Judas the Apostle

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this book, which was a really good surprise....

The book speaks about the discovery of an old jar which may hold the Gospel of Judas. Strange events take place around it, lots of murders, but also scientific discoveries and big discussions about christianity.

I couldn't stop myself to see some relation with the Da Vinci Code, both speaking about ground-breaking discovers that could shake the Church as we know it (even if in both case, I don't think it'd have such impact), both followed by a chain of murders. But to me the similarity stops there, as Judas the Apostle takes a way more documented path and has a rhythm way more slow.

In fact, the entire process of opening the jar takes almost half of the book. While being really precise, accurate and quite enlightening about some of the archeologic process used toward old items, it feels quite long and the story takes a lot of time to really get interesting. However, passed the first half of the book, things start to be really interesting, and the story adopts a fast pace, making it impossible to let the book go.

The central character, Cloe, is a woman, but also a great professor in ancient languages and civilisations, and plays her role really well, not as a “fantom” character. In fact, it feels good to have a strong female character in such a book, especially speaking about religious things. For once also, the Church isn't seen as bad, but as willing to discover the truth about Jesus, even if it takes time and efforts.

I enjoyed reading the book, but I'd just point out the things that bothered me : the pace. Even if we learn a lot, it really feel longs and having to wait for half of the book to get to the jar opening feels really excruciating. the vilain in my mind the nemesis is this book has too many classical vilain traits. While it makes it easy to hates him, it feels also a bit empty on the character side, as he feels like a Doctor Evil all along the book.

But still, a good moment, and a book I'd totally advise if you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, or if you're interested in some christian-related reading.