The Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read

terrorism trial to the search for new Pope with adventure all alongby CBH

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November 09, 2009: I start this review by stating that I am not a Catholic but I am a man with very religious convictions and value all true religions that follow God and teach His beliefs. "The Death of a Pope" has taught me much about the Catholic Church, its inner workings, its services, its beliefs in practicing Catholicism, and much more. While this books characters are fictional for the most part, the story follows the path of history teaching many of the good along with some bad that occur in the church.

Juan Uriarte is a Spanish ex-priest who has always been very compassionate for the common and downtrodden people. He finds himself and two others on trial in a British Court accused of terrorist activities shopping for Sarin nerve gas. He had no way of knowing how the British would judge an Irishman. The trial continues in interesting detail, quite different than in the United States. Four journalists covered the trial, two of which found themselves going to lunch together and becoming friendly, or so it seemed. Kate Ramsey and David Kotovski seemed to enjoy their lunches but Kate wrote more into their companionship than did David. Eventually a not-guilty verdict was announced for all three of the accused.

Kate Ramsey's uncle, Father Luke Scott, is a priest who now enters the story being sixty years of age he had to choose what future course he wished for his life. He kept busy but had no idea what vocation he would follow. At the same time the current Pope was getting very old and feeble and sickly, causing much discussion among all the powers that be heading the Catholic Church. Many names were being tossed around in private meetings, none of which were privy to the outside world. Kate is writing the activities regarding the selection of a new Pope and meets Juan in the process. Kate accepts Juan's invitation to go along on the journey to the back areas of Africa to visit the sick and lame. Juan is well known from his past trips but Kate knows not what to expect. What has she gotten herself into? She finds it hard to believe that such inhumane conditions could exist but she sees it mile after mile.

Kate is getting far too attached to Juan. Juan needs to do "his" thing but he would separate from Kate and go to other areas to meet others secretly, some acting quite strange. Meanwhile the Pope has died and the selection for a new Pope has started with all the politics involved that a national election might have. The jockeying for position gets quite bitter at times. Juan has entrusted Kate to take a scroll packaged in a heavy and safe container across national borders because he knew he might get stopped while there was little chance that Kate would be.

The scroll ends up in the Vatican along with all the uproar of the choosing and Juan arrives to collect it from Kate. Is Juan a terrorist or is he working to help the free world? The last part of the book moves fast and it is not predictable. The author has a gem in this book regardless if you are Catholic or any other religion or have no religion. Some of the secrets of the inner workings are well told and seem very plausible. I highly recommend this book.

DaVinci?by Anonymous

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July 18, 2009: Far better than Angels and Demons or DaVinci..........