J.G. Sandom

El diario codificado de Benjamin Franklin. Un mapa oculto. Un evangelio legendario. Estas son las primeras piezas de un antiguo puzle que podría destruir los mismísimos cimientos del cristianismo.En una ocasión, Joseph Koster desenterró uno de los secretos más celosamente guardados de la Iglesia... y aquello estuvo a punto de costarle la vida. Ahora, en compañía de la hermosa ingeniera Savita Sajan, Koster debe descodificar el diario de Franklin antes de que caiga en las manos de aquellos que están dispuestos a todo para destruirlo. Pero en un mundo de sociedades secretas, antiguas conspiraciones y acertijos masónicos, encontrar el trofeo es una cosa, y sobrevivir otra, pues la llave que abre la puerta del cielo… puede abrir la del infierno.… (mais)

This is not your run-of-the-mill religious, historical, chase, search, code-breaking, discovery of some ancient artefact that proves Christianity is based on a myth or a lie, type of thriller. It's quite a step up from that.
Passages reminded me of books I've read by Alan Furst or Olen Steinhauer. The introspection, the uncertainty, the slightly tainted or regretted past, the feeling I got of the main character just being along for the ride in certain sections of his or her own life.
Gospel Truths is written from the point of view of a middle-aged English police officer, with a slightly troubled past personal and professional life. He is originally from the English counties, but after a high-profile success, he is now working in London. He is handed a bit of a hot potato of a case, involving a suicide they suspect is murder but can't prove, international banking scandals, The Vatican and various highly un-savoury international underworld figures. His investigations lead him to France, to cathedrals, the possible involvement of the Freemasons, a Gospel that could be written using Jesus' own words and the long tendrils of freemasonry organisations, with more fingers in more pies than they have fingers. I think I've covered the most of it.
The funny thing is, that while the book is called The Gospel Code and the story is ostensibly woven around a murder and a search/chase for an ancient gospel, that isn't really what (I think, as least) the book is about. It's more about a personal and introspective search, by the main character Nigel Lyman. We learn more about him, his background and history, than we do about the searched for Gospel. And it's all the better for that.
If I were to be critical, i'd say that there some background passages were a little too oblique. I liked the style of colouring in his past with some passages which, on the surface, seemed to have little to do with the plot, but were there to illuminate how the reasoning he applied to plot developments, came about. However, sometimes I was struggling to see how exactly they helped me understand him any more than getting on with the story would have done.
Overall, you are going to have to put in a bit of effort into reading this one. It's much more than an ordinary, airport shop, holiday-reading, page-turning blockbuster, no matter how much the cover blurb would like to convince you you've got another Dan Brown in your hands. It's much better than that.
Recommended.… (mais)

A fast-paced thriller of a ride which kept this reader on her toes. With side by side search and chase sequences more than two centuries apart, the pace and mystery do not waver. A tremendous amount of research must have gone into this book, and into the hands of an author who knew what to do with it. J.G. Sandom has written previous thrillers, but this was my first introduction. It won't be my last.

The story is historical fiction written with a factual base. It touches on several levels of fear, legend, and historical religion. Exhilarating, penetrating, even while switching between centuries as far back as A.D.33, it does not lose its focus. But there are many red herrings, who does one trust? Is anyone who or what they seem? Is even the quest what it seems? These are but a few of the questions that must be solved.

This work of fiction will have the reader asking many questions along the way. Such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Thomas Edison are among the many seekers and inventors in this story. The search is purported to follow clues to the hiding place of The Book of Judas, but the action mushrooms as the search changes direction. The God Machine is claimed to be a machine, a direct line to God. Does it work? I recommend this book to readers of action, historical fiction, mystery, suspense and thrillers.… (mais)