Robert Liparulo on '13th Tribe': An Action Thriller That 'Brings You Closer to God'
"The 13th Tribe" is the latest novel by author Robert Liparulo and is the first in a new series known as the Immortal Files. Liparulo spoke with The Christian Post about the book, his travel to Egypt and visit to Mount Sinai.
"'The 13th Tribe' can be summed up in two words: immortal vigilantes. But really, it goes much deeper. It explores our struggle to grasp God's holiness; our stubborn belief in 'earning' God's favor, though we know better; and how even our good intentions can be twisted when we insist on abiding by our own limited logic instead of God's righteous wisdom. All of this in a story with action, cutting-edge technology, and complex characters- the kind of book I like reading," Liparulo explained.
The book focuses on an unknown tribe left out of the Biblical tale of the 12 tribes of Israel. In order to do his research, Liparulo traveled to Egypt and actually visited a monastery like the one in his book, along with the famed Mount Sinai. He visited before the uprisings that swept through Egypt and made it more difficult to travel.
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"For me, I was raised the son of an Air Force officer, so I'm used to traveling, seeing different cultures," he explained. "What I got out when I was actually at the monastery was this sense of antiquity and the feeling that important things have happened there."
"I've been to Florence, Paris, and other old cities, but I haven't felt that sense of being somewhere important as much as I did there … it makes you feel small, as if you were standing on the shore, looking at the ocean. There's such an enormity to it," Liparulo noted.
Of course, that does not mean it was a completely serious journey.
"There was a fire extinguisher right next to the burning bush," Liparulo laughed. "What would have happened had Moses used that back in his day?"
Liparulo is now working on the rest of the trilogy and writing a screenplay with Andrew Davis. Davis is behind the iconic film "The Fugitive," and Liparulo says their story is a political thriller that will hopefully be released as both a novel and a film, though with their busy schedules, no dates have been set.
