Conclave: The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club thriller

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A pedofilia está na ordem do dia, e dos milhões de euros que dão entrada no Banco do Vaticano, apenas uma ínfima parte é aplicada em obras de caridade, destinando-se a grande fatia do bolo a investimentos em acções e bens imobiliários. The process involved in the election of a Pope is something I have given little or no thought to in the past which is why I found this book extremely interesting. The selected Pope had secrets too but why his was OK and others weren't was a puzzle of sorts to me. Weaving dramatic interactions into the storyline, the reader is left to cheer on their favourite cardinal, in hopes that he will obtain the magic eighty votes.

The story is certainly not a thriller but an informative drama about the comings and going-on within the Vatican and not only during the conclave but before and after the conclave. Diagonally across the landing, outside the papal suite, three nuns, members of the Company of Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, were holding hands and crying. I found this a fascinating insight into the strange world of Vatican politics and a great political thriller.It was quite gripping, although you knew that the front runners were almost certainly not going to come through and that there would be twists and turns and surprises. The Pope was gone before Lomeli arrived at his side, and he is grieving, not wanting to face the responsibilities that are now facing him.

He weaves together all the issues confronting the church, and the contrasts between the cardinals – in matters of faith, temperament, politics and geography. Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.It was the ignorance of the reader rather than the fault of the book, but I initially struggled to understand all the terms, places, and activities that were littered throughout. There’s a great novel waiting to be written about a papal election – but for now, I’m afraid there’s only black smoke blowing through the literary chimney. I will say this, however - even though the conclusion is somewhat predictable, there is still an element of suspense and surprise right till the very end.

There is also an interesting discussion about Islam and how we welcome them to our Western countries, but we are certainly not welcome in theirs. His work has been translated into forty languages and nine of his books have been adapted for cinema and television. During my 25-odd years of writing about books I have done my best to avoid cliches, slipshod summaries, oracular pronouncements and indeed anything else that might appear emblazoned on a book jacket. I was on the edge of my seat in similar fashion to when I was watching the movie Lincoln, and they were voting on the Emancipation Proclamation.

It seems Robert Harris can make pretty much anything into a deeply intriguing political drama with the addictive qualities of a soap.

The dear departed Pope sounded as if modeled after our current liberal-leaner, Frances, but probably more of a schemer--who knows. So far 127,253,037 votes have been counted of the people who elected the next President of the United States.As a long standing fan of Robert Harris’s books it pains me to have to say that I found this one rather disappointing. And, indeed, after a few more moments, Tremblay sighed – a long, theatrical, almost ecstatic exhalation.