Owl in the Ruins: An Imagined Biography of the Man Who Arrested Jesus

To Never Die is Not the Same as to Live Forever. In first century Jerusalem, Malchus bar Azahar, servant of the priest Caiaphas joins his boyhood friends in a youthful pledge to drive the Romans out of their land. What has begun as youthful bravado quickly turns to deadly serious business when they come under the influence of the mysterious Barabbas. As Malchus becomes more deeply involved, these friends and Rebekah, the object of Malchus’ obsession, are drawn away by a would-be messiah. The loss of these friends, especially Rebekah, triggers Malchus to commit a despicable act for which he is condemned to never die, a prospect which at first seems no condemnation at all. But as his wanderings take him from servant to assassin, from Jerusalem to Masada, and beyond, backwards and forwards in time and to many different places, he learns that never to die is not the same as living forever and that survival is not redemption.