This brilliant story has a surprising ending. The scenes of Sevilla and the dialogue are so vivid. By the way I read it in Spanish where the title is "La piel del tambor." I think this is his best of the so-called mysteries, although they are much more than that. His mastery of all aspects of the Spanish languages, from the 17th-century dialogue in the Capitan Alatriste series, to the Mexican street language and Spanish drug slang to the 19th-century Franglish in "Trafalgar" have earned him a pl More...

A hacker breaks into the Vatican's computer to leave a message for the Pope that says that there i's a church in Seville that "kills to defend itself." It turns out that there is a church that some want to tear down and to be replaced with a more profitable adventure. And two people have died accidentally. Abhorring any kind of scandal, the Catholic Church gets the IEA (Institute of External Affairs) to look into the matter. They send Father Lorenzo Quart to impartially gather information about More...

At first I wasn't sure I liked this book, but I'm glad I kept reading anyway... I have a tendency to like books about priests, probably because I nearly became one. The seminary puts an indelible mark on even a man who got thrown out as quickly as I did (I prefer to think it was my questions about the mis-translation of Song of Solomon chapter 7, verse 2; on the other hand, it probably had something to do with several fistfights, breaking a poolstick over someone's head in the commons area, and More...

This the the first of 4 books by Perez-Reverte I have read and I have liked them a lot. This one may be especially appropriate right now in that takes place partially in the Vatican. The story starts with a hacker gaining accessed the Pope's personal computer to put a message about a small Seville church that is going to be demolished. A very unusual priest - very snappy dresser - who seems to specialize in defusing difficult situations, is sent to investigate what has become a very muddled mess More...

I found this book in a resort in the Caribbean, it took me two holidays to actually finish reading it. I was never gripped by it but was curious to see how the plot would evolve. I found it overall disappointing. The characters were superficial and stereotypical, the rich were beautiful, the poor either "greasy" or grotesque. The descriptions of them, particularly of the more interesting trio the boxer, the fake lawyer and the singer were repetitive, page and page over. So were the descriptions More...

From all the Arturo Perez Reverte books I've read, this one is the least interesting one. I wonder if it partly as to do with the fact that I read this one in English and that his usually picturesque vocabulary and the way he flourishes phrases the way others flourish swords is literally lost in the translation...

This book delves in the Catholic church's inner machinations and the way they deal with rogue priests who break the vote of "obeissance" because of their strong belief that they are doi More...

THE SEVILLE COMMUNION starts when someone hacks into the Pope’s personal computer to plead for saving a small church, Our Lady of the Tears, in central Seville.

The church is small and dilapidated and is led by an elderly and old fashioned priest, Father Ferro. It is also slated for demolition, as Bank Cartujano and its greedy vice chairman, working in cahoots with the local archbishop, want to make a fortune by buying the property at a fraction of its true value.

The Vatican dispatches Father Lor More...

I had pretty high expectations of this book & though I liked some elements of it (Vatican politics, Templar metaphor for the hero, the description of Seville, and the setup of the plot), I was quite disappointed. I think the book was a bit rambling (especially for a mystery/thriller), the investigator didn't seem to be as good as his rep (view spoiler)[(he failed to solve either mystery--the identity of the hacker which he only discovered "after the fact" because it was revealed to him, i.e. not because he (hide spoiler)] More...

I may prefer Arturo-Perez Reverte when he writes his historical adventures featuring Captain Alatriste, but his contemporary thrillers are not without merit. The Seville Communion is my second one, after The Club Dumas , and I had some issues with it, but overall it was quite a memorable journey, one that I intend to retrace by visiting the location soon.

As a thriller set in the clerical world and dealing with mysterious murders, church politics, high finance and crises of faith, the book re More...

I really enjoyed this book, the characters, the story, the city of Seville. Probably the characters the most, and the ways that they interacted with each other. I laughed a lot. The author is a really good writer. The book is about a church, and a cast of characters... some who want to save the church, others who want to destroy the church, others who are spectators. All have their individual reasons for their feelings for the church and what should happen to it. You have priests and archbishops More...

Okay, so I bought this book thinking it was part of the author's Captain Alatriste series and almost returned it when I realized it was a technological thriller, set in 1995-vintage Seville, with a Vatican priest as the main character. I'm very glad I kept it.

For me, it was less a thriller (though the mysteries are intriguing), more an intense character-study of a very different sort of man. Lorenzo Quart, the priest and protagonist, characterizes himself as "the last Knight Templar," obedient a More...

perez-reverte's writing style is fluid, elegant and relaxing. the mildly interesting story about the conflicts between religion, politics, and all the individuals who get caught in between is set in a beautifully described local. the main thing that i took from reading the seville communion is that i would really like to visit seville.

If I described the plot to someone it would sound like a good story. But instead of just telling the story, the author tries too hard, in my opinion, to be mysterious and steer the reader down the wrong path. This is not how a good mystery is written. Trust me, I have read good mysteries.

If your argument is the author isn't trying to write a mystery, then tell me the purpose of the novel? I think it would have been more enjoyable if a simpler plot had been devised and all the unnecessary tangen More...

A strange and meditative, slow-paced work, nothing like Pérez-Reverte's Alatriste novels, of which I am a huge fan. The action, such as it is, is set into motion by deaths happening in a baroque church in Sevilla, which banker/developers wish to raze. All this takes place at an unspecified date ... recent enough that computers and hacking are central to the plot, but at a time when computers were hard wired to the net. The main character is a priest working for a branch of the Vatican which is a More...

I really enjoyed Club Dumas and Flander Panel, also by Perez-Reverte, but his other books that I've read really don't compare. Seville Communion is relatively entertaining, but it's pretty obvious what's going to happen next. A character leaves a gasoline-soaked rag in an ashtray (a fact that's mentioned repeatedly) and, shockingly, someone uses the ashtray for its intended purpose and the place goes up in smoke. Club Dumas and Flanders Panel had flaws, but they had a subtlety that Seville Commu More...

As a reader who has first-hand experience of the magic and magistry which this great city evokes, the writer brilliantly captures the colours and ambience of Seville and its inhabitants. Moreover, what appears at the outset to be a run-of-the-mill thriller set to unravel the mysteries of the church, turns into a novel of far greater depth and characterisation. Father Lorenzo Quart is no ordinary prelate of the Vatican, but rather an individual of great resolve with an over-arching sense of duty, More...

The Seville Communion is a novel of power and beauty that mixes poetic, intelligent dialogue, unforgettable characters, a complex and well developed plot, and the amazing setting of Seville. Arturo Perez-Reverte weaves quiet despair, awe, and wit expertly into his writing. Themes and topics like violence, how we relate with God, meaning and purpose in life, Roman Catholicism, greed, history, love, literature, philosophy, music, science, and legend populate these pages. This a excellent mystery t More...

The Seville Communion is further proof that Reverte writes interesting, historically rich, mystery novels. An enjoyable read, skillfully mixing the past and present into a layered and rich, complex story of Spain. One thing that strikes me with every one of his books is how different his perspective is on some things, due to how different his culture is from mine. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy reading authors from different countries/cultures; I learn a lot about them and gain from thei More...

I read the translated edition and found it to be a wonderful book. Arturo Pérez-Reverte paints interesting and engaging characters who range from mundane to eccentric but always believable. More than that, the setting of the novel and its primary conflict even have character. He writes of Seville giving it a unique and fascinating character that's as fascinating as any of his characters. I found myself hoping and cheering for Our Lady of Tears just as I would a well-written protagonist. This has More...

This seems like a kindo Da Vinci Code rip off.

Anything by Perez-Reverte is good. I found this at an airport. I usually read him in Spanish, but I needed a book for my flight.
I loved the part where he goes to a fine tailor and buys himself a very expensive priest outfit. He is asked why he spends so much money for his clothes. His answers is that his clothes are an uniform. If he is going to be dealing with very powerful people, he needs to wear the correct uniform.
The book has intrigue and action.
Highly recommended.
This could easily be ma More...

It's funny (well, funny to me) that I read this right after reading Daniel Silva's Fallen Angel. Both are about Vatican "hit men," sent out to intervene in crimes that involve priests, churches, art, death. If you ever find yourself wondering what sets a good thriller apart from a literary thriller, those two books (fallen angel and seville communion) kind of sum it up. In fallen angel, the action is fast, the dialogue is fairly minimal, there is some soul searching but it's fairly clipped. The More...

Étrange roman que celui-ci. Tout y est pour faire un parfait roman foisonnant et passionnant. Pourtant ça n’a pas pris avec moi. Bizarrement j’ai eu du mal à y entrer. Le style est toujours aussi distingué, raffiné, (même si j’ai trouvé un peu longues et superflues les digressions en plein dialogues qui font perdre le fil), les descriptions de Séville sont envoûtantes, l’atmosphère est parfaitement rendue, les personnages sont eux aussi assez fouillés. Malgré toutes ces indéniables qualités, je More...

The writing was pretty good, certainly diverting. I've never read something that's so sympathetically anticlerical. It does make me want to visit Seville. I don't feel like the odd Latin phrase here or there makes it the "intellectual thriller" described in the blurbs. The character development does a bit more to fit the bill. Perhaps it suffers from reading "I am a strange loop" at the same time.

Oh, and the sexy bit is memorable, without being explicit. Nice preludes.

Excelente narrativa y completo dominio del diálogo entre personajes hacen casi imposible soltar este libro. El personaje de Macarena Brunner es uno de los más sexys que he leído y su relación de flirteo con el padre Quart te hacen olvidar el tema principal de ésta novela. Otra novela bien escrita y entretenida de mi escritor favorito, recomendada.

Detective priest from Rome is sent to sort out a mystery involving an old church in Seville. Gets involved with curmudgeons, hackers, bankers, paparazzi, nobility, the police, the three shady characters from the Maltese Falcon. Confusing and meandering. I don't really know what it was all about. Rated M for some violence, adult themes. 2.5/5

Wunderschönes Buch. Eine Hommage an die Hoffnung, an Sevilla, an liebenswürdige Loser, an einen Soldaten Roms, eine rebellische Nonne, ein sturer Pfarrer, Banker, schmierige Handlanger und eine bildhübsche Herzogin. Es ist spannend, schön erzählt und hat eine leichte Melancholie, die nicht betrübt, sondern nur sehnsüchtig macht.

Rating:3.5 stars - a solid thinking persons mystery. Reverte is a talented,complex writer who offers us glimpse into priests, Vatican politics, vintage Seville and classic characters. Father Ferro & Quart were crafted to show us the taught awkward nature of man, church, and religion-well done! As a bookstore owner, I would rec and read another APR novel.

-Great descriptions of Sevilla.
-Odd, quirky, yet believable characters.
-Huge twist at the end of the book.

I think I liked this book because I have a thing for bizarre plots, especially bizarre plots that take place in Spain (this is the third or fourth book I've read by Pérez-Reverte and they all fall under this description). More than anything, this book made me want to go back to Sevilla. Soon.