In 1949, radical Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts are translated that tell man was not created by God. The editor of the translation committee decides to keep this a secret and buries the manuscripts in the cave where they were found. In 1997, Justin Dickerson, a Biblical archaeologist, is invited to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to attend the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Scrolls, and to study what could be the Q document, the source from which Matthew and Luke wrote their gospels. Arriving in Jerusalem, she uncovers the editor’s diaries that hint at destroyed manuscripts. The next day, she is informed that she will not be doing any work for the university and returns to the States, certain there is a cover-up surrounding the missing manuscripts.

Dickerson goes back to Jerusalem to track down a possible translation of the manuscripts, and finds the editor’s journals. They tell her where the manuscripts were buried. She recovers them, takes notes of their contents, and returns them to the cave. Translating the notes, they talk about life on Earth originating from the fourth planet – Mars. It held a thriving civilization a billion years earlier than Earth, and the inhabitants carried out genetic engineering on Earth. After destroyed their world, they migrated to Earth, bringing advanced technology to the primitive inhabitants they created, which explains Earth’s legends about ancient gods. Rather than release this explosive information, Justin writes a fiction book. A NASA probe sent to Mars finds evidence of nuclear activity.

In the Beginning provides an exciting concept about man’s origins, combining known scientific fact about possible life on Mars and how life could have started on Earth. Abby L. Vandiver’s writing is polished and her dialogue compelling, drawing the reader into the story, but the book suffers from several major flaws that tarnish what could have been a great work. Nevertheless, if you are looking for something unusual, In the Beginning is still a very entertaining read.