Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

I'm not your most high-minded of readers, but I do occasionally make the effort to take in something that offers just a little bit more; a book that elucidates some part of history I know little about, a book that helps me learn and improve something about myself, a book that provides reflection on the beauty of this world.

This is not that book. I'm totally okay with that. I'd read a review of it a while back that included the words far-fetched, religious, Vatican and pet cemetery, and it likened St. Peter to an action hero; I put a hold on that book before you could say sounds kinda like Dan Brown. There are times where I am really in the mood for something akin to his works, a book that has some basis in a wildly interesting past, and then just loads on the speculation and conspiracy and silly, too simplistic dialogue spoken by characters who, let's admit it, totally under-react to the insane situations they find themselves in. This book does not disappoint!

In fact, it excels to some degree by really layering on the improbable elements. It's not enough that an archaeologist (super pretty and hyper-intelligent, of course) is on the verge of finding something huge and heretofore undiscovered about King Herod; in the real world, that would be news enough. No, there also has to be an earthquake at Masada that destroys the ancient fortress and requires her attention, and there has to be a US military attache (super handsome and good-at-heart, of course) sent their to make sure the area is secure and the bodies removed, and they meet up. And there has to be a mysterious Roman Catholic priest. And a boy with cancer who might be healed by the noxious fumes escaping the ruins (they killed everyone else, of course). And a gospel written in blood by Jesus. Then it throws in some vampires, both good and bad. The lucky ones survive by drinking consecrated wine, which as those of you in-the-know of the wily ways of the Church will recall, means that it's been turned into the blood of Christ though a miraculous process called 'transubstantiation.' This is a topic that monks and priests have pondered for centuries, religions have cleaved over it, lives have been lost by those who refused to believe in it...and what I love about this book is that it takes just about three paragraphs to introduce the concept, have people say 'no way!' and then say 'well, I never would have guessed.'

And it's great. If you're in the mood for a wild story and a little bit of contentious history, this might be the book for you.