Fans of Ken Follett and Umberto Eco will both enjoy Brotherhood of the Tomb. The author, Daniel Easterman, (a pseudonym), is a former professor of Islamic studies at Newcastle University who brings a great deal of biblical history and middle eastern studies to his novels.
It's difficult to review this book without giving away the plot. suffice it to say, the hero, an ex-CIA agent, who reads Aramaic, Hebrew, and assorted other languages, stumbles onto a plot which would overthrow the existing religious structure of the Catholic Church. The book begins with a Catholic Bishop and Israeli archaeologist investigating some tombs discovered during excavation for a housing development. The inscription on the tombs reveals them to be the burial place of Jesus, Mary and James. It also reveals that Jesus did not die on the cross. This information was already known to the Bishop who kills the archaeologist and reseals the tomb. The Brotherhood is a group of families who know the secret of the tomb and who want to return sacrifice to a more prominent place in the true church. Enough said. The plot winds through threads of medieval heresies and beliefs surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. One even gets to read passages from the apocryphal gospel of James. Wonderful, literate
thriller, although not up to Eco in my view.
