Eyes of the Virgin [Paperback]

Thomas F. Monteleone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2003

The Prophecies

The eyes of the Virgin Mother gaze out of the piece of stained glass, their expression wise and protective. From time to time, the Virgin "blinks," and words appear in the glass-cryptic prophecies which the Vatican decodes and discloses, carefully.

The Cabal

There are those outside the Church who believe that Mary's words will lead them to untold wealth and earthly power. They have stolen the glass, but not the code needed to unlock the prophecies.

The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways

A bloody message scrawled by her dying sister-pitches computer programmer Kate Hudson into a storm of conspiracies, assassinations, and espionage. Suspected of murdering her husband and her sister, Kate finds herself hunted by the police and the cabal alike. Can Kate's few allies keep her safe from the unstoppable assassin on her trail long enough for her to find the stolen glass?

And what will she do with it once it is in her hands? Should anyone really know the future?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Robert Ludlumesque political intrigue with a religious twist is on offer in this newest thriller from Monteleone (The Reckoning; The Blood of the Lamb). At the heart of the story is a sliver of stained glass depicting the eyes of the Madonna, which is believed to possess supernatural powers. The artifact has long been safe in the benevolent hands of the Vatican and its secret society of defenders, the Elder Knights of Malta, but as the novel kicks off, the shard is stolen by the Guild, a shadowy international cabal. Shortly after the theft, American computer whiz Kate Harrison is framed for the double murder of her husband and sister. She goes on the lam with private investigator Matt Etchison, whose Navy SEAL background proves handy when assassins start showing up periodically and spraying hot lead in their direction. It is soon revealed that Harris has been targeted because brother-in-law Domenic Petralli is one of the Elder Knights of Malta's top operatives, a kind of dogmatic James Bond. All three team up to retrieve the precious relic, racing to a final, anticlimactic showdown with the Guild that's as violent as it is familiar. While Monteleone's high-energy, cartoonish narrative is sleek and diverting, it is also relentlessly silly. The prose ranges from workmanlike to downright embarrassing. Monteleone's similes are some of the worst offenders; when arch-villain Kurt Streicher begins to fall for a vivacious co-worker, the author tells us that the realization "had forced its way to the surface of his thoughts like a drowned corpse that refuses to sink."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Although Fascisti dynamite a Portuguese chapel and its stained-glass window of the Virgin, a chunk of glass remains. On the fragment are her eyes, which are believed to occasionally disclose a strange text said to have earth-changing implications. If the eyes reveal their secret to the wrong people . . . Three-quarters of a century later, the Vatican's official commission on miracles dispatches superskilled hit men to retrieve the shard, since purloined, and before you know it, this thriller spans continents. In Maltese Falcon-Bogart fashion, Matt, a former navy SEAL turned investigator, protects Kate Harrison when her husband and sister are brutally murdered, setting the scene for the book's international chase. Monteleone echoes not only Raiders of the Lost Ark but also the TV hit Alias with its "Rimbaldi artifact" that has half of the world's intelligence agents whacking the other half in a scramble to claim it and its key to ancient powers. Well, you just can't keep a good icon down, even when she's gone to pieces. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (November 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765340283
• ISBN-13: 978-0765340283
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,157,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Skip Senneka is wrong!, December 23, 2003

By 

Al from Philly (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eyes of the Virgin (Paperback)

Skip Senneka suggests Monteleone is ripping off DaVinci code, and nothing could be farther from the truth! If anyone is ripping anyone off, then it would be Dan Brown, who is travelling the same terrirtory as Monteleone has been writing about for 13 years. Monteleone INVENTED the religious thriller with his NY Times bestseller THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB more than ten years ago. EYES OF THE VIRGIN was published in hardcover a YEAR before DAVINCI CODE appeared. To suggest Monteleone is cheap rip-off hack is grossly unfair to a writer who has paid his dues and writes a very good book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action-packed, April 8, 2004

By 

Beverly J. Scott "Author and avid reader" (Ankeny, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyes of the Virgin (Paperback)

After reading eleven books of the LEFT BEHIND series, I have sought out Religious Thrillers. I have read "The Da Vinci Code" as well as Brown's "Angels and Demons," and I found "Eyes of the Virgin" to be a fast paced enjoyable read. There are enough surprising twists and turns in the narrative to keep readers attention and I would recommend it to my many reading friends.
Beverly J Scott author of RIGHTEOUS REVENGE and RUTH FEVER

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Potential, but that's all, March 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Eyes of the Virgin (Paperback)

I don't know about the Da Vinci Code, I haven't read it. But it doesn't matter, even if it is a completely original work, The Eyes of the Virgin is a very poor execution of a potentially intriguing subject.

Monteleone starts with an interesting premise: that the Fatima chapel bombed in 1922 (an actual event) left behind a single piece of stained glass depicting the Virgin Mary's eyes. This glass has supernatural properties and has become the center of an international battle between religious spy organizations (the Knights of Malta mainly) and the Guild (an international shadow organization to whom nations and leaders are puppets in some amusing play).

The structure is very loose and lacks key elements. The heroine has no real goal, but to survive. She has no love interest. The death of her husband happens off screen and while it could be a major motivating factor (revenge) is curiously absent from her thinking. The guild is a poor adversary. It also has no real motivation for its theft of the eyes. It has no real interest in keeping it. Besides the reader can't identify with some vague international organization's hopes and fears and desires. They must be personified, they must be given a personal motive. The only character that is developed at all and who provides any interesting fodder for the reader is the villian. And his growth is incredibly suspect. He goes from ruthless, emotionless killer, to confused and simpering schoolboy in puppy love. Monteleone's rollercoaster ride has no climbs, no plunges, definitely no loops, just maybe an occasional wrinkle.

I would not recommend this book except to the most inexperienced of readers.