The Sacred Bones
Michael Byrnes. ReganBooks, $24.95 (293pp) ISBN 978-0-06-114607-7
Fans of Da Vinci Code knockoffs will welcome Byrnes's first novel. When an ancient stone burial box known as an ossuary is stolen from a secret crypt beneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, readers will immediately intuit that the bones contained in the box are those of Jesus Christ, even though it takes quite a bit longer for the characters to admit as much. American geneticist Charlotte Hennesey is summoned to the Vatican along with Dr. Giovanni Bersei, an anthropologist, to study the ossuary. Back in Jerusalem, Arabs, Jews and Christians bicker, protest, fight and scheme against one another both within and outside the Temple Mount. A ruthlessly efficient Vatican hit man, Salvatore Conte, hovers over the action. Venal cardinals, contemptuous Israelis, Knights Templar and evil popes round out a familiar cast. Byrnes puts a more contemporary spin on his material than most authors of religious thrillers.
Details
Reviewed on: 02/26/2007
Genre: Fiction
Mass Market Paperbound - 400 pages - 978-0-06-123390-6
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 978-0-06-128950-7
Other - 448 pages - 978-1-84739-494-1
Other - 400 pages - 978-0-06-128967-5
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 400 pages - 978-0-06-128953-8