Customer Reviews

The Thirteenth Apostle

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3 star:		(2)
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Of all the hundreds of novels covering conspiracies, secret societies, religious treasure and secrets, this is, well, not the worst by a bit. It is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours at the airport.

Benoit has the background and religious/historical knowledge to at least suggest an interesting premise, and argue it well enough for the reader to buy it for a few hours. The basic characters are all out of central casting (though some key ones are taken from the author's idea of real life, e.g. ex-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is mercilessly portrayed in the book as Cardinal Catzinger), and the pacing of the book is pretty predictable. The writing itself, translated from the French, is better than the average pulp stuff put out under this genre, although the dialogue is the usual breathless stuff.

What makes the book worth reading is the underlying premise. I won't spoil it here, but it obviously has to do with a final apostle present at the key events of Jesus' life, and privy to events as they actually occurred along with knowledge of Jesus' true nature, who in fact is cast out and shunned by the twelve of the Bible. How this knowledge is handed down, and why it is clearly important to the Church to keep a lid on it, is well handled and at least momentarily plausible.

If you like this general genre, Benoit's book will not disappoint.

Which isn't saying a lot, as 'The Da Vinci Code' was dreadfully written nonsense.'The Thirteenth Apostle' is nonsense, but entertaining nonsense. At the heart of the book is the shocking suggestion that Jesus Christ might not have been the Son of God and did not rise from the dead. We have the usual mix of murdered monks, scheming cardinals, sexually perverse priests, secret societies, conspiracies, lost gospels and last, but not least, the templars ... Ideal trash to read on the plane. The translation from the French could be better in places - American readers may be puzzled by "visage" for example, instead of "face" - and Pope Benedict XVI, cruelly parodied as "Cardinal Catzinger" would not be amused, in the unlikely event anyone were to give His Holiness a copy of the book! Three stars is as much as any book in this genre merits.