
2 stars
2 (11%)
1 star
2 (11%)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Michael Finocchiaro.
Author 4 books6,416 followers
March 16, 2017
The story here rambles quite a bit. There is clearly a lot of imagination and ideas, but we are not given time to really get attached to a character because the narrative frame changes so quickly.
There are also a lot of grammatical and punctuation errors that should be fixed. Perhaps this was translated from Hebrew into English? I am interested to see where the author takes his story which is a bit like 1001 Nights with a Russian dollhouse of stories within stories and I would like to see whether we get out of the rabbit hole eventually.
Profile Image for Dan Bradley.
2 reviews2 followers
October 20, 2017
I expected to like this book. I didn't expect to be hooked!
This series is, quite simply, the best historical fiction I have ever read. I'm in love with the characters. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who likes fascinating book. I'll be eagerly waiting for the next book.
Profile Image for Desert Rose Reviews.
305 reviews53 followers
March 19, 2017
My Review
2 Roses

*Please note, this review is honest. I mean no disrespect at all for the author, or anyone involved with the creation or publication of the current edition I was presented with. I received a complimentary eCopy, from the author, to read in exchange for an honest review, which is presented below.*

Great concept and idea, but this is what ghostwriters are for.

The story idea presented in The Chosen One is fantastic. The synopsis drew me in immediately, and I knew it had the potential to be a great read. That's where it stops - it has potential, but it is far from finished.

While reading this book, I was forced to deal with two glaring issues:

1) The formatting was atrocious. It was bad enough to leave me with a terrible headache. It took me twice as long as a typical book of it's length to finish, because of the choppiness. Sentences were cut into multiple paragraphs mid-way through, and the basic structure simply wasn't there.

2) I highly suspect that English is not the main, or even fluent language for the author, especially when it comes to writing. At the level it's currently at, I would say it was written by a small child. There were errors in every sentence, and it was difficult to understand what was being described - much of the story was left to educated guesses as to what was going on.

The book overall, left me with a feeling of "this is what ghostwriters are for." If nothing else, it needs to be edited by an English editor, if not simply translated from his dominant language, and needs a major overhaul. While I understand the difficulty of writing a story in a foreign language, it does take more work, and generally means working with another person, to ensure it is understandable.

As it is, the story isn't set up in any kind of structure, and has a shaky foundation at best. It rambles for most of the book - especially the first half - making it impossible to really connect with the plot or events. If it was consolidated and organized better, it would probably end up a novella in length.

The author has a fantastic idea, and while I'm not quite sure he is a natural writer, I think he could have a great book, if he worked with a partner on it. Perhaps a co-author, or as previously mentioned, a ghostwriter. At the very least, this book needs to be re-edited in order to be presentable for public consumption, because I do now have a terrible headache.

As it stands, I would not recommend this book. If it was at least edited, and formatted correctly, I would upgrade it to 3 roses/stars, and recommend it to others.
Profile Image for Joy D.
3,498 reviews374 followers
May 4, 2017
The Chosen One is intended as the first book in a series. It lays the foundational storyline. The concept, involving ancient scrolls and a quasi-mythological legend, is intriguing. Unfortunately, it was almost unreadable. I hope the author will ask an expert in English grammar and syntax to edit the novel. It switches randomly between present tense and past tense, contains many awkward phrases, and has not been formatted correctly. It has not been adequately proofread prior to publishing. I am not sure if the author is not fluent in English or if it has been translated poorly, but the above issues need to be addressed and a new version released. I cannot recommend it in the present state. This book was provided to me by the author free of charge in return for a candid review.
23 reviews
May 19, 2019
Difficult toReadT

The story plot of this book was interesting. However the editing made it difficult to read. Many words were misspejled. Letters were left out of words
I believe it was written in the Hebrew form of reading right to fight to left. This made. The reading difficult. Too much time had to be spent on rereading to get the proper meaning of the sentenc
Profile Image for Rafael.
Author 36 books22 followers
January 15, 2017
Love this book, this book had me hooked right from the beginning
Profile Image for pamela boseman.
240 reviews1 follower
March 26, 2018
The chosen one

This was a great book. Loved the characters. I can't wait to read more in this series. I enjoyed the biblical history.
1 review
January 21, 2019
Good story

The story is jumping too suddenly from new to old and vice versa
The editing is subpar and so is the orthography .otherwise the plot is pretty good
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews