The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

In The Blood Gospel, three investigators are on the search for a gospel written in Christ's own hand, The Blood Gospel. Those investigators are: Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert, Rhun Korza, a priest, and Erin Granger, an archaeologist. They start their journey underground by finding the crucified body of a mummified girl and are soon trying to outrun the evil forces who are also trying to get hold of the book. As they travel on their search, they uncover some mysteries of the Catholic church.

This wasn't my favourite book. In fact, there's very little that I enjoyed about it. I didn't like the vampire angle at all. I've been trying to stay far away from this genre because it just doesn't interest me. Having said that, I have read and enjoyed a couple of other books featuring vampires/immortals, so there are exceptions, but as a whole the genre isn't my thing.

I also didn't like the change of point of view in the middle of the scene. When done well, stories, especially mysteries, told from different point of views, are terrific. I generally enjoy them. However, in this case because of the way it was done, it didn't work for me. The different points of view were okay, just not in the middle of a scene. I wanted the authors to focus on one main character at a time. Because that focus was divided, I didn't care much for any of the main characters. I found Father Rhun Korza the most interesting of the three, even though he was one of the vampires I said I didn't care for.

I was raised in the Roman Catholic church and am fascinated by anything (including fiction) that attempts to reveal secrets that have been long held by the Catholic church. The church appears to be so secretive, that I can't help but wonder why. I want to peak behind the curtain, so to speak. That's what first drew me to this book. Even though I wasn't enjoying the book, I kept reading because of the promised revelations. However, that didn't really happen. There are a few tidbits here and there, but overall the story was convoluted and not very clear. I guess I wanted clear-cut answers (or at least the authors guesses) to the questions posed in the synopsis: Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? I don't think I got that.

I've read two other books by Rollins: The Last Oracle and The Doomsday Key. I loved them both. I also have a few other books by Rollins on my to-be-read shelf. I'll definitely be reading those, but I'm not sure I'll be buying any others for awhile.

Sorry, but I won't be recommending this book. If you are into that whole vampire genre, you might like it. I wish I could say there was more to like, but perhaps my lack of interest in vampires clouded my judgement.

For more information about this book, please visit the HarperCollins website.

For more information about James Rollins, please visit his website. For more information about Rebecca Cantrell, please visit her website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at William Morrow for this review copy.

The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell, William Morrow (HarperCollins), ©2013. ISBN 9780061991042(Trade paperback), 479p.