A decent story of murder and intrigue with historical tie-ins. It's rather complicated, with a lot of characters each with their own motives.

Ultimately the "explosive revelations" found in the Dead Sea Scrolls somewhat failed to impress me, so that the narrative seemed to lose momentum right at the moment it should have grabbed me by the throat. Nevertheless, a fun ride with some unexpected twists toward the end. ( )

Review: The Second Messiah by Glenn Meade.

A great novel that has everything a reader would love. The story is based on the Dead Sea scrolls, the cover-up at the Vatican combined with an Israel cover-up and an Islamic twist that takes the reader on quite a ride.

The book takes the readers into a dangerous journey through various countries in the Middle East searching for stolen scrolls that may change how the world views religion from every outlet around. Glenn Meade created a mastermind of adventure, crime, murder, mystery, and a lot more above and below ground level. The story is somewhat complex involving decades of religion, politics, mafia, the black market, crime but written in comprehendible context in an exciting way.

A great number of various characters created and developed to the readers liking. The characters keep you guessing who is honest vs. who is corrupt. Plus, you have the thrill of whodunit scenes followed by why!

I was really intrigued and fascinated by many well descriptive places, images, artifacts, relics, pottery, ancient statues, buildings and tunnels beneath the city. It makes me want to travel and see it all for myself. This novel has amazing depth with its secrets, archaeological data, Christian novelty, monasteries, churches, right down to following the Pope’s journey throughout the book. I highly recommend the book.
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3.5 stars -okay thriller much like The DaVinci Code
Read with immersion reading. 4 star Audible. ( )

A difficult book to classify in terms of stars. On the one hand it is a real page turner (thanks in large part to the relatively small chapters...coming in at roughly ~3 pages per), and good central premise for a story, but on the other hand there were some distinct differences in writing style and plotting that didnt quite add up.

This story concerns the Dea Sea scrolls, plain and simple. Add in some speculation that the Vatican is actually covering up some scrolls that may cast doubt on the church, and we have the birth of a second messiah, albeit a false one. The players involved are vast and i am not sure what everyone's motive is. We have the church, obviously trying to cover stuff up, but there is also a newly elected pope that both was part of the intial coverup and also now wants to open the archives to the public; Mossad because Israel wants to preserve the Jewish faith; a black market dealer named Pasha, who i dont really know why is wrapped in all this; Malik who is connected from day one, yet his ultimate motives seem a bit harsh given the circumstance. There is also the cast of characters around Jack Cane that offer some weirdness to it all, Lela Raul (his once friend now estranged for 20 yrs), Yasmin Green with her own story that at first i thought given certain events was one way but then upon a revelation further in the book, makes sort of sense...to the reader, but the other characters should have been more skeptical, and Buddy Savage who seems to be a bit of an odd duck, storywise as well, that ultimately closes a loop.

So what we have is another religious fiction story where a small piece of history is contorted into a conspiracy thriller. That is fine and for the most part i was happy to come along the ride. It doesnt have the same research as a Dan Brown novel...as in the story plays off a very high level suspicion, but what the hell it is what it is. Taking place within the Judean desert mostly...near Qumran, Israel, Jordan etc and also Rome...naturally.

The story was wrapped up mostly well but there were some plot points i felt left hanging, death was treated nonchalantly except for reall Jack's parents and one other that got an elaborate burial. There is also the issue of a main character, Male scholar, dragging along a female cop, who knows not too much about the events, to his friend's house, an older gentleman in a wheelchair(due to back issues, but still "crippled"), where great revelation is taught to the other characters....only sounds a "little" like Prof Langdon, Sophie, and Teabing from DaVinci Code to me...

But all in all, it was a good quick book that passes the time well, and i would definitely read furhter into Glenn Meade's list of previously published and future publications. And who knows perhaps his other books not concerning religious mystery will follow a better pattern and not seem so Brown-esque... ( )

I wonder if it’s getting harder to write biblical thrillers. I mean, think about it. The Ark of the Covenant is safely lost in a government warehouse. The Robe Jesus wore was won in a dice game. And the Holy Grail wasn’t a grail at all, it was something called “the sacred feminine” . . . or some such thing.

Undaunted by all that, into the fray comes Glenn Meade, with his new novel The Second Messiah.

Our story begins with the discovery of an ancient scroll, near Qumran in Israel, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found forty years before. Shocked by the revelation contained within, on his way to share his discovery with the world, the discoverer and his wife are killed in a car wreck. Happening upon the scene is a young Catholic priest, who manages to salvage the scroll from the burning vehicle, only to have it disappear forever behind the walls of the Vatican.

Twenty years later, the son of that discoverer, following in his father’s archaeological footsteps, makes a similar discovery, a scroll very much like the one his father found. But even he doesn’t have it more than a few hours before history starts repeating, people turn up dead, and the scroll goes missing.

On a simultaneous track is the election of a new pope, an American who promises to open up the Catholic Church by revealing all her ancient secrets. Needless to say, there is an old guard within the Vatican that doesn’t think that’s a good idea at all. The new pontiff, who is haunted by something in his past, will not be dissuaded. By then, we readers know that the new pope might very well be the same man who rescued the scroll from the car wreck twenty years before.

Now if all that sounds a bit of a mess, it might be. But it’s a delightful mess, one you need to get through before the real action begins, that takes our somewhat bloodless hero on a journey through the deserts of Jordan, beneath the ancient streets of Rome, and into the rarefied sanctuary of the Vatican’s secret vaults.

Of course, the payoff to any story of this type is what exactly is the SHOCKING REVELATION! contained within the scroll, one that would ostensibly crack the foundations of Christianity and cause otherwise good men to kill? Meade does a good job keeping that under wraps for a few hundred pages or so.

And though I won’t tell you what it is, I was impressed by both its simplicity and believability. Perhaps the highest praise I can give is to say that when I read it, I said to myself, “You know what? That – or something quite similar – probably did happen.”

The book is written in very short chapters, most every one a cliffhanger. As previously noted, lots of information is crammed within the first few chapters, but my advice is to just go with it. It pays off in the end.

Another thing that struck me is how squeaky clean it is, with nary a D-word or an F-bomb in sight. I suspect that’s done purposefully, with a specific audience in mind, however I’m not sure it’s the way gritty men on archaeological digs actually talk.

In a similar vein, our hero is surrounded throughout by beautiful women, two of whom have obviously fallen in love with him, yet he remains single-minded in his quest. Not sure how believable that is either. In fact, I was about to give up hope for him until the last few pages, when he finally shows an emotion other than bitterness at his parents' deaths. Score one for Jack!

Hope to see more of him. ( )