FROM THE PUBLISHER
In Munich, a Jewish scholar is assassinated. In Venice, Mossad agent and art restorer Gabriel Allon receives the news, puts down his brushes, and leaves immediately. And at the Vatican, the new pope vows to uncover the truth about the church's response to the Holocaust-while a powerful cardinal plots his next move.

Now, as Allon follows a trail of secrets and unthinkable deeds, the lives of millions are changed forever-and the life of one man becomes expendable...

Will be offering as a bookray, will list participants here. It's a mass market paperback edition. Forum post announcing bookray.

Participants:

1. SKingList(Namba, Osaka Japan - Ship Int.)
   
2. Ktbean(Creston, British Columbia Canada - Ship Int.)
   
3. stubee(Bury, Lancashire United Kingdom - Ship Int.)
   
4. blakkat-BNE(Brisbane, Queensland Australia - Ship Australia Only)<----- Bookray Completed

Bookray instructions ( Copied from catsalive):
1. SIGN UP for this bookray by sending me a Private Message. Order of participants will be juggled between geography, date of request and shipping limitations. Late additions may be added to the end of the list.
2. When the person before you on the list finishes reading the book, they will send you a Private Message for your postal address. If you no longer wish to read it, or wish to be moved in the list let them (and me!) know and I will move you down/off the list.
3. WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE BOOK please make a journal entry so everyone knows it has safely arrived.
4. WHEN YOU FINISH THE BOOK, make another journal entry telling us what you thought - did you like it? Did you think it was well-written?
5. CONTINUE THE BOOKRAY by sending a Private Message to the person after you on the bookring list and request their postal address. Please check back here for the latest distribution list. If the person doesn't respond within 7-10 days (use your judgement), please PM the next person, and then me, so I can update the bookray list.
6. END OF THE RAY, The last person on the ray could try and continue the ray or just give/mail the book to someone else who might like to read it, an RABCK perhaps, look at cliff1976.com wish list web site or release it into the wild.

A note about shipping:

As this is a bookray and the book will not return to me it does not matter how long it takes this book to make its way from person to person. So I would insist that when shipping this book please use the most inexpensive shipping method available to you, ESPECIALLY when shipping this book internationally.

Mailed today to SKingList to start this ray. US Customs Form# LC580674299US in case it gets lost. Enjoy the book SKingList

WOW! New Hampshire to Osaka in five days and that was *with* the 19th there being the 20th here and yesterday being a public holiday with no mail. US/Japan Post, I am most thoroughly impressed!

I've e-mailed totoroandmei and aurora94 to let them know a ray was coming to Japan, not sure if they're interested but I go on holidays on Monday, at the end of which I may see totoroandmei and will pass this on if she has signed up, otherwise have PM'ed KTbean for her address and will get this posted on when I come back from holidays sometime between the 1st and the 5th.

Thanks agan efs300 for starting this ring! Happy Holidays!

Quick entry because the book isn't near me but it kept me good company on the train from Kagoshima to Nagasaki today as I could not put it down. Wow, especially in light of the recent year in Rome. A definite wow, I loved this.

More later, spoiler protected. This will be posted when I get back to Osaka next week.

OK, back again and this time with the book in front of me :) There are some spoilers, so highlight the space below if you don't mind being spoiled.



As I felt with Angels & Demons, it's incredibly odd to be reading this book after the death of Pope John Paul II, especially since I think the comments on Lucchesi being a caretaker pope have matched what some have had to say re: the new pope, whose name, I'm ashamed to say, I don't even recall.

As for the twist in why he wanted to bring the actions to light, I found that amusing. When they first mentioned the little boy asleep in Sr. Regina's lap, I figured him to be someone but for some reason it never clicked that it could be Lucchesi. I smiled when we learnt it though because it was all falling into place. I like it when an author allows that to happen rather than thinking we need a baseball bat to the head to "get" it.

"'But I was here,' Shamron said with conviction. 'I was always here. And I remember it all.'" I have no idea why, but that got Guns 'n' Roses' (yes, their cover, not the Stones' original recording) version of 'Sympathy for the Devil' in my head. Doesn't fit the plot at all, but it went through my head and stuck.

This book also raised some interesting questions. Yes, it's a novel but the fact remains that the church didn't take much action during the holocaust, which is pretty sad. Whether they truly helped Eichmann escape to Argentina, I don't know, but if they did, I think it's horrible that they aided a known war criminal.

I actually preferred this one to the various Dan Brown books because while it dealt with Crux Vera as a 'secret society' the book didn't get bogged down in conspiracy theories and CV functioned as a part of the story without BEING the story.

As for the end, both with them catching up with the Leopard and Carlo Casagrande's suicide, I was ambivalent. I understood to some extent why the latter had to happen, but I almost wish neither had, I prefer open ended endings.



OK, enough rambling from me. Loved this book and gone on a kick for Silva now. Will post this off to Ktbean in the next day or so and will update this when I do.

Thanks again for starting this ring, efs300.

Hi I am SKingList's flatmate and she let me borrow the book. I really liked it, I found it to be more realistic than the Dan Brown books--and also more interesting. Plus the fact that I actually LIKED Gabriel Allen. Good books, thanks efs300 for sharing. I like the idea of this BookCross thing.

I'm sticking this back on SK's shelf so she can get this off to where it needs to go. Thanks again!

CAUGHT IN NISHINAKAJIMA-MINAMIGATA OSAKA JAPAN

Sorry to have hung on to his for so long. Every time I tried to get to the post office, life got up and interfered. It's going tomorrow or Tuesday, I promise!

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted off to Ktbean this afternoon. No idea how long mail takes from Osaka to Canada but it shouldn't be terribly long, I hope!

Got in the mail yesterday. 11 days is pertty good. This book looks interesting but as soon as I opened the package my dad took one look and grabbed it. looks like it's in for a long stay here.

Okay finaly got it back from my dad. and am sending it off in the next couple of days.

The Confessor arrived in the mail today; I'll start reading it in the next couple of days after I've finished Life of Pi. Thanks to efs300 for sharing this and the ktbean for sending it my way.

:o)

My boyfriend gave me this book and said I should read it as I liked Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. At first I thought it was going to be pretty similar - conspiracies within the Roman Catholic Church to hold onto as much power as possible - but actually I thought it was really good as it had a good story relating to the role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust in Europe during WW2. It was well written and as it was split up into sections it was easy to read. It did get a bit complicated to follow in places as the story jumps about from place to place and involves quite a lot of people so sometimes it's a bit hard to keep up but they helpfully say the place names at the beginning of the section so you know where you are. All in all it was a good thriller type book and I learnt a bit of history and religion at the same time.

CAUGHT IN MANCHESTER LANCASHIRE UK

Hi , finished the book over the weekend and must say I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Daniel Silva's exploration of the Catholic Church's response to the holocaust during WWII is gripping and thought-provoking.

After the murder of Benjamin Stern, his friend and former fellow Israeli secret agent Gabriel Allon is sent to investigate his murder and find his killers, what he discovers is far more dangerous.

I don't want to give anything away so I'd just like to add that Daniel Silva's 'The Confessor' is a fantastic fast paced novel, with strong, bold characters and intriguing scenarios that make it a must read for either thriller and/or conspiracy theory enthusiasts.

Tomorrow this will be on it's way to blakkat-BNE in Brisbane, Australia. Enjoy.

Thanks to efs300 for starting this ray :o)

This book arrived a couple of days ago. Thank you very much efs300 for sharing, and thankyou Stubee for passing it on :) I've got a couple of books ahead of this one but I'll hopefully get to reading it soon.

***UPDATE 11/07/2006*** I started reading this about a week ago.

I _finally_ finished reading this book :) I quite enjoyed it and I'd be willing to try another book by Mr Silva.
If I'd realised I was the last on the list, I would have released it at the airport and lightened my load a bit ;) Oh well - I'm sure I can find another reader for it :)
Thanks, efs300 for sharing and thanks to everyone else for passing it along :)


***UPDATE*** Sept 2006 Have lent this to my Mum to read.