The Death of a Pope

There are not exactly too many books that could be subscribed as a ecclesiastical thriller. The new book by Piers Paul Read called "The Death of a Pope" is certainly part of that small genre, but not limited by that.

The novel starts with a trial for a laicized priest who had been working for an international Catholic charity and had been arrested for trying to buy nerve agent. The plot builds from there in the last weeks of Pope John Paul II's life and it follows a serious threat as you might expect from the thriller genre. The main characters follow a range mainly along a faithful Catholic and lapsed/liberal Catholic divide that includes a Cardinal, priests, a reporter, and various personnel from security agencies.

The split between faithful and less than faithful Catholics is part of the plot of the book and some of the dialogue concerns hot issues of the day such as condom use, women priests, etc. Though the book never lapses into just a vehicle for apologetics that is artificial and the issues raised are totally consistent with the plot. One thing I liked though is that the more liberal or fallen away Catholic characters were not described as unlikable stereotypes. They were treated as real people as where all the characters in the book. As you would expect from a novel published by Ignatius Press the sympathy of the book is certainly in an Orthodox Catholic direction - but again I liked it focusing on plot and characters and not making the novel a soapbox which is always a disastrous decision.

"The Death of a Pope" was a thoroughly satisfying read from the start to the end and totally satisfying how the plot resolves. While it is an enjoyable read for Catholics, the novel is quite well written and should see a large audience. The novel will be available on May 15th and has been well received by several Catholic novelists.

Comments

By Paul S. on April 21, 2009 8:44 PM

Cool. I'll keep an eye out for it.

By Dino on April 22, 2009 7:29 PM

Not much for fiction anymore...we get enough of it every day from our politicians.

It should be frequently pointed out that a laicized priest, is still a Catholic and is still a priest. He is not automatically a "bad priest" or even a bad person.

Many continue to serve the Church in some way and should not be seen as wayward. I know one laicized priest who sought this action, not to get married--which he has not done, and is devoting full time effort to pro-life activities.

By David Murdoch on April 22, 2009 8:51 PM

It's well done if it can touch into those issues and remain wholly consistent with the plot. The challenge in writing christian fiction is especially in trying to find a balance between emphasizing a christian message and keeping it a readable story.

By Jacqueline Y. on April 23, 2009 12:48 PM

Piers Paul Read is a veteran British author whose Catholic faith is quite solid. Years ago I read his early novels _Monk Dawson_ and _A Married Man_. The latter was filmed in Britain (possibly for television; I'm not sure) with Antony Hopkins in the lead role. One of his nonfiction books, _Alive_, is about the survivors of the Andes plane crash in the 1970s, and another (more recent) is about the Knights Templar. Recently I enjoyed a collection of his essays, _Hell and Other Destinations_(Ignatius). Some of the essays were superb, but I was disappointed in a couple of them. I'm really looking forward to his latest novel. I may donate a copy to my local public library after I read it. After all, it's sure to be superior to Andrew Greely's dreadful _White Smoke_, which is on their shelves.