Sam Cabot: Blood of the Lamb

“The Historian meets The Da Vinci Code in this exhilarating supernatural thriller set in Rome, where rival groups are searching for a document that holds a secret that could shatter the Catholic Church.

This document, dear friend, will shatter the Church…..

Reading these words in a letter in a dusty archive, Thomas Kelly is sceptical. The papers to which they refer have vanished, but Father Kelly, a Jesuit priest, doubts anything could ever have had that power—until the Vatican suddenly calls him to Rome to begin a desperate search for that very document.

Meanwhile, standing before a council of her people, Livia Pietro receives instructions: she must find a Jesuit priest recently arrived in Rome, and join his search for a document that contains a secret so shocking it has the power to destroy not only the Catholic Church, but Livia’s people as well.

As cryptic messages from the past throw Thomas and Livia into a treacherous world of art, religion, and conspiracy, they are pursued by those who would cross any line to obtain the document for themselves. Thomas and Livia must race to stop the chaos and destruction that the revelation of these secrets would create. Livia, though, has a secret of her own: She and her people are vampires.”

Well, calling vampired by another name just seems superfluous as it’s obvious from the beginning (I admit I haven’t read the blurb to the end so I was rolling my eyes waiting for the “v” word to appear).

Calling this book a mix between Da Vinci Code and The Historian is actually pretty accurate. It’s not as thrilling as Da Vinci Code but it’s not as boring as The Historian either.

I also seem to be becoming rather jaded when it comes to Church and Catholics (Christians in general actually). Honestly, the whole premise of Church being destroyed by the information about to be revealed is rather weak from my perspective, but then, I see Church as a human-led organization which basically means it’s liable to be as good/bad as humanity is. Which isn’t exactly an optimistic thought. But I would call it realistic.

Which also brings me to Father Kelly and his reaction and behaviour once he finds out Livia is a vampire. I mean, really?! As a well educated priest of the Catholic church, displaying such incredible prejudice seems a bit opposite from what the Catholic religion is all about.

He does get over it though, so I wasn’t upset with him all the time.

I might be over-reacting to all things connected to Catholicism at the moment as I’m rather upset it is being used here in a movement to get a definition into the Constitution saying marriage can only happen between a woman and a man. The whole movement is based on the religious beliefs of “true” Catholics trying to “save” the family notion. I am not sure from what though, because if they think their beliefs are based on the teachings of Christ, they are sorely mistaken. I find it rather ironic that I, who no longer consider myself Catholic, believe more into Christ’s words (I was raised as a Catholic after all) and try to live my life in a similar manner, than all these people going regularly to mass (and I’ll stop here not going into their hipocrisy).

My tolerance for narrow-minded religious beliefs is dwindling, if I have any left. And I am not really an atheist.

I apologize for hijacking this book review for my rant but it’s something I get very frustrated over. And over.

Back to the book – I enjoyed the fact that the Noantri (vampires) track one another by perfume. Well, they track Livia’s personal blend which gets her noticed and makes her trackable through the city. These vampires don’t fit the usual description though, which is why Bram Stoker wrote Dracula (he was one too) in order to misdirect humans into believing what vampires should be like. 😉 I think that is a brilliant idea.

I also enjoyed the ending a lot – didn’t see that coming. 🙂 Which is always a huge plus in any book I read.