Michael Byrnes (1)Recensioni
Autore di The Sacred Bones
Per altri autori con il nome Michael Byrnes, vedi la pagina di disambiguazione.
Recensioni
The Sacred Bones di Michael Byrnes
This is the sequel to The Sacred Bones, which I quite liked, so I had been looking forward to read this book.
The story sets off right after the first book ended. If you think you don't recall anything from the first book, it might just be a good idea to reread the first novel. Or else, just try and see if any things will come back to you after you start reading (this is what I usually do). It was still enjoyable, but I didn't like it as much as I liked the first one. It also felt like a bit too much repetition. The end was also quite predictable, unfortunately. Still a nice and quick read, but not a good as the first one.
I read this book in the days before Easter, and I think that is the perfect time for this novel.
A friend of me really liked it and recommended it to me.
It sounds all very Dan Brown-like. A mysterious box with bones is found, people are willing to kill to make sure they have it, but for some reason I liked this book better. Perhaps is was the - not completely accurate, but still interesting - genetics that was in there, I don't really know but I liked reading it. Perhaps another plus is that not everybody survives till the end. It's a quick read but nice.
This however isn't all bad news (for me) as whilst the book is entertaining it's certainly not genre breaking or keep-you-up-at-night material.
It starts with an unusual theft, moves along with a certain level of predictability using a mix of science, history and religion to advance the narrative. Then comes the inevitable twist.
To be fair the last hundred or so pages were actually quite good, if the same level of quality was through the entire book it'ld be in 4-5 star territory but alas, it just wasn't that great overall.
With a good cast and, for once, very little romance getting in the way the book rolls smoothly along keeping me wanting to know more. The two sides of the story were well entwined with neither side getting boring before switching keeping them both fresh.
An enjoyable book with a little twist near the end I liked I look forward to reading the next book which is already sitting on my shelf.
I preferred the other main character, Amit, more than Charlotte. I wish there had been more about him and I hope he gets his own book. Overall though this book just felt more of the same. The ending was rather predictable. Just once I'd like to see them take it in a completely different direction.
A quick read I wouldn't recommend it without reading the first book.
Apart from the ending I enjoyed this.
Al mismo tiempo, en Jerusalén aumenta la tensión entre palestinos y judíos debido a un misterioso robo bajo el Monte del Templo, en cuya investigación participan el diplomático Razak y el guardián del templo Farouq. Su investigación les permite aventurar que la cripta en donde se ha producido el robo está debajo del antiguo Templo de Salomón y es el lugar en el que Pedro enterró los restos de Jesús que José de Arimatea le entregó, y que fue guardado por los caballeros templarios, los únicos que conocían su ubicación.
It's an impressive first novel.
What would happen if the Templars secret hiding place for the bones of Jesus Christ were discovered today in Jerusalem under the Temple Mount? That's the central story which takes twists and turns through the over heated religious atmosphere of today's Jerusalem, the gilded and secretive splendor of the Vatican and a trip or three back to the 12 th century and the ignominious end of the Templar Knights.
Not perfect, but great fun. I'll be looking for his next book, The Sacred Blood.
In the Vatican, American Scientist Charlotte Hennesey and Italian Anthropologist Giovanni Bersei are summoned and vowed to secrecy about a mysterious stone box. Which the open and find inside bones. The bones of a crucified man.
Now if you've read any of this stuff you'd know where this is going. Charlotte is supposed to have multiple myeloma. Is supposed to be taking Chemotherapy drugs. Now I know from experience that chemo isn't easy, is quite tough on your stomach and if they tell you not to take alcohol it's not for gallery. She's also supposed to have had a catholic education but the gaps of difference between my catholic education ahd hers are just amazing. They also failed to convince me that they were real scientists. Among other things, if you found an ancient parchment or velum scroll and were being hired by the Vatican Library (not to look into the scroll but the scroll was found in the ossuary) you wouldn't wonder what to do with the scroll but would call the librarian right there and then (unless it was past their working hours, but even still, most librarians would be very happy to be dragged out of bed to examine a document that looks like it's early Christian, trust me)
And I don't care how much you need the info, your phone has a camera, don't photocopy the ancient document. At the worst you should have a digital camera of some sort, use it.
Oh and the author failed their research test: p 130 "Straight out of the seminary, Donovan had joined Dublin's Christchurch Cathedral as a resident priest." He's supposed to be a Roman Catholic Priest. If you google it, even without going through to the link (http://cccdub.ie/) you will see, up front and center "Church of Ireland". Why yes, there are non-Roman Catholics in Ireland, a little fact-checking goes an awful long way.
We're not even going near the ending that seriously came at me and made me wince.
Still it did drag me along (yes occasionally kicking and screaming) almost more for the what the hells is he going to do next to the characters. It had the potential to be a good read but it didn't make it. If you liked the Da Vinci Code you may like this but if you hated it this isn't much better.
Discerning readers know if ‘Dan Brown’ or ‘Da Vinci Code’ is mentioned anywhere on the book or in anything promoting the book – possible exceptions might be ‘If you like Dan brown, you’ll hate this – don’t bother reading it.
Sacred Blood is actually less offensive than most as well as being slightly better written: although it is a follow up to Sacred Bones, published a few years ago, the back story is easy to pick up and the book works as a stand alone.
A couple of years ago a sarcophagus containing a skeleton was found in a previously undiscovered tomb under Temple Mount: before the bones could be properly examined, they were seized in a ruthless and daring raid in which many were killed.
Could these have been the bones of Jesus Christ? The indications were all there but the public would never know the truth thanks to the ungodly machinations of an ancient evil, an all-powerful international gang of immoral killers, one of the richest, most corrupt and oldest institutions on Earth – the Catholic Church.
Like all the really big-shot baddies, the Catholics have a luxurious and heavily fortified hangout – theirs is in the heart of Rome and called Vatican City: it was to this sinister and secretive enclave that the stolen bones were delivered…
Charlotte Hennessey, an American scientist brought into the Vatican to examine the bones, is miraculously cured of cancer when she in injected with their DNA: obviously, this was no ordinary skeleton. But now a few years have passed and the Evil Empire is quiet and Temple Mount has licked its wounds.
Husky Israeli archaeologist Amit Mizrachi makes a bewildering discovery at Qumran and asks his friend Julie LeRoux, a renowned French archaeologist, to help him decipher it but before long they are running for their lives and the Qumran site has been destroyed.
Then there is Aaron Cohen, an American-born ultra-Orthodox Jew who returned to Israel to raise a family and lead a covert sect called The Sons of Light: on the other hand we have the Muslim rulers of Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock, hard-line fundamentalists, hell-bent on the rewards they will garner in Paradise for mass slaughter of the unsuspecting in cold blood.
And let’s not forget the Catholic Church and the treachery existing deep in the heart of the Holy See. A rollicking read with plenty of thrills, spills and romance, involving everything from the sacred gift of healing to the Arc of the Covenant: this is Dan brown lite, a book that does not take itself too seriously, and is all the better for it.
Author: Michael Byrnes
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Edition released: June 2007
ISBN: 978-1-8473-7011-2
438 pages
Review by: Karen Chisholm
THE SACRED BONES is another entry in the recently well-populated field of confrontational religious themed thrillers. When a well armed, well organised small group break through the walls of the mosque in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem they appear to have been very well informed. Blowing a hole in the wall in exactly the right place to reveal an unknown burial crypt, they move straight past a number of ossuaries taking only the one deepest in the chamber. Their escape, facilitated by a stolen Israeli helicopter, leaves Palestinians outraged over the desecration of sacred ground and Israeli's equally outraged over the deaths of thirteen soldiers during the resulting fire-fight.
In the meantime Italian anthropologist Giovanni Bersei and American geneticist Charlotte Hennesey have been summoned to Vatican City to analyse a mysterious archaeological treasure that could prove to be one of the greatest secrets, the ossuary contains a human skeleton, approximately 2,000 years old, obvious speared, obviously crucified. Forces within Vatican City are very troubled over the existence of the skeleton and the implications to the very foundations of belief.
Starting out reading THE SACRED BONES it was very very hard to shake the feeling that if you can manage to offend 3 major worldwide religions then you've got the possibility of a run away best seller. Fortunately the story helps a little in dispelling that fear as, frankly, there's some points of supposed scientific revelation in here that were impossible for this reader (no doctor / geneticist granted) to swallow. Maybe part of the reason for that was some credibility gaps for the main "experts", who seemed to ask questions and make statements that just didn't stack up, maybe part of the reason was that the story had elements that were just too way out to be feasible and hence, the book read as an outrageous over the top thriller.
And as an over the top thriller there were some really funny elements - two of the main characters in severe danger of dying in a hail of sniper bullets, and the scenes around the destruction of the car they were driving were laid out in such detail it was hilarious. The time it takes for the two experts to eventually have the discussion about "whose bones do you think they could be" - the reader can have a wonderful time playing "go on ... say it .. I dare you" games. The sinister security consultant for the Vatican "lurking" around in the shadows everywhere that Charlotte goes, who then conveniently leaves doors open for discoveries to be made. The much commented on loveliness of Charlotte - more homely geneticists obviously would not qualify for this particular task. The Irish (yes Irish) priest, with the murderous background who manages to kill a lurking, dangerous killer in the middle of Rome with seemingly nobody noticing. All great over the top stuff.
THE SACRED BONES might not make it as an entrant in the encouraging controversy stakes but for a totally over the top, really silly bit of light entertainment, it was good fun to play spot the cliché in.
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