Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Second Messiah: A Thriller
    The Second Messiah: A Thriller
    The Second Messiah: A Thriller
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Second Messiah: A Thriller

    Written by Glenn Meade

    Narrated by George Guidall

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    An intrepid Irish journalist and ace pilot, international best-selling author Glenn Meade writes "thrillers that deliver the goods" (Booklist). Miles apart an ancient scroll is stolen before its revelations are fully translated, and an American priest with long-hidden secrets becomes pope. Now, as millions wonder if this man is the anti-Christ or the Second Messiah, historian Jack Cane and Israeli detective Lela Raul must find the missing scroll and discover the truth-before it's too late. ". a rollercoaster of a thriller ."-Stephen Leather, best-selling author
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateAug 19, 2011
    ISBN9781501974304
    Author

    Glenn Meade

    Glenn Meade was born in 1957 in Finglas, Dublin. His novels have been international bestsellers, translated into more than twenty languages, and have enjoyed both critical and commercial success.

    Related to The Second Messiah

    Related audiobooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Moscow

      Feb 21, 2018

      Moscow
      9 min read

    • Article

      Faces In Places

      Aug 10, 2023

      Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral dates from the 12th century and sits in the centre of St Aldgate’s, soaring imperiously above manicured lawns, ponds and a stunning wildflower meadow. It was in these grounds in 1856 that Lewis Carroll (at that time C

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Apr 20, 2023

      Alan Murdie’s article “Spirits of Glencoe” [FT428:18-21] describes the infamous massacre, along with latterday commemorations of the event, and the general atmosphere of foreboding that seems to pervade the Glen and surrounding area. Glen Coe is an a

      15 min read

    • Article

      Voyages Of A Simple Sailor Are Over

      Feb 27, 2020

      Suddenly the sea seems a bigger place. That’s because the greatest exponent of shrink-wrapping it for the rest of us, between the covers of his books, has retired from the ocean. Well, almost. ‘I’d never say never, but firstly I feel too much of an a

      3 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Book

      Dec 2, 2019

      Is not January the hardest month to get through? When you have weathered that, you get into the gulf-stream of winter, nearer the shores of spring. —Henry David Thoreau, Journal, February 2, 1854 [T]he pure luxury of a cloudless sky designed not to

      4 min read

    • Article

      Where Wise Men Find Beauty

      Dec 27, 2019

      ONE thousand years ago, when the Byzantines ruled high, wide and imperial at Constantinople, the pagan Prince Vladimir of the Rus sent envoys to each of the lands that bordered his own, with instructions to investigate their religious arrangements an

      2 min read

    • Article

      Nothing To Lose

      Jul 7, 2023

      Nothing To Lose
      9 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Feb 23, 2022

      Great Read
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Anabasis of Godspeed

      Mar 1, 2023

      Then proceeded to BAGHDAD and AMMAN. Godspeed was almost afraid of butterflies. They sickened him during the breeding season when they swarmed around any source of water in the viceregal district where he was born. The day was hot and everything was

      4 min read

    • Article

      Human After All

      Mar 11, 2022

      Human After All
      3 min read

    • Article

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

      Jun 8, 2023

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Hamilton Road

      Mar 2, 2022

      The Hamilton Road
      7 min read

    • Article

      Rock Hard

      Sep 10, 2020

      Rock Hard
      7 min read

    • Article

      Smrtss

      Apr 10, 2024

      In the dim, wet oven of the Huey’s troop compartment, the corporal sat on a flak jacket behind the sweat-stained backs of First Squad. Simms, the big machine gunner for Fire Team 2, leaned back against him, jamming the corporal’s knees right up to hi

      13 min read

    • Article

      Isle Of Fright

      Jul 7, 2020

      Isle Of Fright
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Call Of The Desert

      Jan 3, 2023

      T.E. Lawrence was taken by his guides to a ruin in the desert of North Syria. The Arabs believed that it had been built by a prince for his queen and that its clay had been kneaded with the essential oils of flowers. As Lawrence wrote in Seven Pillar

      3 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Sep 1, 2022

      1. Here there’s no rainy season.Sun scalds my forehead,yet the pool is empty. Beside it,a toppled table, its glass surface shattered.The asphalt is too hot for bare feet. 2. Far away: white hillocksand white dunes under a deepblue sky. Swirling winds

      5 min read

    • Article

      Homesick

      Aug 29, 2023

      Homesick
      17 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of Sanctuary

      Jan 5, 2024

      In Search Of Sanctuary
      16 min read

    • Article

      Chasing The northern Lights

      Nov 16, 2021

      Chasing The northern Lights
      8 min read

    • Article

      In the Name of Notre Dame

      Apr 17, 2019

      In the Name of Notre Dame
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Invisible Romans

      Apr 11, 2024

      The Invisible Romans
      7 min read

    • Article

      Worship On High

      Oct 18, 2021

      Worship On High
      5 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Feb 23, 2022

      Great Read
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Vigil In Westwood Lodge

      May 19, 2022

      A Vigil In Westwood Lodge
      10 min read

    • Article

      An Arctic rail SAGA

      Jan 12, 2023

      An Arctic rail SAGA
      13 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Second Messiah

    3.5/5

    44 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      3.5 stars -okay thriller much like The DaVinci Code
      Read with immersion reading. 4 star Audible.
    • 4/5
      Loved the story. Not a fan of Guidall as a narrator.
    • 3/5
      A decent story of murder and intrigue with historical tie-ins. It's rather complicated, with a lot of characters each with their own motives.Ultimately the "explosive revelations" found in the Dead Sea Scrolls somewhat failed to impress me, so that the narrative seemed to lose momentum right at the moment it should have grabbed me by the throat. Nevertheless, a fun ride with some unexpected twists toward the end.
    • 3/5
      I wonder if it’s getting harder to write biblical thrillers. I mean, think about it. The Ark of the Covenant is safely lost in a government warehouse. The Robe Jesus wore was won in a dice game. And the Holy Grail wasn’t a grail at all, it was something called “the sacred feminine” . . . or some such thing.

      Undaunted by all that, into the fray comes Glenn Meade, with his new novel The Second Messiah.

      Our story begins with the discovery of an ancient scroll, near Qumran in Israel, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found forty years before. Shocked by the revelation contained within, on his way to share his discovery with the world, the discoverer and his wife are killed in a car wreck. Happening upon the scene is a young Catholic priest, who manages to salvage the scroll from the burning vehicle, only to have it disappear forever behind the walls of the Vatican.

      Twenty years later, the son of that discoverer, following in his father’s archaeological footsteps, makes a similar discovery, a scroll very much like the one his father found. But even he doesn’t have it more than a few hours before history starts repeating, people turn up dead, and the scroll goes missing.

      On a simultaneous track is the election of a new pope, an American who promises to open up the Catholic Church by revealing all her ancient secrets. Needless to say, there is an old guard within the Vatican that doesn’t think that’s a good idea at all. The new pontiff, who is haunted by something in his past, will not be dissuaded. By then, we readers know that the new pope might very well be the same man who rescued the scroll from the car wreck twenty years before.

      Now if all that sounds a bit of a mess, it might be. But it’s a delightful mess, one you need to get through before the real action begins, that takes our somewhat bloodless hero on a journey through the deserts of Jordan, beneath the ancient streets of Rome, and into the rarefied sanctuary of the Vatican’s secret vaults.

      Of course, the payoff to any story of this type is what exactly is the SHOCKING REVELATION! contained within the scroll, one that would ostensibly crack the foundations of Christianity and cause otherwise good men to kill? Meade does a good job keeping that under wraps for a few hundred pages or so.

      And though I won’t tell you what it is, I was impressed by both its simplicity and believability. Perhaps the highest praise I can give is to say that when I read it, I said to myself, “You know what? That – or something quite similar – probably did happen.”

      The book is written in very short chapters, most every one a cliffhanger. As previously noted, lots of information is crammed within the first few chapters, but my advice is to just go with it. It pays off in the end.

      Another thing that struck me is how squeaky clean it is, with nary a D-word or an F-bomb in sight. I suspect that’s done purposefully, with a specific audience in mind, however I’m not sure it’s the way gritty men on archaeological digs actually talk.

      In a similar vein, our hero is surrounded throughout by beautiful women, two of whom have obviously fallen in love with him, yet he remains single-minded in his quest. Not sure how believable that is either. In fact, I was about to give up hope for him until the last few pages, when he finally shows an emotion other than bitterness at his parents' deaths. Score one for Jack!

      Hope to see more of him.
    • 3/5
      Okay but not great.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this one. Fun mystery, interesting conspiracy, and some really thought provoking moments about service, Catholicism, and the role of the church in the world.
    • 4/5
      really enjoyable conspiracy theory
    • 4/5
      Murder, mystery, secrets both ancient and modern, hot archaeologists (both male and female), old loves and new … it’s all there for the taking in Glenn Meade’s ‘The Second Messiah’. Jack Cane is the archaeologist that makes the find that scares the Pope that lives in the house the Church built. But then the find - an ancient scroll - is stolen and all heck breaks loose. Everyone wants the scroll and most are willing to kill to get it. ‘The Second Messiah’ is a thriller in the true sense of the word. It had me on the edge of my seat from page one. In fact there were times I had to put the book down for a few minutes just to calm myself. What starts out as a ‘simple’ theft and murder is really only the beginning of a roller coaster ride to stay alive and discover what the heck is going on. Despite the number of players involved, all with their own agendas, it was easy to keep track of what was happening – just not so easy to figure out why.The Catholic Church plays heavily in the book and in the mystery. There are both good and bad shown in the Vatican and it’s not so easy to figure out which is which. It was interesting to me that the church aspect added a dimension to the book that was decidedly Christian but, like Dan Brown's 'The DaVinci Code', I wouldn't classify the book as Christian literature. There is, however, a clear message about the need for truth, honesty and forgiveness.‘The Second Messiah’ has some Indiana Jones-like humour and the violence is not excessive for the genre. Mr. Meade does try to add romance to the mix of the story but it’s a rather clumsy effort. It didn’t take away from the story but it wasn’t a solid part of it either. Although I am a fan of romance in any story, I didn’t feel short changed in the least.
    • 2/5
      I got an ARC of this title and I was excited. I really wanted to love this book. It's about a Dead Sea Scroll containing references to what looks like a false messiah during the time of Christ. It's got intrigue, both political and religious. It's got manly men and gorgeous women. It's got a whole slew of people trying either to kill our hero because they think he has the scroll, arrest him because they think he's trying to sell it or aid him in his quest to translate the damned thing. In the meantime, the newly elected pope plans to open the Vatican archives and let the world see its skeletons and dirty laundry. It's time to 'fess up, right the wrongs... and let everyone in on the secrets the Church has been hiding from the public. The actual plot is decent. Although it's nothing new, just one more in a long line of ZOMG! Earth Shattering Revelation That Will Change The Way We See Religion story, it is interesting. But the dialogue. Dear God, the dialogue is some of the worst I think I have ever read. A member of the Israeli police force says to someone "If you believe that, then you're a big dummy." Oh yeah? Well, your mother wears army boots. Another character (60s, cosmopolitan, urbane) asks "Gosh, are you for real?" When the dialogue between characters did not sound like something written by a 10 year old, it was simply stiff and unnatural. Because of the problems I had with the dialogue, I did not have an affinity for any of the characters. They'd have all been great had they gone about their business in silence. Alas, they spoke. A lot. However, the story did deliver a good deal of action and for that, I am eternally grateful. The characters occasionally quieted down when things happened. And that made the book tolerable. I would recommend this title for fans of Dan Brown and his contemporaries. Just be prepared to chant "La La La I Can't Hear You" when the dialogue begins.
    • 4/5
      If you are a fan of mystery and suspense you are sure to love this book. I do not usually read mystery books, I was surprised how quickly I got into the story. At first I found the authors use of super short chapters to be odd, but I think that is one of the things that kept me going through part of the book. I tend to get annoyed with so many questions being unanswered which is prob why I don't read mysteries and the chapter length made me feel like I was accomplishing something. But just as I was about to give up on reading, he threw in a plot twist that kept me reading, and I'm glad I did, in the end it was something I should've seen coming, but never even expected. I was also glad the book was not super heavy in religion as I expected it to be, and if you are a firm believer I might even steer clear. Some of the ideas are bound to upset more than a few if they go into the book thinking it is something other than it is, the book is not is religious fiction, rather fiction having to do with religious concepts. I received this book as part of the GoodReads Giveaway.
    • 3/5
      This is a Reading Good Books review.* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.I remember receiving this in the mail and getting all excited. It’s a thick book, 479 ARC pages, in a genre that I really like. I am a fan of Dan Brown’s books, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code especially. I like that whole conspiracy theory angle to historical fact. I fully know that the book is FICTION but it makes me wonder. It is fascinating to me how these authors could think of how to weave in the fact with fiction and stay accurate. I love books that make me stop and think.This one was no different. The Second Messiah by Irish author Glenn Meade centers around the Dead Sea Scrolls. Twenty years ago, Jack Cane lost his parents to a traffic accident after their dig unearthed Dead Sea Scrolls about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Now an archeologist himself, Cane finds another scroll and it proves to contain valuable yet controversial information that could shake the very foundations of Catholic faith. Meanwhile in Rome, a new pope is elected. Events from twenty years ago, while he was but a lowly priest, could come back and haunt him.What is so important about this scroll that it not only endangers the lives of Cane and his friends but also has the Vatican up in arms? The evidence of a “second Messiah”.The first thing that you will notice upon starting this book is the short chapter breaks. Some are a mere three-fourths of the page. It made the book very fast paced, which I liked. However, towards the end, it became choppy and it got a little tiring. Each chapter is packed with action, the shortness of it did not do it any favors. It was like hitting the ground running only to crash against a brick wall a few steps in. And most of them ended in cliffhangers that saw their continuation a couple of chapters over. The frustration served to make me want to flip through the book faster. I also did not like the ending very much. It had too much build up from the preceding chapters that the ending fell short of expectation. And the Buddy angle came out of nowhere. Okay, maybe there were hints of it but it got buried in all the other chapters. After all, there are 142 of them.I did like the author’s style of writing. Very clear and his descriptions were helpful. I knew of the Dead Sea Scrolls but this is the first time that I’ve read about the issue of dual Messiahs. It did not go into deep like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code but just enough to raise interest. (Although I would have liked it more if the author did go all conspiracy theory on the reader.) A chapter or two reminded me of a scene from The Da Vinci Code where Sir Teabing was illustrating the Last Supper conspiracy to Sophie and Robert. It was almost exactly like that, down to the movement impaired educator and the eventual ambush.I already mentioned that I liked the pace of the book. There were no dull moments. Even the parts with the priests were intriguing. I liked them very much. To me, the priests were the best written characters in the books. They were sinister, mysterious, and all of that good stuff. I thought the character of Jack Cane was underdeveloped. In fact, I gathered more about Yasmin than the two lead characters, which in a way was problematic. Actually, the villains had more information about them. By the end of the book, I didn’t know much about Cane apart from his parents dying. Same with Lela.The whole thing was full of double crossing and lies and backstabbing. It ran around a lot, one party following another. The scroll had an effect on all of them. But… it never really said or proved anything. Sure, it hinted of a “false Jesus” a couple of times in translations and explanations but that was it. I guess I was looking for a more in-depth discussion about the scrolls, maybe? It could have pushed a little bit more. It certainly had the potential; dealing with controversial topics. The book certainly could have used more of that and less of the cat-and-mouse chase filler.Rating: 3/5.Recommendation: Definitely check this out if you are a fan of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series. I loved those books and this one is right up that alley. (I know I mentioned his books more than twice in the review.) Also of Steve Berry and James Rollins books.
    • 4/5
      A fast paced thriller that ventures into the territory of the contents of the dead sea scrolls. Meade does an excellent job of blending fact with fiction. Putting his own spin on a story that has been around since the time of Jesus Christ. The characters are quite refreshingly human for a religious based novel, not a holier than though attitude. The plot is full of twists and turns, non-stop action, controversy and faith. Fans of Dan Brown are sure to really enjoy this book.