Friday

The Constantine Codex by Paul L. Maier

MY REVIEW

This story starts out with a huge bang, suspenseful and intriguing. While the storyline is compelling and keeps you turning pages, the plot depends upon this "lost" books of the bible: II Acts and the "rest" of Mark. For any plot to work, it must be plausible.

Where these archaeologists found these extra books doesn't make sense to me. When the Council of the Nicene convened they had so many manuscripts to choose from that make up what we know as The Holy Bible canon. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that  some obscure church somewhere would  have a part of a manuscript written by Luke that didn't make it into the Bible. I would be more apt to believe part of Jeremiah was left out since it is not written in chronological order.

Setting those problems aside...

The book is well-written with good character development. The professor does have a weird sense of humor (the kind I like), but it shows up in inopportune moments (also what I like). But sometimes the humor falls flat because timing is everything with humor. When one becomes used to jokes at the wrong time, they aren't funny anymore. I especially did not like the joke he played on his wife who is afraid of heights. It was cruel and any man who loves his wife and knows her fears is a cad extraordinaire for jokes that feed those fears. I lost interest in the story after that and only read enough to do this review. I thought for sure this would be an excellent book, but instead I found it lacking in finesse and plausibility.

This one gets 2 stars out of 5

ABOUT THE BOOK
Harvard Professor Jonathan Weber is finally enjoying a season of peace when a shocking discovery thrusts him into the national spotlight once again. While touring monasteries in Greece, Jon and his wife Shannon—a seasoned archaeologist—uncover an ancient biblical manuscript containing the lost ending of Mark and an additional book of the Bible. If proven authentic, the codex could forever change the way the world views the holy Word of God. As Jon and Shannon work to validate their find, it soon becomes clear that there are powerful forces who don’t want the codex to go public. When it’s stolen en route to America, Jon and Shannon are swept into a deadly race to find the manuscript and confirm its authenticity before it’s lost forever.

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