
Reviews

You don't KNOW how difficult it is to give a Silva book a 1-star. The initial basis of the book is that the Pope is murdered. ........ intriguing ..... But this is also the third book based on the Vatican. I think Silva has overdone this setting for his books. And maybe two hours of the audiobook were about a non-existent book of Pontius Pilate that is found, hidden because he didn't want it to become the fifth gospel of the Bible. He admits that he was the sole person who killed Jesus, which is contrary to the four gospels, and the book asserts that its absence is the main reason that led to Anti-Semitism. There is a big anti-Catholic vibe in the book as well. The Order is a group of nationalists that want one of their members to become Pope and damage the Catholic religion. Where's the intrigue? Where is the group of Israeli specialists that work with Gabriel Allon (they made a brief appearance for several pages, then disappeared). And where's the real Gabriel Allon??? All he did was sit there while the Cardinals told all their secret society stories. It's not a *bad* book, if it was written by any other author, and if you like your intrigue to be only of a religious nature. Silva, you made your name on international spy novels. Go back to that and stay away from this stuff.

This was pretty different and tame when compared to the author’s usual high stakes terrorism plot lines. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it. And I especially loved the afterword where he gives a detailed explanation separating fact from fiction, along with many references to other history books which I wouldn’t mind looking up one day.

I liked the subject on this book , but sometimes I thought a bit confusing 😑

Massive amounts of preposterous fun, just what I was looking for - although Father Joshua was possibly a step too far past credibility. That's Allon #21 and Allon #20 done in a few days. Time to wind back to the start, and say goodbye to my sanity for a few weeks.


