"In the Beginning", by Abby L.Vandiver

“The Beginning” is a mystery novel with a bit of a sci-fi twist to it. Originally written in 1997 this fiction finally reached the hands of a publisher this year. The story follows a Biblical archaeologist on a quest to uncover the hidden mystery behind the disappearance of old manuscripts that were discovered in 1949 with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

If this short introduction reminds you of a well-known author, keep in mind this book was written long before the other came into the picture, IMO there is no resemblance between the two stories.
The protagonist “In the Beginning” is Justin Dickerson, a woman who suffers from depression, who thinks demons are chasing her and has terrible mood swings. Her depression is soon replaced by an obsession once she finds hints to the manuscripts whereabouts. Thank goodness Justin (correctly spell) has a loving husband, and a supportive family willing to help. Their squabbling is quite a distractive interlude to the chase for the revelation and a side bar to the core of the story…..

This story scrawls at a snail pace and spoon feeds you tit bits of information to ultimately reveal the key that unlock the secrets behind the thousands of years old documents……fascinating stuff and quite an imagination. My attention did waver by the end and I lost interest by the time I had reached the far-fetched wrap up. The concept has its valour and it is evident the author has put her heart and soul into her creation. Unfortunately I was too often hung up by the slowness of its denouement and the many hiccups in the editing (typos, misused words and font changes), and Justin’s continuous crying got on my nerves.…..Having said this “In the Beginning” is an excellent debut novel and with a little tweaking Abby will eventually make an entertaining novelist.