Customer Reviews

The Last Pope

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

 

 

In 1978 with the death of the Pope, the College of Cardinals meets in the Vatican to elect his successor. The Cardinals are divided into two extreme camps between traditionalist Cardinal Agosto Mancini and change agent Cardinal Ignatius Heriot. Thus an unacceptable comprise Cardinal Don Albino Luciani is chosen to sit as John Paul I on the papal throne. He makes clear his intention is to clean up and out the House of God everywhere; a little over a month later, he dies with rumors he was murdered for his ethical cleansing campaign especially to end church-mob ties. A second College of Cardinals session elects Karol Józef Wojty'a of Poland as Pope John Paul II.

Three decades later London journalist Sarah Monteiro receives a letter that insists Pope John Paul I was murdered and the attempts to kill his successor were from the same conspiratorial group who also killed Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme. However, Sarah assumes this is a hoax worth checking into, but soon believes the accusations are true when several attempts to assassinate her occur. Due to the grace of God she lives, but fears her days are numbered in single digits.

Conspiracy fans will relish the constant power struggle within the highest levels of the Catholic Church. Luis Miguel Rocha builds his exciting story line upon the underlying premise that Pope John Paul I was murdered. The look back to behind the scenes shenanigans by the competing Cardinals in 1978 is fascinating whether one accepts Mr. Rocha's assertion or not. The present scenario with Sarah on the run is more action-packed, but not quite as interesting as three decades ago is. Still thriller fans will enjoy THE LAST POPE wondering how acrimonious poisoning politics even enter the selection of who will wear The Shoes of the Fisherman (by Morris West).

Harriet Klausner

When my wife gave me this book to read and said it was as exciting as Dan Brown's thrillers, I was doubtful. Dan Brown demonstrated imagination in dealing with semi-historical plots, stretching credibility but telling a good story. Could Luis Miguel Rocha do as well? In my judgment the comparison is valid.

The Last Pope is a very fast paced mystery, with rapidly changing scenes and multiple characters. Prepare yourself for a thrilling suspenseful ride, filled with dangerous enemies lurking in shadows and a heroine facing danger without being able to recognize her enemy.

Beginning the novel we are introduced to Albino Luciani, a healthy sixty six year old man who, against his wishes, was elected Pope. Thirty three days later, as John Paul I, he was dead. Within twenty four hours, Albino Luciani's body was embalmed and his apartment throughly cleaned. Could this Pope have been assassinated?

Although this novel is not a historical, The Last Pope is an exciting novel. Using a few actual events, the story suggests that the Pope was killed to cover-up financial and possible mafia activities inside the Vatican.

Twenty eight years after the death of John Paul I "evidence" was sent to a journalist who suddenly finds herself running to avoid professional secret agents resolved to destroy the information and to do anything to silence anyone with knowledge of Vatican activities before and since John Paul's papacy.

The death of the Pope occurs near the beginning of the novel, which keeps the reader in suspense during most of the book. Was the Pope actually killed? Who could avoid security and perform the murder undetected? Why accept the assumption that a healthy man died of a massive coronary without warning? What could be a motive?

Since I was able to suspence credulity, I enjoyed The Last Pope. Many of the characters in the church were based upon actual people. Most of the characters involved in the sinister plot were also based upon actual people. The plot is reasonable and the action entertaining. I highly recommend this book to those who love a good thrilling mystery.

Though I was only in Catholic grade school at the time, 1978, the year of three popes, is one I remember well. The death of Paul VI led to the election of Albino Luciani as John Paul I, the first conclave I remember seeing on TV. But, thirty-three days later, John Paul I was dead, under mysterious circumstances. Conspiracy theory whispers have always surrounded it. And yet, I have never come across a novel about it until now.

In The Last Pope, a mysterious, coded list is sent to an unsuspecting journalist, Sarah Monteiro, who quickly finds herself hunted by the members and minions of a secret society bent on recovering the document. It turns out that this document is linked to the death of John Paul I. So, interspersed with the thriller aspects of the modern-day events, are chapters that take us back to 1978 and before, to events in the life of Alvino Luciani both before and during his short time on the Chair of St. Peter.

As a novel and as a thriller, I find Mr. Rocha's book to be rather ordinary. It follows many of the typical genre standards, with its secondary character corpses, long, ridiculous chase scenes, professional killers who continually fail to kill their amateur target, and a few minor mysteries that are uncovered rather easily. On the other hand, the historical scenes centered on John Paul and the events leading to his death, are quite well done and much more interesting.

In fact, I think Mr. Rocha might have been much better off simply writing a non-fiction piece about what his research has uncovered about the death of John Paul I--what he sees as the facts, what his speculations are, because this is really the only interest in this novel. Obviously, he feels strongly that John Paul was murdered by persons in a powerful, secret society, and that the Vatican is complicit in covering it up. I would have been much more interested had Mr. Rocha separated fact from fiction and spelled out his sources.

Still, the historical pieces are there, interwoven in the text. For anyone interested in a perspective on John Paul I and the mystery of his brief papacy and death, this is a book worth reading.

This was a pretty good read, but not the best thriller I've encountered. The plot seemed to get bogged down from time to time. But if a book makes me want to explore a subject deeper, I have to say it was worth reading. In this case, I have decided to read Rocha's second novel, The Holy Bullet. There's a lot of food for thought in The Last Pope. One thing I learned is that when it comes to secrecy, intrigue, and media manipulation, the Vatican is better than any government on earth.

I couldn't put this book down. It's complex and completely captivating. To me, the Vatican is endlessly interesting anyway and this novel takes the usual intrigue through twist after turn. The main character, Rafael, is extra charismatic, too -- a priest in love. I love this author. Picking up his second book next...

I found this author's knowledge of the workings of the Vatican absolutely riveting. I also thought his tying together of ALL the many threads was masterful. You definitely spend some time in this novel wondering what is going on and how this could possibly all come together. But it does. You also spend a lot of time wondering how much of this is real and how much fiction. I gather much of it has a real life historical basis. It's both believable and unbelievable! Big thumbs up if you want a fast, page-turning, fascinating read.

As everyone knows, Albino Luciani was Pope John Paul I, but only for a month, before he died (or was murdered). But why would anyone murder the saintly and humble John Paul? Perhaps because he knew too much and was planning too many changes. That, in a nutshell, is the gist of The Last Pope. Now, many years later, certain papers come to light which will expose some of those involved. Almost by chance these papers come into the hands of Sarah Monteiro, a plucky young journalist, who becomes the target of some of the surviving bad guys, not to mention the CIA. Together with her mysterious protector, Rafael, she races from one continent to another, with the dark-suited villains in hot pursuit. So, what will happen? Will she survive? And what exactly is in those much coveted papers? Well, you'll have to read the book to find out.

Will it be worth the effort? Questionable. In this reviewer's opinion, the book is poorly written, repetitious, meandering, and loaded with cliches. Too many sinister characters referred to as "the old man." Come to think of it, too many victims also tagged only as "the old man." Too much chasing around. Too many characters introduced only to be killed in the same chapter. Omniscient narrator constantly telling us what is in the characters' heads. Stilted dialogue.

Everyone, it seems, loves to read about the dark side of the Catholic Church, and mysterious goings on in the Vatican. Those who love that kind of reading will probably like this book as well. I will say that it includes some interesting historical material, is extensively researched, and touches on a beloved and little known figure in church history. And, it does move fast if you can stay with it. So, I can recommend it, but not for everyone. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

WHAT?!!!

I have read the reviews on this book and, frankly, I don't get it. If you go to other sites, you will read glowing reports about this book. This is a wonderful book and should be read, in my opinion.

Whenever I read reviews like the two (as of this writing) that are on this site, I have to ask myself ... "are these people part of the disinformation group?". (And, by the way, just because you don't like a book does not mean that you should give away the plot.)

You see, in spite of the reviews, there is a very good chance that Pope John Paul I WAS murdered. Some investigation outside of this novel would have helped the other reviewers understand this.

A novel can be great in several ways. One is that the words flow so well together that reading is effortless. Another is that it provides the reader with knowledge that the reader did not have in the past. For me, I could not put the book down, and I gained a great deal of knowledge.

I am not Roman Catholic, but I find the Church and its history very interesting. What the book actually got me to do was to get on the Internet and figure out the difference between Pope John Paul I and Pope Paul VI. In my mind, I thought Pope Paul VI was Pope John Paul I. For some reason, I always considered Pope Paul VI to be a frail man, and so when he died, I simply figured it was his health. But, when I did my Internet study and realized who Pope John Paul I was, I then realized my mistake and also understood that this man should not have died one month into his service as Pope. THIS book caused me to make the effort to learn about Pope John Paul I.

Do yourself a favor and ignore me, ignore the other reviewers, and read the book to make your own decision. But, so you'll know, I have just put in an order at Amazon to buy The Last Pope for each member of my book club as a gift. Perhaps that will say something to you as well.

For me, there needs to be an investigation into the death of Pope John Paul I, who appears to have tried to emphasize love instead of doctrine and was murdered for his efforts. Many thanks to the author for bringing this knowledge to me in the form of a fast-paced novel.

This is a funny mishmash of a book -- a thriller that doesn't thrill but keeps you turning the pages anyway. The barest bones of a fictional plot knit together a jumble of notions about how John Paul I was murdered. That real-life drama is sufficient to keep you reading, even though there was virtually nothing new in this for me.

The plot of lost documents and a villainous CIA collaborating with dark leftovers of P2 is, to put it mildly, preposterous. The characterizations are bland and hardly one-dimensional, the "action" consists of a couple of hackneyed chase scenes and some mild violence (the author, Luis Miguel Rocha, is identified as a sometime scriptwriter).

The warmed-over conspiracy theories about Albino Luciani and his 33 days as pope are nonetheless intriguing. Much as the realization that Kennedy's assassination wasn't the work of a lone gunman, the truth about the assassination of John Paul I -- and I have no trouble accepting this as fact at this point -- is leaking out through repetition and fiction and will almost certainly not be verified by any authority in our lifetime and probably never. Yet, to see Sindona, Calvi, Marcinkus, Gelli and the others all make their appearances again brought back this time for me. Because Rocha is Portuguese, he also throws in the third secret of Fatima as foretelling Luciani's death.

Lots of Vatican thrillers these days, though few are any good. How do all these poorly written, dull "thrillers" get into print? Are editors, and readers, so under the spell of Da Vinci Code that anything smacking of the occult or the church, especially if there's a lost document or code or insignia is fair game? Sadly, the answer is almost certainly yes.

I didn't know there was controversy over the death of Pope John Paul I. I was 16, had not returned to the Catholic Church and had a lot of unreligious things on my mind. I therefore, found it interesting reading to determine who would kill a pope and why. The beginning of the book was slow, mostly due to the bad writing, you couldn't determine why a particular character was introduced and what he or she had to do with plot. Many characters did not come to life for me. However, as I said in my title, the story does become interesting as it muddles along and I will continue to research the death of Pope John Paul I.