36 Righteous Men

36 Righteous Men- Steven Pressfield
W. W. Norton & Co.
Release Date: November 5, 2019

Rating:
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Warning: Possible Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: When James Manning and Covina “Dewey” Duwai are called in to investigate a string of murders, their investigations take them from the headquarters of the Russian mafia in Brighton Beach to a sweltering maze of shops in Little Hong Kong, with scant leads on the killer. But when Manning and Dewey apprehend a woman—a disgraced but brilliant rabbinical scholar—fleeing one of the crime scenes, they’re brought face-to-face with the shocking truth: the Jewish legend of the hidden Righteous Men, the 36 who protect the world from destruction, is no legend at all. They are real, and they are being murdered.

As the bodies pile up and the world tilts further into chaos, Manning and Dewey must protect the last of the Righteous Men from a ruthless killer able to beguile his victims and command them against their will. Plunged into a deadly game of cat and mouse, the detectives find their arsenal of bullets and blades of little use against a foe who knows their every move.

Joining forces with the rabbinical scholar and a renowned anthropologist, Manning and Dewey set off on a perilous quest from New York to Gehenna in Israel to confront a murderer who won’t stop until he’s killed every one.

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It's the year 2034.  Sea levels have risen and environmental refugees crowd the still dry portions of the world.  Massive superstorms, cyclones, sandstorms, and rises in temperature mean that 120 F in April in New York City is the new norm. Detectives James Manning and Covina "Dewey" Duwai are part of a special investigation division of the NYPD working a series of murders that could be connected to ecological terrorism, Russian mafia, or something else entirely.  Rebuffed by their NYPD colleagues, Manning and Dewey join forces with a renowned anthropologist/ecologist and his sister, a disgraced rabbinical scholar who just happens to have been present at each murder scene, to try and stop a serial killer who is determined to finish his mission and end the world.

Most everyone knows the basics of the Noah's Ark story: God decides humans are wicked and plans to wipe them all out and start over with those saved on Noah's ark.  Most everyone probably does not know the story of the 36 Righteous Men.  In Jewish legend, the 36 Righteous Men are God's promise to prevent another apocalypse.  As long as there are 36 righteous men alive, humanity is safe.  If those 36 should die, all bets are off.  Detectives Manning and Dewey are led to clues that suggest the serial murders they are investigating could be the work of someone killing the 36 in order to hurry along armageddon.  

Is 36 Righteous Men a moral story warning that humans have choices in life that lead to unseen, and perhaps catastrophic, consequences?  Is it a suspense/thriller of a police procedural and the hunt for a serial killer?  Is it a thinly veiled screenplay waiting to be turned into a movie with lots of special effects and no character development? The answer to me seems to be: yes to all of the above.  Pressfield makes it clear that humans are doing their best to bring in armageddon without any help and the further into the book you go the less delineation there is between natural disasters and possible divine intervention. Not only do you think by the end that it's probably the same thing, you also know that it doesn't matter.  The police procedural part was thin and mostly focused on Manning being the grizzled veteran following the facts while others run around chasing Russian mafia for no obvious reason.  Dewey, as the narrator, is the young green detective trying to learn from a legend.  Men is best when it focuses on the legend of the 36 and explaining it and surrounding Jewish beliefs to the two gentile detectives- something it manages to do in a natural, non-preachy way.   

Fans of Steven Pressfield's traditional historical fiction (Gates of Fire, Tides of War, Last of the Amazons) will be surprised by Pressfield's latest work.  Instead of historical fiction, Pressfield enters a sci-fi futuristic version of the world as it could be in 2034.  Instead of a 'traditional' style of writing, Pressfield experiments with a first-person narrative told through memos and one of the characters points of view in an odd combination of prose and screenplay-style dialogue.  The writing style was distracting to me and greatly hampered any character development, though it did finally work for the ending.  Or maybe by then I was used to it?  The climactic scenes at the end managed to be fast-paced and clunky at the same time.  The very ending, without giving everything away, managed to be both shocking, stunning, and simultaneously probably exactly what I should have seen coming.  

36 Righteous Men gets a bonus star for Pressfield's unique world building of the almost-apocalyptic world of the near future, but loses a lot of points for me for the ending.  I hate books(or movies) where I get to the last page and am left wondering: then what was the point? 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review