Ok, maybe I tried to hard with this title but I couldn’t help myself. Another of my many guilty pleasures is the novel that features the Vatican embroiled in international intrigue. The seat of the catholic church has always provided fodder for suspense novels but THE DA VINCI CODE really took things over the top and a there has been a glut ever since. With the movie version of ANGELS AND DEMONS soon to be released I thought I’d give Dan Brown’s novels a much unneeded plug. THE DA VINCI CODE has become the standard. I recall when I read it I thought this is one of the best books like this ever written. Critics laughed it off as bad writing with pretty good storytelling but it went on to sell like 20 million copies in hardback. I went back and read ANGELS AND DEMONS and it was entertaining. I didn’t love the the ending which finished up just fine but Brown had to add an additional 50 pages and created one of the most ridiculous endings ever-oh well. That book went on to sell a whole lot of copies in both hard and paperback after THE DA VINCI CODE blew up.
What expertise did I have to make such a claim? Well my sister and I read a lot of these things. I will admit when I finished Da Vinci I thought, “man, I could have done this. It’s HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, with a mystery embedded.” I know the lawsuits ruled in Brown’s favor but anyone who’s read both books can tell that there’s not a whole lot of difference in Brown’s book and Baignet’s and Leigh’s book.
So for your enjoyment, here are a few books that might interest you if you like Vatican mysteries. I’ll also add a few others that while not necessarily Vatican mysteries involve codices, relics and the occasional plot of global domination. I was prompted by the book I just finished, THE SACRED BLOOD by Michael Byrnes. I read Byrne’s first book, THE SACRED BONES and found it very entertaining. It had the Vatican involved in a plot to extract the bones of Jesus Christ from the Temple Mount, where they’d been buried for two-millennium. What is different about this series is that there is a little Indiana Jones element to the tale. The story is narrated in a skeptic’s voice but the mysteries in both novels involve relics that make the whole Jesus myth a reality. SACRED BLOOD is a sequel and it follows Charlotte Hennessy, the geneticist, hired by the Vatican to examine the bones of Christ in the first book. She’s diagnosed with cancer but uses her knowledge of genetics to take a genetic sampling of Jesus’ bones and manages to heal herself. All of it is farfetched but a lot of fun to read. The villain is a super villain rabbi whose family has been entrusted to look after The Ark of the Covenant, which makes an appearance here charring the hands of anyone who dares touch it. It has what you want in an international thriller, exotic locations, assassins and asks many questions.
Basilica by William Montalbano is a really cool Vatican mystery. It features a hardboiled ex-cop turned friar, living in Vatican City. A body is found at the base of St. Peter’s Basilica and Paul Lorenzo is called upon by the pope to solve the mystery. Montalbano ushers the reader into a Vatican on the verge of change. The story is told post John Paul II and the scenario is realistic enough. Great pacing a strong protagonist keep the tension line taught in Montalbano’s fast paced novel. Everything you want in a thriller. I don’t know if this is still in print but you can find it. You’ll love it on an airplane or vacation.
THE LIST OF 7 by Mark Frost is another in this tradition, though not a Vatican novel, it is loaded with esoteric and occult references and societies which have their basis in ancient biblical traditions. A young Arthur Conan Doyle submits a manuscript that soon has him being chased by a bizarre list of characters. Along the way he meets Jack Sparks, who becomes the template for his Holmes character of later stories. Frost keeps the pace up and the setting makes this a fun read for anyone who likes a good thriller with esoteric cabals and ancient secrets. Any reader of the Holmes’ pastiches, which abound, should love this novel. Frost makes all the elements work well together. He had a follow-up THE SIX MESSIAHS which wasn’t as strong but it’s available in paperback.
Alan Folsom, whose first novel, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, was published to much hoopla also contributes a book to my list. His second novel DAY OF CONFESSION, centers on a priest gone amuck He thinks he’s descended from Alexander the Great and he wants to lead the church to ultimate supremacy and insure its place in the world’s future. The critics weren’t too generous with this one but it provides enough thrills to make it worth the cover price. I sometimes think the critics forget that these books have to be a bit far-fetched in their premise to succeed.
THE EIGHT is a novel I never fail to recommend. It is not a Vatican novel but a historical novel with a broad scope. Using chess as the metaphor the author Katherine Neville spins a non-stop thrill ride full of smart twists and turns. Neville is a computer genius and this book very much mirrors GODEL, ESCHER, Bach, Douglass Hofstadter’s award winning book on art, music and mathematics. She dilutes a lot of smart information into a fascinating read. There is slight fantasy but overall it’s the historical scope that ties the novel together. The plots cover hundreds of years and many countries from the Middle East, Europe and to America. There are druids, alchemists and freemasons and Neville handles it all in the best possible way. Smart and accessible you’ll find this at your local bookstore-it still sells a lot of copies every year.
Finally, I know, long post but there are too many good books, GOSPEL by Wilton Barnhardt. This is a lot like THE EIGHT in that it goes back and forth in time. The premise has a washed up ex-Jesuit academic , Patrick O’Hanrahan fighting for his academic life. He’s been forced to follow through with his proposed thesis, a study of one of the omitted gospel s of the bible, the gospel according to Josephus. Along with a grad student, Lucy Dantan, he goes on an international quest to uncover the truth behind this gospel, which is supposed to provide insight into the life of Jesus. The book goes back in time to the creation of this gospel and that story parallels O’Hanrahan’s travels. This is a smart novel and maybe closer to THE NAME OF THE ROSE than to THE EIGHT but it isn’t inaccessible. It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the many things going on in this book but it is totally worth the effort. Not sure if this is still in print but it definitely deserves to be read and relished.
Barnhardt is a fun writer and I’ll take this opportunity to plug his first novel EMMA WHO SAVED MY LIFE, which is all about the time in our lives, right out of college. Those intense moments that lead one to adulthood and that help form us yet get buried as nostalgia as we plod into that “secure” future of staid family life and raising children. How the bonds we thought would be eternal turn into awkward encumbrances when they collide with our later life. Not a mystery at all but a nice slice of life. I’m sure it’ll resonate, especially with those of us lucky enough to have lived several stages of our lives-pre mid-life. I’m always surprised by the number of people in publishing who’ve read this book and everyone mentions it as a favorite.
g
Comments