The Fifth Gospel: A Novel Mass Market Paperback – February 23, 2016

I enjoyed this book from beginning to the end. Ian Caldwell did an excellent job of developing a story that takes the reader into the inner workings of the Catholic Church, its politics and how it exists as a country of its own. I was fascinated how he used Bible verses in comparison one to another and to prove a point in the story. Alex and his son Peter, age 6 were two of the main characters. Alex is a member of the Priesthood as is his brother Simon. A close friend of both the brothers, Ugo, has plans to set up an exhibition on the palace grounds to include the Shroud of Turin. The story focuses on the failure of the first carbon testing of the Shroud and what Ugo believes he has discovered.at the present time. Ugo is found dead and an investigation into his death begins with Simon being put under house arrest. Then the mystery begins and there is a most surprising end to this story.To me, the story was so intense that I had to take a break from reading at times, and to digest the remarkable writing of this author.My apologizes to the author if my review offends.

This is a great book!If you ever wanted to know about the inner workings of the Vatican and the Catholic church this book is a must-read. If you just like to while away the hours reading a very well-written piece of literature, then you can’t pass this one up.Ian Caldwell is the real deal. For those who have never read my reviews, I have absolutely no compunction about ditching a book after a very few pages if it doesn’t do its job. And what might that be, you may ask? It has to be interesting. It has to well-written. There has to be a depth of observation that makes even the smallest details seem important. This is not something you can learn in writing class. You either have this or you don’t. I suspect there is a correlation between a writer’s depth of observation and his depth as a person. This book scores high marks on all points, and makes me glad I’ve discovered Ian Caldwell.I’m not much of a plot guy, although I will admit there has to be one. For me, the journey is more important than the destination. This story is a fascinating journey through a world I’ve never known much about. It is what Angels and Demons wishes it were. This plot weaves its way artfully through sibling devotion, solo parenthood, lifelong friendship, marital reconciliation, and murder, with special guest appearances by The Shroud of Turin and Pope John Paul II.The Fifth Gospel is educational, atmospheric, mysterious, and compelling. It is a religious pilgrimage with a divine destination. It almost made me want to go to church. Almost.

Caldwell's follow up is a little more wooden in his prose that his previous co-written work. The setting is interesting, and the mystery pretty compelling. The ending is a pure set-up for a continued expansion to a series of novels with the same characters. The far-fetched McGuffin is pretty compelling, and alone attracts readers as a worthy theme, but there are some pretty significant flaws. First and foremost, the main female character's motivation for some pretty HUGE decisions in the story are never explained and only partially resolved t t he novel's end. I suspect Caldwell can't write about female characters well, which is why he kept this major character offstage and unexplained and unmotivated for the majority of the work. Second, Caldwell's Protestantism shows through all the time in his ignorance about Catholicism. Well-catechized Catholics and those informed of the Vatican's workings as a state and bureaucracy will groan at some howlers in here. With that said, Caldwell does an excellent job covering the geographic detail of the micro state, so his imagined 3-d movements within the Vatican's walls are actually pretty good.So it is okay, but not great.

The good things : Encouraged me to reach for more information of the Shroud of Turin, East/West church split, image of Edessa; interesting observations about the inner workings of Vatican from the point of view of one of the lower level priests who works and lives there, in light of the fact that he is an Orthodox priest.The bad things: The beaten moral horse of how the West catholics mistreated the East Christians going all the way to the sack of Constantinople of 1204. And how John Paul II is atoning for those perceived sins. Get a life - byzantines indiscriminantly slaughtered catholic population in Constantinople in 1182, so 1204 was a revenge of sorts: this is how things worked in 13 century, no safe spaces to protect against micro- and macro- aggression. Somehow author shames the papacy and vatican for accumulating the riches : gold, art, luxuries, cars etc... In the interest of parity should talk about all the gold and wealth of Orthodox patriarchs (exhibit # 1 - $30K breguet watch of Russian Patriarch Kirill). As for the mystery part - this looks like the author got lost in his own plot since the solution to whodunit was right there since the beginning, so not sure why he had to take the readers through the very torturous and endless cycles of interrogation and re-interrogation. In conclusion - if you are in need of spiritual self-flagellation, by all means read it. If not, just go see La Loggia di Raffaello in Vatican

An interesting premise for a thriller, tying real events with a fiction makes for excellent reading. As a mass attending, cradle RC, I found myself quite comfortable with many of the concepts of the narrative,, but did wonder if others might find parts made for tedious reading. I liked the central character and thought his confusion was described well, as his conscience took him this way and that. I enjoyed the descriptions of the gospels, their authenticity and their 'place' within Christian teaching.It is obvious tat much research underpinned this narrative, and this was described at the end of the book.The twists and turns kept my interest throughout and made my insomnia not so awful for a couple of nights!! I would recommend this book with the caveat that some folks might find parts a bit difficult to follow but page skipping would not spoil the overall enjoyment of the book.

I've made it a rule never to buy any books on Kindle that include a promo blurb in the title (eg: 'The Rose - the most romantic beach reading of the year') because invariably they're utter rubbish. In this case, however, please ignore the nonsense advertising push claiming that this is an unputdownable conspiracy thriller and buy the book. Just buy it.It's not a conspiracy book by any means. It's an incredible submersion into the world of the Vatican city state and what it's like to actually live there. It feels very, very real. Although the story is compelling, it builds up bit by bit and isn't by any means a potboiler thriller type of book - if you're a Dan Brown fan you may be disappointed. There's a lot of research gone into this and it's as much a character study as a whodunnit.The author is very good at what he does; inevitably books of this type have to have a lot of explanatory text in it, and most of the time he gets the information into the book subtly enough. You learn quite a bit about catholicism, how to read the gospels, the eastern churches and the workings of the Vatican, but never in a dry or dull way but always in passing.The only really weak point is the main character's small son who, being far too young to participate in derring-do, spends the entire book being dropped off at and then picked up from different characters' homes for baby sitting. It's like some awkward city-wide game of pass the parcel.I'd say that if you're looking for a thoughtful thriller without the crazy conspiracy theory and unbelievable fight/action sequences, then this book should be on your reading list. If you're looking for a mindless bit of action adventure a la Dan Brown then try elsewhere.

Without doubt one of the most boring books I have ever read. I guess if you are interested in the details and workings of the Catholic clergy and Vatican politics this may be of interest. The plot was so very slow. The topic merely engendered – so who cares? The climax was foreseeable from fairly early on. The book should have been half as long and ten times more engaging. Dan Brown, Giles Christian, or Paul Sussman or any number of authors can show you how it’s done.Why did I finish it? Because I lived in hope that it would get better. I was disappointed. I'm amazed that the majority of readers gave it a good review.

This book was heading for a three star rating from me. There are a number of issues with it. The protagonist is not a very interesting character to follow over the entire story, but he is at the heart of every page. The most intriguing of the character is there only at the start and end, with others dipping in and out. The theological discursions are tedious in places, daft if you have some insight into the scholarship and probably baffling if you haven't. There is a sideshow relating to the protagonist's family which is distracting. It is a light version of a Dan Brown novel, but without the pace or threat. In all, not the page turner it promised to be, and most definitely putdownable. Half way through I wondered if I would pick it up again, as I was only managing two chapters at a time.Having said all that I was glad in the end to have persevered. Somewhere around the 70% mark I was wanting to know what was at the heart of the puzzle, the writing itself is good, and I sped through the final chapters. It's a three and a half from me.

When I first started this book I thought of pehaps a cave in the desert and a wonderful new find of a new gospel .I am thrilled that I was wrong ! the whole book took me on a very strange journey .I could not put it down ..it kept surprising me in the most unexpected places and it certainly was a page turner .The Vatican has always to me been a sacred and secret place and this book was an absolute eye opener .you certainly don't imagine thieves and murderous priests..and children growing up there...plus the normal things we all do ..it is all riveting stuff ! I feel now as if I have been there .i did notRealise just how separate it is from Rome ...I found this book to be very well written and completely absorbed me .it flowed along at a fast pace ,..and I hated it when I finished it I felt sort of lost with out it ...a fantastic writer .