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TWO FOR JOY

Name: TWO FOR JOY
Author: Mary Reed
ISBN: 1-890208-37-X

by Mary Reed & Eric Mayer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2000

Plotting as byzantine as you’d expect, along with gore, whores, and an eight-page glossary.

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Justinian I, emperor of Constantinople from a.d. 527–565, is not nearly as bothered by the seemingly spontaneous combustion of three stylites—holy men who sit atop pillars as they pray and preach—as he is by the missives from another holy man, Michael, who wants to share his power and insists on a meeting. Justinian sends his Lord Chamberlain, John the Eunuch (One for Sorrow, not reviewed), along with Aurelius, a well-to-do senator (is there any other kind?), to confront Michael, and the two set off, leaving behind Aurelius’ son, court dandy Anatolius, who is planning a fancy dinner party for his dad, and Philo the philosopher, John’s former teacher at the Academy, who has been his impoverished houseguest since the closing of the school. As Michael, surrounded by worshipping pilgrims, is demanding that Justinian deal with him personally, Aurelius is poisoned at the dinner festivities back home, and a dancing girl, one of Isis the madam’s prostitutes, spontaneously combusts. And when Justinian sequesters himself to think, his licentious wife (and brothel alumna) Theodora takes control and arrests Anatolius, plots against John, and lets Constantinople seethe under the warring Christians, Mirthraists, and pagans. Meanwhile, Philo is murdered, the inland sea explodes into flames, and John and his manservant Peter, after pretending to go into exile, sneak back to solve the burnings, decipher a code left by Philo, discredit Michael by revealing the meaning of an ankle tattoo, and arrange Anatolius’ freedom.

Plotting as byzantine as you’d expect, along with gore, whores, and an eight-page glossary.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2000

ISBN: 1-890208-37-X

Page Count: 335

Publisher: Poisoned Pen

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION

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AN EMPIRE FOR RAVENS
by Mary Reed & Eric Mayer

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by Mary Reed & Eric Mayer

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NINE FOR THE DEVIL
by Mary Reed Eric Mayer

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CONCLAVE

by Robert Harris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 22, 2016

An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...

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Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.

Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”

An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it is pure temptation.

Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016

Categories:

GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | LITERARY FICTION | RELIGIOUS FICTION | SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE

- BOOK REVIEW
PRECIPICE
by Robert Harris

- BOOK REVIEW
ACT OF OBLIVION
by Robert Harris

- BOOK REVIEW
V2
by Robert Harris

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THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

by C.S. Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1942

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These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.