This is a good spy/thriller novel and a very quick read. It's the kind of fast-paced book I like to read just for the fun of it, so I didn't go into it with any expectations, other than to be entertained by some "what ifs?" for a few hours.It's written with a blend of historical fact and fiction - the facts being that Pope John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope in 1978 under circumstances that seem somewhat shady. The author uses this as a jumping off point for the fictional part of the story, setting up a conflict between a shadowy organization and a journalist 30 years later over documents relating to the pope's murder. If you like Dan Brown's novels or are a conspiracy theorist, you will like this one.I liked the premise and thought this was an entertaining read, but like I said, I didn't go into this with expectations of it being some life-altering experience. Just something fun. I like stories that take well known facts and give them a twist to explore alternate worlds. I liked that the characters had murky motivations, since I think that characters that are so up-front with their motives really don't belong in spy novels (coughcoughRobertLangdon) - they just don't fit what my idea of life as a spy is like. I imagine spy work to involve a lot of players whose motives aren't always clear and don't go around explaining themselves in great detail, so this book felt more honest than some other spy novels to me. Sarah's character also felt realistic to me, since she's supposed to be a reporter, she's the one that gets to be curious about everything. I liked that she didn't always get the answers she wanted, though. I did think the book was a little short and that the ending was a little abrupt. I think this was the author's first novel, so I'm willing to forgive that. I have the second book featuring the main characters (it's substantially longer) and I won a copy of the third book from Goodreads, so I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes them next.
Reading Junkie
Books are my crack.
This is a good spy/thriller novel and a very quick read. It's the kind of fast-paced book I like to read just for the fun of it, so I didn't go into it with any expectations, other than to be entertained by some "what ifs?" for a few hours.It's written with a blend of historical fact and fiction - the facts being that Pope John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope in 1978 under circumstances that seem somewhat shady. The author uses this as a jumping off point for the fictional part of the story, setting up a conflict between a shadowy organization and a journalist 30 years later over documents relating to the pope's murder. If you like Dan Brown's novels or are a conspiracy theorist, you will like this one.I liked the premise and thought this was an entertaining read, but like I said, I didn't go into this with expectations of it being some life-altering experience. Just something fun. I like stories that take well known facts and give them a twist to explore alternate worlds. I liked that the characters had murky motivations, since I think that characters that are so up-front with their motives really don't belong in spy novels (coughcoughRobertLangdon) - they just don't fit what my idea of life as a spy is like. I imagine spy work to involve a lot of players whose motives aren't always clear and don't go around explaining themselves in great detail, so this book felt more honest than some other spy novels to me. Sarah's character also felt realistic to me, since she's supposed to be a reporter, she's the one that gets to be curious about everything. I liked that she didn't always get the answers she wanted, though. I did think the book was a little short and that the ending was a little abrupt. I think this was the author's first novel, so I'm willing to forgive that. I have the second book featuring the main characters (it's substantially longer) and I won a copy of the third book from Goodreads, so I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes them next.
