A story that is true — about searching for the Ark of the Covenant. Monty Parker was dared by Ava Astor to find it. In 1908, Monty is approached by a Finnish scholar that claims he has found a secret code in the Bible that tells where the Ark is. Monty gathers a group of blue blood adventurers, a psychic and the Finnish scholar. They go and begin an excavation just outside the walls of Jerusalem. What happened?

This true story is a hidden gem of history. Recently records from the expedition have been found and translated. It is the first retelling of the group’s adventure involving faith and science. It was a fascinating and adventurous story of an excavation that held my attention.

True Raiders tells the story of Monty Parker's search for the Ark of the Covenant. Spoiler alert: since no one currently is in possession of the Ark we know it was not a successful expedition. This had more religious overtones then I was expecting almost if I had read the Bible I might find this book more interesting. It never sits well with me when it's a British man leading an expedition in Jerusalem and Palestine. I know there's rumors of stolen antiquities from the Mosque of Omar which wouldn't surprise me if were true. The detailed archaeology digs were the most interesting part of this book.

This was an interested non-fictional account of an expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant. I thought this was a fascinating story filled with exciting moments! I would recommend this for anyone that enjoys action stories!

This is the true story of the expedition to find the Lost Ark in 1908. It is meticulously researched and presented. The group who went on this adventure were not archaeologists, and managed to offend many while searching for the lost treasure. Real life inspiration for the Indiana Jones movie.

I love it when my favorite movies have a bit of truth in them! I'm a huge Raiders of the Lost Ark fan, so I grabbed up a review copy of this book the moment I knew it was coming out! And the true tale is even more adventurous and mystical than the Hollywood version!

1909. Monty Parker, a larger than life adventurous Brit, is dared to go on an expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant. Beautiful women. A mysterious scholar. Adventurous men. Even Psychics. And a secret archeological dig near Jerusalem. It is the stuff of Legend....and the telling of this story sucked me right in and kept my attention from start to finish! The history junkie in me was in complete heaven -- and no, I didn't see the Ark there.

This book is phenomenal! Anyone who loves tales of archeological digs in the early 1900s and strange history will LOVE this book! Sometimes it completely factual that truth can be stranger than fiction!

Love, love, love, LOVEEEEEEE this book!

I read a portion of this book in ebook format, then switched to the audio book. The audio is just short of 10.5 hours long. Narrated by Stephanie Willis, the audio is an excellent listening experience.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book (and purchased the audio format) from St Martins Press. All opinions expressed (and exclamation points, Capital letters, etc) are entirely my own.

This book opened with such promise. I read 10% in my first sitting and really enjoyed the author's presentation of characters and development of setting and atmosphere. I looked forward to picking up the book again. By about 15% I wondered what had gone wrong. The story began to ramble and go off on tangents. More and more characters were being introduced. Unrelated situations filled pages of text that I started to skim. The original story seemed completely lost in all of these superfluous side plots.
I initially assumed this was historical fiction written from an archive of records from this archeological expedition. It read like historical fiction because of the dialogue and interplay between characters. However, I realized later that the book is supposed to be a nonfictional account of the expedition based on meticulous examination of the archive. For me, it never felt like nonfiction. This may explain all of the tangential information included in the book. The author added every last bit off information to the narrative. In my opinion, this created a disjointed account that was difficult to follow and unfortunately tedious. Had the author chosen a different style, maybe all of this detail could have been more effectively incorporated, but it did not work as nonfictional story-telling.
At about 55% through the book, I decided to skip to the last two chapters and epilogue. This part reminded me of the first 10% of the book. It was focused, well-written and interesting. I also read the author's notes. I never encountered the part about Jack the Ripper and decided not to search for it.
Like many other reviewers, I enjoyed the Indiana Jones films and watched them all when they were originally released. The actual expedition that inspired the Indiana Jones story could have been a brilliant book. I would like to see this content edited and written as historical fiction. I think the concept could be an excellent book, unfortunately this version was not.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wrote a review that was published recently in Shelf Awareness. You can read my review there:
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers/2021-09-21/true_raiders:_the_untold_story_of_the_1909_expedition_to_find_the_legendary_ark_of_the_covenant.html

When I saw this title, I instantly heard the the theme to Raiders of the Lost Ark playing in my mind and yes this is what made me reach for this book. I was not disappointed! We all need purpose and this group found theirs and pursued it with researched passion. The Ark and relics intrigue me personally as while faith is believing in what we cannot see, artifacts can confirm the recorded events are more than just stories.
While reading I recognized none of this would have been able to happen today. The governing of lands are far more strict— this makes you read with deeper appreciation.
The greatest takeaway from this book for me is a reminder that life is not about the end outcome, but the journey itself. Highly recommend!

"When I first learned that Raiders of the Lost Ark, my favorite movie, might have been based on an actual archaeological expedition, I felt like my face was melting off." - from The Untold Story… article

Before he was the Police Commissioner stuck having to deal with Jack the Ripper, (who was at first, BTW, called, much less memorably, “Leather Apron”) Captain Charles Warren, a Royal Engineer, spent parts of several years near Jerusalem doing archaeological work for the British Crown, digging out some ancient tunnels, and laying the groundwork for explorations to come. About thirty years later, a Finnish scholar believes he has found a code in the Book of Ezekiel that addresses some of the tunnels Warren had excavated. Dr. Valter Juvelius’s code-breaker, he says, points the way to the secret location of the Ark of the Covenant.

Of course, today this guy would be one of a thousand cranks flogging his wares on the internet, generating eye-rolls, and maybe trying for a spot on Shark Tank. But in 1909 he was taken seriously and was embraced by a group of men willing to spend some of their considerable excess cash on an adventure, and look to their wealthy friends and associates to provide the rest of the needed funding. They formed a group called J.M.P.V.F. Syndicate, for their initials, but referred to it as The Syndicate (nothing sinister there), hoping to find the Ark, reputed to have properties that allowed one to communicate directly with God. Whether it provided an early version of the iPhone, a Star Trek communicator, an eight-ball, a metal can with a very, very long string attached, or no comms-capacity at all, they estimated it to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, or something on the order of twenty three billion dollars in today’s money. Adigging they will go.

We follow the progress of the digs over several years, noting the discoveries that were made, and the challenges the participants faced. Some very Indy-ish adventures are included. The point of this book is not to tease you about the location of the Ark. Ok, maybe it is, a bit, but rest assured that if the Ark had been found and the author had figured out where it is, I seriously doubt he would be telling us. He would be living VERY LARGE somewhere, and who knows, maybe having daily chats with you-know-who. (Sup, G?)

"True Raiders is my love letter to Raiders of the Lost Ark, but also to the conspiracy-minded genre of eighties properties like In Search Of, Amazing Stories, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail…I…want to ask real questions about the intersections between fact, story, and truth. Did Monty really go after the Ark? Yes, he did. What did he find? That answer is more complicated.." - from The Untold Story… article

If you picked up this book without having examined the flap copy or inspected the cover too closely, you could easily mistake it for a novel. Ricca has taken liberties, fleshing out the structure of known events with bountiful interpretation. It makes for a smoother and more engaging read than a mere recitation of facts might allow. I was reminded of the shows aired on The History Channel in which actors portray historical events. Ricca does it with panache. A sample:

"Ava Lowle Willing Astor was in a mood. She reclined back on her chair and paged through the Times to take her mind off things. She pushed through the headlines to the society pages, to look for the names of people she knew and parties she had attended—and those she had ruthlessly avoided. The Sunday-morning light was streaming through her high windows. Her daughter Alice was around, somewhere.
“Alice!” she yelled out sharply, in no particular direction but loud. There was no answer. She was probably trying on her jewelry again. Ava made a face."

Ava and Monty flirt. But it seems she is here more for social context, and to offer a take on what challenges were faced by uber-rich women with more independence than was thought proper at the time. There are few women playing a significant role in this story. One is Bertha Vester, a Chicago-born local, brought to Jerusalem as a child. She became a towering figure in Jerusalem, internationally renowned for her charitable work with children of all faiths, through the organization her father had established, The American Colony. She was also a major source for Parker, connecting him to local experts able to help in the dig. And offering him the benefit of her knowledge of area history, including Charles Warren’s work.

In the Notes that follows the text of the tale, Ricca says:

"Rather than a history, this is a history of the story. Chapters are grouped into parts that are based on the point-of-view of the person or source used."

That is true enough. Monty Parker’s expedition was the one looking hard for the Ark, but Warren’s work thirty years before had done the initial digging, and the de-coding by Dr. Juvelius provided the actual spark. The stories merge when Parker is helped by Bertha Vester to connect with Warren’s work, and with local archaeological experts.

There are personalities aplenty on display here. Ricca gives us some individual histories, although nothing that might smack of a stand-alone biography. Some of the characters were involved in newspaper headlines or related notoriety. Ava Lowle Willing Astor was involved in a front-page divorce from John Jacob Astor IV, who would later sail on the maiden voyage of an ill-starred ship, prior to her involvement with the expedition. As noted earlier, Charles Warren had the misfortune of being the Police Commissioner when Jack the Ripper was cutting his way through London. Monty and his pals gained notoriety of an unwanted sort after one of their (certainly unauthorized) digs. Their hasty retreat was an international incident, garnering coverage in the New York Times, and generating mass outrage among the locals in Jerusalem.

"…on May 14, 1911, The New York Times ran a story titled “Mysterious Bags Taken from Mosque.” In it, the expedition is described as having worked for two years just “to reach that one spot.” And though the article asserts that “what they really found no one knows,” it notes that the expedition “told different persons that they are ‘very satisfied.’” The article claims that four or five men, including Parker, Duff, and Wilson, invaded the Haram at midnight, having gained entrance by bribery, and that they lifted up a heavy stone, entered a cavern, and “took away two bags.” Before they left on their white yacht from Jaffa, they had a cup of tea. The caretaker they had bribed was in jail and suffered a further indignation: his great beard and mustache had been shaved off in public.
The same story also printed a conversation between a “very liberal” Moslem man of Jerusalem and an Englishman:
“Suppose that some Moslems entered Westminster Abbey and deliberately carried away treasure from some secret underground vault?” asked the Moslem. “What would happen?”
“War,” said the Englishman."

The book raises questions of where found relics belong, not, ultimately, showing Monty and his partners in the kindest light. Part of that portrayal is to show the self-regard of the upper crust, presuming that their privileged upbringing carried with it not just an inflated sense of entitlement, but an enhanced level of self-regard as being of strong, moral character.

"Juvelius was relieved. He knew that one would have to have mediocre intelligence to think they could milk secrets from an English gentleman."

Another participant, Robin Duff, let on to Rudyard Kipling that he was responsible for raping local virgins in Jerusalem. Maybe not quite the highest moral character.

There is a far-too-lengthy where-are-they-now series of chapters at the back of the book that might have been more alluring in a longer work, one that had offered more beforehand about the people involved, made us more interested in their stories. It makes sense in the overall intent, but seemed too large a tail for a creature of this size.

You will learn some interesting intel reading True Raiders, such as where the Indy writers got the notion of that gigantic boulder rolling through a tunnel, a possible origin for a Scandinavian deity, and how George Lucas decided on the Ark as the target of Indiana Jones’s first great quest. It seems possible that Monty Parker was one of many real-world models for the fictitious Indy. The location of the Ark should surely spark some interest of the did-they-or-didn’t-they find it sort. You will see the sort of competition Parker faced while attempting to find the Ark, from both the rich and powerful billionaire sorts and more local interests. Ava Astor has some interesting whoo-whoo experiences, unrelated to Monty’s dig. Ricca offers a sense of adventure in a real-world story, however embellished the details might be. He brings actual archaeological knowledge along, showing the significance of the finds made by both the Warren and Parker digs, gives us a look at some of the social mores and activities of the times, and loads it all up with a wonderful sense of fun, allowing readers to wonder, Would I have done this or that if offered the chance? No fedora, leather jacket, or whip needed. True Raiders is definitely worth exploring. No snakes involved.

Review posted – September 21, 2021

Publication date – September 24, 2021


I received an e-ARE of True Raiders from St. Martins through NetGalley in return for doing some digging. Thanks.

This review has been cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. (https://cootsreviews.com/2021/09/24/digging-into-history/) Come say Hi! And on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4245466016). Both postings include images and links absent here.

Ok, so before I tell you how much I enjoyed this book, I have to say that anything involving a search for the Ark of the Covenant will always draw me in. So, this book is non-fiction, but will definitely draw you in from the very first page.. If you are interested in archeology or anything to do with the Ark of the Covenant, then you should definitely read this book!

A Real Life Adventure Drama

In 1908, Monty Parker, a British nobleman, and ex-soldier, was asked to lead an expedition to search for the lost Ark of the Covenant. A Finnish scholar had found a secret code in the Bible that he believed revealed the resting place of the Ark.

At first Monty was unsure about getting involved, but after being dared by Ava Astor, he agreed and assembled a group of men, mostly other young British nobles looking for adventure, to go to the Holy Land and search for the Ark. The archaeological dig was located outside the walls of Jerusalem. The supposed cipher in the Book of Exekiel led them to search the tunnels under King Solomon’s temple including the Hezekiah Tunnel. Following the original clues they explored the tunnels and in the end excavated an extensive network.

I enjoyed the book. Monty Parker was a larger than life character who managed to keep the group together. If it reminds you of Raiders of the Lost Ark, don’t be surprised. The other characters were equally fascinating including, a psychic and a Franciscan friar.

The book is interesting, but sometimes disjointed bringing in extraneous characters and facts. However, the majority of the book was easy to follow. I did enjoy the historical insights and found the existence of the extensive cave network fascinating.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

True Raiders is an account of treasure hunters in the early years of the 20th century looking in Jerusalem for the Ark of the Covenant. Though it sounds like a real Raiders of the Lost Ark, it reads more like The DaVinci Code. There are ciphers, secrets, spies, and even the Knights Templar involved in this complex tale.

This book reads like a very slow-paced grand adventure tale. The momentum is slowed by frequently side trips into other interesting, but only vaguely related, stories.

Also, while billed as a true story, the book has much dialogue and details that appear to have been added by the author to flesh out the plot. It is more like a docudrama than a documentary. The author does provide extensive endnotes for anyone wanting more information.

Overall, True Raiders is an interesting story that does suffer from excessive filler. 3 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Subtitled: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was billed as the story of a real-life Indiana Jones adventure. While the topic was interesting and the characters were engaging, the actual story left a little to be desired.

The best part of this book was the characters. Many of them where outspoken adventurers taken from the upper stratus (or close to it, anyway) of British society. While the expedition was quite controversial at the time, there is no indication that they came particularly close to their main goal while still sparking an international incident in Jerusalem. Some of the story threads were difficult to follow, frequently the ones involving the scholar who decrypted the biblical code that was supposed to indication the Ark’s location.

I gave True Raiders four stars. It’s a fascinating story that I felt needed to be told with more clarity.

If you are a fan of real archaeology - the dirt, the tedium and the quest for answers - add this book to your TBR pile. It is well researched and fascinating, set in 1909. The Parker Expedition set out to find the Ark of the Covenant. Monty Parker was a wealthy Englishman and was approached by a Finnish Bible scholar, a man convinced that he had translated the clues to locating the Ark of the Covenant. At the urging of Ava Astor, he agreed and off they went to Jerusalem and into the tunnels below.
We know that the expedition failed and it ended in riots when they decided to do some digging at the Dome of the Rock. Knowing that won't lessen the fun you will have reading this tale - part history, part travelogue, part pure adventure - it's all here. Besides enjoying the story of the dig and how it came about I really enjoyed the descriptions of travel, society and the settings. Life moved at a much, much slower pace. I found it to be the perfect escape from these days of stress and uncertainty.
My thanks to the publisher, St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

In 1909 Montague Parker, the younger brother of the English Earl of Morley, led an expedition to Jerusalem in search of the Ark of the Covenant. Parker was backed by a syndicate of upper crust Englishmen. The whole undertaking was based on the work of a Finnish academic, Dr. Valter Juvelius, who claims to have discovered a code - a cypher - within the Old Testament which revealed the Ark's location.

I am sure that there is a worthwhile book to be had from the 1909 expedition, but for me, Brad Ricca's True Raiders is not it. The book is categorized as a biography (of Parker I suppose), but it's written as narrative nonfiction, with invented scenes and dialogue to move the story along.

While that approach might have worked, unfortunately the main story is told from different perspectives, involving multiple characters (some of whom are only tangentially involved), and interspersed with flashbacks to an earlier English expedition. The result is a book that is very disjointed, hard to read, and for me very hard to get wrapped up in.

While I had problems with the author's approach to the story, I am also not really a fan of the way this particular expedition took place.

First, there were no archaeologists brought in. An amateur archeologist, Father Vincent, volunteered on site and was allowed to participate, but was never told the true nature of the expedition (that they were searching for the Ark).

And that's the second thing - Parker, his crew and syndicate all kept their purpose under wraps. Their estimate of the worth of the Ark meant they'd have competition if word got out. So they lied to the Ottoman government (responsible for Jerusalem at the time), the local mayor, the local people, and those they hired to do the digging they required. If they had found the Ark they would have smuggled it out of the country, in contravention of Ottoman law. And to top it all off they secretly excavated beneath a Muslim holy place, and when caught at this had to flee the country. So it wasn't a particularly ethical expedition, but rather one that reeked of entitlement and empirical hubris.

Given all that, it's hard to root for Parker and company while reading this book, even if you do want to see where their efforts are going to lead. There were a couple of points where I wanted to just put the book down, but it takes a lot for me to not finish a book, and there was just enough here to keep me going.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book and looked forward to reading it. But I cannot really recommend it. I give True Raiders Two Stars ⭐⭐.

NOTE: I received an advanced reviewer's copy of this book through NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for a fair and honest review. This hardcover and audiobook editions are available September 21, 2020.

4 stars
True Raiders
The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant
by Brad Ricca
Wow! This book is utterly fascinating and completely readable. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down. This is truly a must-read for any lover of archeology and history. The Ark of the Covenant was the historical quest of a lifetime.
I highly recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

I am really struggling with this book, True Raiders by Brad Ricca. I love non fiction books, and I love treasure hunts, but this book moved so slow, that I struggled to read it. I found there were way too many characters that weren't needed, and way too much dialogue for a non fiction book. But, the amount of research that was done on this book is what drives my rating. I may try to read this one again one day, in hopes that it was me and not the book.

Thank you to Netgalley, St Martin's Press, and Brad Ricca for the eARC/ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

An addictive book of true adventure that you will not want to put down at all. It was amazing to read the story and think about the people who really did these things.

This book was very odd. It's a true story of a 1909 trek to Jerusalem to find the Ark of the Covenant, but it's so detailed that it reads as fiction. I had a hard time staying into the story, but I do have to say that it was fairly well written. 3.5 stars rounded down.

True Raiders is a well-researched book about the early 20th century expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant that inspired the classic movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. The author provides a guide to the characters at the start and is thorough about his resources. The book is written like a novel, bringing the topic to life, but I don't understand how it can be classified nonfiction. There were too many characters and plotlines, and the writing was inconsistent, sometimes painting vivid pictures, sometimes getting lost in the weeds. The structure was a hinderance to me; chapters jump back and forth in time and from character to character, and I sometimes found myself confused by the connections, the thread of the narrative lost among. I see that many reviewers on Goodreads enjoyed it more than I did, so your results may vary.