A Favorite Beach Read

One book I particularly liked this summer was "The Order," by Daniel Silva.

Silva writes adventure novels about an Israeli spy, Gabriel. In "The Order," Gabriel becomes enmeshed in a Vatican scandal. It seems someone has murdered the progressive pope.

This is already delightful, but then things take a bizarre turn. Could someone have murdered the pope because he possessed the Secret Gospel of Pontius Pilate? Is it possible that sinister right-wing Catholics have suppressed the words of Pilate because these words reveal that the "official" Gospels are wrong?

In the "canonical" Gospels, an apparent "apologia for"/invitation to anti-Semitism is offered; more than one Gospel writer seems to blame the crucifixion on Jewish people, and to specify that "the responsibility for this murder will travel down through generations." Historians have pointed out that there is more than one factor to make this scene implausible--but the Church has never renounced the words in the Gospels.

It takes a special mind to pick up this controversy and spin out a tale of hushed murmurings in archives, "staged" bombings in Germany, shouting and bribery within the secretive papal conclave.

You feel you're revisiting "The Two Popes" -- but this is a *fun* version of "The Two Popes."

In any case, this is a beach read worth investigating. One of the more memorable soap operas I explored this summer.

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