Name: Perestroika Christi
ISBN: 9780061007286

John Hands

Only the Pope knows the legendary secrets and dire predictions of the children of Fatima, but evil powers align against him, and one American priest has to rally the forces necessary to defeat both the KGB and the agents of Satan. Reprint.

Perestroika Christi

Tim Pendry

John Hands was staggeringly unlucky in the timing of this Cold War thriller which is centred on the ideological and political conflict between a neo-traditionalist Vatican and an allegedly 'reforming' communist regime in the age of perestroika. The book appeared in 1990 during the Gorbachev era - only a year or so later Gorbachev fell and so did Sovietism, turning a 'feasible' political thriller into an exercise in alternative history. As we all know, those who read Cold War thrillers are not the same people as readers of alternative history. The book disappeared down the historical cracks and yet it should not have done because it has considerable merit as a political thriller where the details of Vatican and Moscow psychogeography take the place of the loving description of weaponry in more conventional fare. Hands really did understand the respective ideologies that he was portraying in plausible (in 1989/1990) dynamic tension and, although perhaps 'worthy' in building its platform in the first half, quickly takes off into a sophisticated thriller at half way point. The outcome is a genuine surprise. Hands avoids the predictable throughout. If he gets the 'big prediction' wrong, I think he should get praise for seeing ahead of time some of the underlying issues affecting West-East relations that have more recently emerged in the Ukraine. What I most liked about the book was that the author had escaped taking sides. Rather he describes process with useful neutrality. His two 'protagonist-victims' are not there to be rescued by the author but to remind us that history is not very concerned with the fate of individuals. Not taking sides does not mean not expressing human sympathy or comprehension of how the different players in the game see the world - whether Ukrainian national catholics, dedicated Communist church-haters, committed communists or catholic traditionalists. Part of the moral problem for the reader is going to be trying to decide whether what is apparently evil from one perspective is evil from another. The hoary old business of ends justifying means raises its monstrous head once again. Each reader will respond differently. The author still 'cares' but he cares about those who try to play a straight game based on their perception of the facts only to find that ideologies are not interested in the same facts as they are and can make the world of facts into their own image if they so choose. The bleakness of his world of manipulation by people playing a grand game with small people, justified by historical idealisms, is true to life. The sanity and blood of innocents are merely the oil that greases the historical machine. It was also a welcome surprise to find a Cold War thriller that gave only bit parts to Western interests - liberal catholics, the CIA and European diplomats are present but they do not dominate procedings and that is how it should be in this tale. Here, they are spear carriers and red herrings. The book is hard to fault in terms of 'possible facts' even if history turned out very differently. Hands takes great pleasure in giving us historically-minded plausible detail. It does all hang together as possibility. This suited me but it may not be for everyone. I would like to think the book could be rediscovered by a later generation but I think its moment passed quickly except for those with a real interest in recent European history. I was not surprised to read that my old teacher Professor Norman Stone had praised it at the time. Still, if you can get it on E-Bay and are interested, read it. When I last looked it was free on Kindle Unlimited though I recommend the feel of the hard back.

Perestroika Christi

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