Customer Reviews

The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Absorbing mix of fact and fiction, The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is a history lesson within a mystery. Julia Navarro's journalistic instincts are evident in this fascinating re-telling of the origin of the Holy Shroud of Turin. The story is so rich in detail, with historical characters so vividly portrayed, that the reader can forget these events happened centuries ago. Skillfully relating crimes in present-day Turin, Italy with the ancient storyline connects a scheme that deals with secret societies, hidden relics and ancient intrigue to resist the passage of time. This thriller should not be missed!

Ms. Navarro's work of biblical historical fiction is NOT your everyday Da Vinciesque knockoff. She strives for and obtains a more interesting look at one of the great modern day biblical mysteries: What really is the Shroud of Turin? In the process she weaves a tight story of intrigue, historical facts, and possible interesting conclusions with excellent character development and story telling. Actually, The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is two storied wrapped into one: A modern day mystery coupled with an age old history of a simple piece of burial cloth. Ms. Navarro does an excellent job of joining the two time-lines in a dramatic way to make her premise concerning the Holy Shroud an interesting possibility. Excellent use of historical fact to keep the reader involved. Good use of both time-lines to keep the story moving. The only weakness was a tendency at times to overwrite the story but due to the complex nature of events that can be forgiven. Just use the dates at the beginning of "historical" chapters to keep things in perspective.
Although the plot of the Shroud of Turin seemed simplistic in the beginning, the dramatic turn of events approximately half way through is in itself worth the read. Excellent use of twists and turns to keep the reader engrossed in the story.
Character development was excellent although keeping track of the characters at time can be a little daunting. Again good use of historical fact.
Highly recommended especially if you are a devotee of the Da Vinci Code and Holy Blood Holy Grail genre. I am looking forward to Ms. Navarro's next book.

Few relics associated with Jesus have inspired such curiosity as the Shroud of Turin, and certainly none has been subjected to as much scrutiny, speculation and scientific analysis. The shroud, purported to be the burial cloth of Jesus, bears the image of a man's face, but despite countless tests --- on the very rare occasions when scientists were allowed access to the highly venerated piece of linen --- modern science is at a loss to explain how the image was transferred to the cloth. And even many skeptics who have viewed the cloth in person, myself included, admit to feeling they have been in the presence of something holy and supernatural.

What better relic to write a novel about? Dan Brown focused on the Holy Grail, something no one today has actually seen unless you believe that the unknown descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene qualify. But hundreds of thousands of people have seen the shroud, and to build a mystery around efforts to destroy, steal or preserve it is genius. The premise is entirely plausible, and author Julia Navarro pulls off dual storylines with seeming ease: that of the legendary history of the shroud through the 14th century and a contemporary criminal investigation into a string of arsons and break-ins at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, where the shroud is permanently housed.

The book opens by setting up the backstory of how the shroud came to leave first-century Jerusalem and quickly shifts to the aftermath of the most recent fire at the cathedral. Marco Valoni, who heads up the Italian government's Art Crimes Department, is called in to investigate what turns out to be a web of intrigue involving a mysterious cabal of men whose tongues have been cut out --- voluntarily --- to keep them from disclosing their secrets, their plans and the nature of their mission: to steal the shroud that they believe is rightfully theirs.

Threatening to thwart their efforts are three factions: Valoni and his team of investigators, which includes Sofia Galloni, one of the country's top art history experts; Ana Jimenez, a journalist from Barcelona who begins to get a bit too close to the truth; and the modern-day version of the Knights Templar --- yes, the same Knights Templar who populate so much of contemporary fiction and nonfiction alike. The Knights Templar believe that they are called to be the sole guardians of the shroud, and they intend to protect it with their lives.

Navarro intersperses the storyline involving the current crime at the cathedral, and others dating back a hundred years, with the legendary story of how the shroud survived from the death of Jesus through to the 14th century --- which is when carbon-dating has indicated that the cloth was actually made. (As an aside, Navarro offers a fascinating explanation for how linen no older than the 1300s could bear the image of Christ.)

The modern-day story is fast-paced, with believable action and well-defined characters. The historical storyline, however, suffers a bit from the unavoidable --- an overabundance of characters, some imagined, some historical. Navarro had few options in that regard, but the sheer number of players does tend to slow down those chapters. Still, given the amount of territory she covers, the plot moves along quickly enough to sustain the reader's interest. In fact, it moves almost too quickly at the end; I found that I wanted another chapter or two of wrap-up, not so much because of any loose ends but more because it just felt so abrupt.

All in all, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD is an excellent effort on Navarro's part. Kudos also go to translator Andrew Hurley for his masterful job in rendering Navarro's Spanish-language text into idiom-rich English.

--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford [...]

The latest blaze in a series of suspicious fires at the Turin Cathedral over several decades concerns the chief of the Italian Art Crimes Department, Marco Valoni because he knows a great prize resides inside the church, the Shroud. The arsonists have always been found with their tongues removed; including the latest tongue-less suspect. Valoni begins to see a conspiracy of sorts, but not by whom.

Valoni decides enough is enough as he fears there is more than just isolated arson behind the fires. He assigns his top talent to seek clues and begins to investigate scientists who have studied the Shroud over the years. His top art expert Sofia Galloni persuades Valoni to free the current jailed tongue-less suspect so they can trail him expecting he will return to his co-conspirators.

Valoni learns that back in ancient times, King Abgar of Edessa sends his childhood friend Josar to Jerusalem to persuade Jesus of Nazarus to come to his kingdom to heal him of leprosy. Josar remains in Jerusalem as a disciple of Jesus. Years later he returns to Edessa with the Shroud, but his friend's heir demands he hand over the Shroud to him. Instead Josar cuts out his tongue so he cannot reveal where he hid the Shroud. Centuries later the Templars possessed the Shroud during the Middle Ages, but Valoni wonders whether some modern day descendents want it back.

This is a terrific Italian police procedural that uses the Shroud of Turin as the motive for arson and attempted thefts. The story line is action-packed with fabulous subplots especially the biblical era tale. The cast is solid whether they are in ancient times or the present. Not just for the Brown crowd, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD is a delightful rendition using a modern day criminal investigation as the means to provide a deep thriller.

Harriet Klausner

This is an "international thriller" about events surrounding the fabled Shroud of Turin, the cloth with an image purported to be the image of Christ. Focussing mainly on the Italian Art Crimes division, the investigation of a fire in the cathedral takes on major international and historical dimensions the further the detectives delve. With two (or was it three?) groups opperating in opposition to each other, the art crimes people, and a free-lance journalist all thrown into the mix, this is a book that has some serious potential for action.

And there is quite a bit of good stuff in this book. All the conflicting arguments about the provenance of the Shroud are brought forward and discussed, which was interesting. And the secret societies, standard fare in this sort of book, are done fairly well.

But the style is plodding in many places. This may be an artifact of the translation of the work from Spanish, but it didn't help. The characters never really reached out to me, seeming to be pre-formed to fit certain expectations as opposed to being real people. The modern action is inturrupted by flashbacks of the Shroud's history. These interludes were interesting, but did little to advance the plot except to presage discoveries that the characters are going to make later on anyway. And the conclusion, while exciting, proved a disappointment to me in several ways.

A decent book, but not a great read. The history and debates about the Shroud were well done, but the characters and overall plot were a bit stale.

This is a great book, for those of us who are fans of historic novels; this book will definitely be very satisfying. It contains a very accurate history of the shroud and it is very well mixed with fiction (not something absurd). I didn't give the whole five starts since the ending wasn't that good, but at least it wasn't something totally unbelievable.
I would definitely recommend it, especially to those interested in very good historic novels.

This is a good book that perhaps suffers from the translation. I found it difficult to get into the book and it took me awhile to figure out why. I think the English used is very formal and stilted, probably a result of the translation. I'm not faulting the translator, as I know how difficult it must be to translate Spanish into everyday English. It would be curious to pick up the Spanish version and read it and see if the same problem occurs...I think not. The other thing that dragged the story down somewhat is the multitude of historical stories that flash through the centuries, not giving you time to get to know the historical characters involved. The book would have read better I think if the historical stories were woven into the main plotline instead of being inserted as separate chapters. I found it difficult to follow these chapters and found I lost none of the main story by just simply skimming these extraneous chapters.

I have started the author's second book Bible of Clay. The translation seems to be an easier read - or I may be more used to the writing. However, the author still uses the extra chapter method of adding in historical stories.

I have really just gotten started on this book, but I really like it because I like this kind of story,a "what if" kind of story.It goes good with the Dan Brown books, and also with an older book called "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". I also bought this author's next(?)book called "The Bible of Clay",which looks like it should also be a good story.

Since the release of "The DaVinci Code" a few years back, novels revolving around ancient artifacts - both religious and secular - have flown off the shelves. Julia Navarro's "The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud" is one such book, jumping on the bandwagon of uniting historical fiction with international mystery and centuries-old crime.

"The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud" focuses on the Shroud of Turin, a relic dating back to the thirteenth century that is believed by many to be the shroud of Christ. After a series of "incidents" in the Turin's Cathedral, the Italian Art Crimes Department, lead by Marco Valloni, investigate whether these accidents are linked. Ana Jiminez, a Spanish reporter and friend of Valloni's, is working in parallel with the investigation, looking at it from a more historical point of view.

What the two groups find is more than they expected. The Shroud is a highly controversial part of history, and much blood has been shed over possessing it. As Ana, Marco, and his team get further into the investigation, they learn of miracles in ancient Edessa, bankrupcy in Constantinople, torture in Paris, and journeys that are captivating to the imagination. But when Ana begins to get too close to the truth, involving the secrets of the Knights Templar, things get deadly for all wrapped in the mystery.

While I wouldn't say that Navarro's novel is the best among this growing genre of fiction, it isn't bad, either. Like many of these books do, it repeatedly jumps between past and present, but the ideas are solid and the dialogue is sharp. Overall, "The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud" is worth a read.

Julia Navarro is a well known journalist in Madrid. She is currently a political analyst for Agencia OTR/Europa Press and a correspondent for other prominent Spanish radio and television networks and print media. This is her first novel. It was a number one best seller when it was published in Spain and is now being published throughout the world.

This book is a work of fiction, but much of the content is based on fact. It tells a riveting story about one of the world's most controversial relics, The Turin Shroud, believed by many Christians to show the facial features of Jesus Christ. Many experts discount it as a medieval, or even more recent fake. Julia Navarro has woven a splendid novel around one of the most famous and most talked about relics in the world today.

A badly mutilated body is found at the Cathedral of Turin, home to the famous Turin Shroud. What begins as a normal police investigation rapidly escalates into a desperate race to save the Shroud from people who will stop at nothing to acquire the Shroud and with it the power that it is supposed to contain. Over hundreds of years many mysterious sects and cults have attempted to gain ownership of the Shroud. Some say even the Knights Templars coveted it. It looks as though this time the powers that be may be unable to stop someone from achieving what others have tried for over 2,000 years.