The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud
Written by Julia Navarro
Narrated by James Langton
3/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
An Age-Old Secret Conspiracy. . .
Now the Truth Is Revealed. . . .
Marco Valoni, chief of Italy's Art Crimes Department, is convinced that a fire in the Cathedral of Turin that leaves a strangely mutilated, unidentifiable body on the scene was no accident. It is only the last in a long line of mishaps, going back over a hundred years, that have occurred in the church - which happens to be home to what millions of the faithful believe is that authentic burial shroud of Jesus Christ.
Valoni and his crack team of specialists embark on an investigation that soon leads them into dangerous territory, territory controlled by some of the most powerful men in the world. Not only do they discover evidence of a secret Christian sect that traces its priests to the very disciples of Jesus himself, but also that the Knights Templar - supposedly destroyed forever when Philip the Fair of France watched their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, burn at the stake in 1314 - may not have disappeared at all, and may indeed be very much alive and active in the 21st century.
Julia Navarro skillfully weaves the Italians' thrilling present-day investigation with the spine-tingling history of the Holy Shroud itself, and with a chilling tale of ancient rivals, equally devoted to the relic, and equally willing to sacrifice anything - perhaps even their immortal souls-to possess it.
From communities of the Middle East founded by Jesus himself, to medieval Byzantium, to the highest councils of the Vatican and the boardrooms that run the world today, The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is a provocative listen of the highest order - one that will challenge you to believe.
Julia Navarro
Julia Navarro es escritora y periodista. Después de escribir varios libros de actualidad política publicó su primera novela, La Hermandad de la Sábana Santa, con la que logró un éxito sin precedentes situándose durante meses en los primeros puestos de las listas de ventas, tanto nacionales como extranjeras. La Biblia de barro y La sangre de los inocentes afianzaron su prestigio entre la crítica y el público. Tras ellas llegaron Dime quién soy y Dispara, yo ya estoy muerto, que abordan de forma magistral la historia del siglo XX y supusieron un punto de inflexión en su trayectoria literaria. Es una de las autoras españolas con mayor reconocimiento dentro y fuera de nuestras fronteras. Ha conseguido llegar a millones de lectores en todo el mundo, y sus libros cuentan con traducciones en más de treinta países. www.julianavarro.es Facebook: Julia.Navarro/Oficial
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Reviews for The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud
186 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In this story we follow an investigation of the art crimes department in Italy, who are studying the case of the 'Sindone', the shroud of Christ. Throughout history the Sindone has often been threatened; it is now stored in Turin, where strange fires and accidents keep happening, involving men who have no tongue and no fingerprints. Alongside the story of the investigation we are given a secondary story, telling the history of the Sindone.It turns out that two competing groups are after the Sindone, and the investigative team ends up in the middle of an ancient conflict, with disastrous results.I enjoyed the historical parts and thought they formed a nice background to the investigation. The investigation itself also keeps you on the edge of your seat. I did guess the involvement of the different parties at quite an early stage in the book, but I still enjoyed following the investigation.One thing I found annoying is that Navarro feels a need to give lengthy explanations in a way that breaks up the story. Often she lets the investigators tell parts of the history to each other, even if the characters both know the story already - this gives the strange effect that obviously the characters are only having that conversation for the sake of the reader. It feels very awkward and also slows the story down.I also found the ending somewhat annoying - nothing gets resolved, and there is no real 'wrapping up'. It seems like nothing has changed and the conflict will simply go on forever, with all the investigative work having been useless. I guess that is how it works sometimes, but it left me dissatisfied.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A mutilated body is found in Turin Cathedral, the home of the Shroud of Turin and the department of Art theft is called in, the body has no tongue, just like a previous attempted theft and as the unit start investigating they start uncovering a multi-layered, many people conspiracy. Between the art investigation unit and a curious journalist the story unravells and Navarro builds a convincing story.And yes I had some problems with it, not with the alternating story , that was interesting but with the cast of characters, they didn't come across as distinct enough some of the time and I found myself wondering who it was that I was dealing with at that time. Still it kept me up and guessing what was going on.I do want to read more by this author I think it's an interesting idea and much better written than the Da Vinci Code.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5i listened to this and it didn't capture my audio attention. the reader was good.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I rather enjoyed reading this thriller. I find the Shroud of Turin to be a fascinating object. Although this book dosn't really answer the question of the veracity of the shroud, it is interesting to follow a story surrounding the shroud and how there might be some groups who a lot of effort into either desiring or to protecting the shroud.There are several threads to the story. The main one is the detective effort of Marc Valoni and his Police Art Theft group in Italy to solve the mystery of the fire in the Torino Cathedral. The second is the hitorical provenance of the Shroud following its early arrival in Edessa (now Urfa) into the mixed period of the Middle Ages now in France and then Italy. The third narrative stream is that of Urfa Christians who believe the shroud was improperly taken from them and would like it back. The fourth stream is that of its protectors and their possible Knights Templar association. It is noteworthy that the author, Julia Navarro, attempts to get into the psychology of the participants in the first three groups, but lets the fourth group of actors play out from a distance. Perhaps the Catholic church itself is a fifth stratum.We do get to see a fair amount of questinable ehtics by some of the players in the novel, but do not fully get inside the religous feeling that promotes people to do many questionable acts on the Shroud's behalf.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I won't say I didn't like The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud. But I didn't love it either. It was just okay. The Brotherhood the Holy Shroud follows the history of the Shroud of Turin. The story moves back and forth through time periods giving you pieces of the puzzle at a time. It was the medival story line of the shroud that held the majority of my attention, as I have a fondness of period fiction involving relics or historical figures. There wasn't much of any thriller or suspense element. I never found myself on the edge of my seat or tearing through the pages to find the outcome. The modern day art crimes division investigating the attempted thieft of the shroud of mediocre at best. Missing completely obivious lines of reasoning until their was no other possible reasoning left. However their were some characters that I enjoyed following. Wouldn't read it again or really recommend the book but still enjoyed it.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I didn't care for this book. I barely skimmed the last 80 pages. The basic premise of the book is that these art crime detectives believe someone is trying to steal and/or destroy the Shroud of Turin after a string of strange happenings at the Cathedral where it is occasionally displayed. There's 3 groups of people here -- a group that are trying to protect the Shroud, a group trying to "reclaim" it, and the art crime detectives. It was very slow, and really not very interesting. She tries to generate some interest in the history of the Shroud with flashbacks to the time of Jesus and then of the Templar Knights, but it still isn't a particularly interesting history. And the time changes were very abrupt. This book is touted as an "international best-seller", but if that's the case it was for solely one reason: The Da Vinci Code. The only good thing about this book is that I can now return it to the library.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I haven't finished this book yet, but enjoy these fast-paced mystery/thriller books concerning ancientrelics, and archaeological finds.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this novel very much. It blended historical fact with the right amount of fiction to make it an interesting story. The descriptions of the settings were excellent and I thought the characters were fleshed out well. The quality of the writing helped me overlook some of parts where I got lost a bit with the storyline. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy the real history of the Templars blended with good fiction.