Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
13th out of 120 books
—
17 voters
The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud
The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is the explosive international bestseller that mixes fact and fiction to tell the riveting story of one of the world’s most controversial relics—the Holy Shroud of Turin—and the desperate race to save it from those who will stop at nothing to possess its legendary power....
A fire at the Turin cathedral and the discovery of a mutilated co...more
A fire at the Turin cathedral and the discovery of a mutilated co...more
Mass Market Paperback, 576 pages
Published
September 25th 2007
by Dell
(first published 2004)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,858)
Yet another Spanish romp is Julia Navarro's The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud. Just when you thought you were safe from the Knights Templar, here they return, as heroic in fiction as they have been derided in history. This is yet another silly historical-thriller-joining-the-Dan-Brown-wagon. If it's not Dante whose books provide clues to modern crimes, it's the bloody Templars and their rituals. Surely there's enough history in Europe without having to dream up a fresh conspiracy? Arturo Perez-...more
Why hadn't I heard of this author before? I absolutly loved this book, I was hooked right from the beginning. I loved the way the author intertwined the story with an old religious sect and the Templar's. I admit it took me while to get used to the jumping back and forth between the past and present, but after a while it just seemed natural.
The characters were amazing. They all felt so real, hard to explain, I found their reactions to whichever obstacle that was thrown at them to be believable....more
The characters were amazing. They all felt so real, hard to explain, I found their reactions to whichever obstacle that was thrown at them to be believable....more
Julia Navarro is well-known journalist based in Madrid. The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is her first novel. For fans of the novels of Dan Brown, this is in much the same vein. The novel opens with a fire and the death of a tongue-less and fingerprint-less man in the Turin Cathedral, the repository of the famous Shroud of Turin. The head of the Arts Crimes Division of the Italian police, Marco Valoni, suspects there is more to a mere fire, as two years earlier a thief, also tongue-less and fin...more
Kepala Divisi Kejahatan Seni Italia, Marco Valoni, mencurigai seseorang tengah berusaha mencuri kain yang paling terkenal di dunia ini. Temuan mengerikan ini mengingatkan Valoni pada para lelaki 'tanpa lidah' dan serangkaian kebakaran misterius yang terjadi di tempat yang sama beberapa abad lampau dan juga terkait dengan kafan suci itu.
Valoni, timnya, dan para peneliti harus mengumpulkan informasi tentang siapa sebenarnya yang menginginkan kain itu dan mengapa mereka menginginkannya. Nyawa merek...more
Valoni, timnya, dan para peneliti harus mengumpulkan informasi tentang siapa sebenarnya yang menginginkan kain itu dan mengapa mereka menginginkannya. Nyawa merek...more
This is a book that I found hard in deciding 'how' I would rate it. I would have thought, far into the book (as far as 90% into the story) that a definite Four Stars is adequately rewarded. Then, a few pages from the last page - I backtracked and thought again: with an ending that is intriguing, Three Stars is all that it deserved. THEN, AGAIN... a few 3-5 pages from the final page, I was adamant that a fulfilling FOUR STARS is what this book deserved.
As to why, I will explain later in my review...more
As to why, I will explain later in my review...more
It was a good book. It did a good job of telling the parallel stories. It made senses was effective, and pleasant to read. I really did enjoy the varity of how one was historical fiction and the other was suspense. It added to the interest of the book and made it much more multidimensional.
That said it's sometimes a little bit hokey in its cliché rather like Dan Brown's novels (you know the women must beautiful and intelligent and successful, cause funky heroines are a no-no.)Still paradoxly I'...more
That said it's sometimes a little bit hokey in its cliché rather like Dan Brown's novels (you know the women must beautiful and intelligent and successful, cause funky heroines are a no-no.)Still paradoxly I'...more
Very good. In the present day part of the story there were initially too many charecters which confused things a bit. Once you got used to that though it was great. Was realistic in that good guys/gals got killed as well as bad guys. Quite a sad story, not just because of what I just said, but also because the shroud was initially given with the best of intentions into the care of decent, well meaning people. Then all of the killing which takes place over it afterwards. As someone once said thou...more
"The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud" is an enjoyable history-based novel.
Marco Valoni and his team of art crimes investigators are called upon to investigate a fire in the Turin, Italy, cathedral which houses the holy shroud that some believe to have been the death shroud of Jesus. Mr. Valoni knows that there have been quite a few "incidents" surrounding the shroud through the ages and believes that this is no coincidence. As he and his team investigate, the author moves us back and forth throu...more
Marco Valoni and his team of art crimes investigators are called upon to investigate a fire in the Turin, Italy, cathedral which houses the holy shroud that some believe to have been the death shroud of Jesus. Mr. Valoni knows that there have been quite a few "incidents" surrounding the shroud through the ages and believes that this is no coincidence. As he and his team investigate, the author moves us back and forth throu...more
An airplane novel in the style of the DaVinci Code.
Why do "accidents" seem to surround the cathedral that houses the Shroud of Turin? Sofia, Marco, and the other members of the Art Crimes department are on the case!
The modern-day mystery is interspersed with the origin story of the shroud. From a disciple removing it from Jesus' tomb, to a leprosy-stricken king cured by its touch, and so on...
I found the historical part much more interesting than the thriller intrigue. Especially the origins...more
Why do "accidents" seem to surround the cathedral that houses the Shroud of Turin? Sofia, Marco, and the other members of the Art Crimes department are on the case!
The modern-day mystery is interspersed with the origin story of the shroud. From a disciple removing it from Jesus' tomb, to a leprosy-stricken king cured by its touch, and so on...
I found the historical part much more interesting than the thriller intrigue. Especially the origins...more
Unlikely premise. The thieves suspected of trying to steal the shroud of Turin must be hopelessly incompetant if all their attempts have failed and so many of them have died.
The characters aren't very engaging, a pretty bland group. The book actually picks up a bit as it goes along. The first part is tedious and repetative, the middle takes us to the opera and some dinner parties. All the action is stuffed into the last third.
The flashback historical chapters on the history of the shroud could h...more
The characters aren't very engaging, a pretty bland group. The book actually picks up a bit as it goes along. The first part is tedious and repetative, the middle takes us to the opera and some dinner parties. All the action is stuffed into the last third.
The flashback historical chapters on the history of the shroud could h...more
Blah! I do not care for this sort of pseudo-religious thriller genre, but this came highly recommended and an acquaintance who shared similar enthusiasm for other books that I have read spoke so highly of it when I was given a copy, that I did look forward to reading it. Ultimately, I did not enjoy it.
This sub-genre is formulaic, and this book was no exception. There was little mystery in this mystery. It lacked any grand revelations and the characters were so barely fleshed out that there wasn...more
This sub-genre is formulaic, and this book was no exception. There was little mystery in this mystery. It lacked any grand revelations and the characters were so barely fleshed out that there wasn...more
I couldn't finish this book. 238 pages in, and still, nothing has happened, after the attempted theft of the shroud in the first few pages. She's spending a lot of time building things up, but even for all that, the characters still seem flat to me.
I skimmed ahead before putting it down, and though it looks like there's going to finally be some action and interesting events, at this point I don't feel like spending my time on this book. I'm stuck between 2 and 3 stars. I give it 3, though, beca...more
I skimmed ahead before putting it down, and though it looks like there's going to finally be some action and interesting events, at this point I don't feel like spending my time on this book. I'm stuck between 2 and 3 stars. I give it 3, though, beca...more
I thought about giving this book a two, out of fairness, but after forcing myself to finish it, I simply can not bring myself to do that. I don't know if this book was simply a victim of it being translated into English, or if it simply was poorly written to begin with. There were too many characters, too many plots and nothing was fleshed out. The story just sludged on for 371 pages and finally collapsed at the end without any real ending. This felt like assigned reading during junior high. The...more
Jul 24, 2012
Leonor (Ner)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Leonor (Ner) by:
My mother
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A typical entry in the religious conspiracy thriller category, The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud begins with a fire in the Cathedral of Turin. Of course this is the repository of the fabled "Shroud of Turin", the supposed burial drape that covered Christ after he was crucified and buried. This is not the first time that the cathedral has caught fire in recent memory, however, and members of the Art Crimes Department of the Italian police force begin to hypothesize that these fires may be relate...more
I finished the Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud by Julia Navarro. Originally published in 2004 in Spanish, it was translated to English in 2006.
This is another of the religious artifact/mystery adventure set in the modern day.
There is a fire at the Cathedral that houses the Shroud of Turin. This is not the first and since damage included artwork and relics, Italy's Art Crimes Department is brought in to investigate. Marco Valoni and his team follow all leads and theories and come to the conclusion...more
This is another of the religious artifact/mystery adventure set in the modern day.
There is a fire at the Cathedral that houses the Shroud of Turin. This is not the first and since damage included artwork and relics, Italy's Art Crimes Department is brought in to investigate. Marco Valoni and his team follow all leads and theories and come to the conclusion...more
it's time now to talk about thrillers. as a first-effort in novel writing, the brotherhood of the holy shroud shows julia navarro's agility in making up conflicts and events. her good command on the structure of this novel shows how, contrary to being first-novel writer, julia navarro is not a newbie in literary (or, more precisely, genre literary) reading.
its structure (by this, i mean making a certain paragraph tell about ancient events and then telling present events in a subsequent chapter,...more
its structure (by this, i mean making a certain paragraph tell about ancient events and then telling present events in a subsequent chapter,...more
THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD is an excellent effort on Navarro's part. The modern-day story is fast-paced, with believable action and well-defined characters. The historical storyline, however, suffers a bit from an overabundance of characters, some imagined, some historical. This does tend to slow down some of the chapters. Still, given the amount of territory she covers, the plot moves along quickly enough to sustain the reader's interest. In fact, it moves almost too quickly at the end;...more
This is another one of those books which takes place in the present, but also goes back in time to give you the history of the Knights Templar, and their relationship tp what we know today as the Shroud of Turin. It involves art historians and a very aggressive woman journalist, trying to trace the history of the relic, plus a group of men without tongues or fingerprints, who have sworn to protect the holy shroud. Ir is interesting, having been translated from Spanish.
This was a good book. It is very Da Vinci code-esque if you are into that kind of stuff. A lot of history mixed in with a lot a intrigue. It is about the cloth they wrapped Jesus in in the tomb and its' magical healing properties and the people who will stop at nothing to obtain it. The book has a couple of secret societies which work together somewhat while having the same goal. It was a slow read with historical interludes that slowed me down quite a bit.
I 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 genera...more
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 genera...more
Apr 07, 2013
Geoffrey
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in Christian relics, Knight Templars, and secret sects
Shelves:
thrillers
Julia Navarro gives a very interesting story, which deserves 5 stars. It deftly blends the ancient history of the Holy Shroud (currently residing in Turin, Italy) with that of present day action offers a compelling tale. A drawback is that the Holy Shroud is the main character, which means that the other characters (people) do not get front and center attention, thus leaving me without as much of a human connection with any of them. For that flaw, and a bit of over-writing, I give 3.5 stars.
The...more
The...more
Navarro's attempt at a historical mistery tale simply fails. At first, the plot seems interesting and well conceived. However, as she starts jumping around historical periods, following the trace of the sheet with which the body of Christ was covered and on which the image of Christ miraculously appears, the plot goes astray. Too many characters, and very few of them are fully developed.
She tries to cover too much in 500+ pages....Knights Templar, a couple of french kings, Constantinople....and...more
She tries to cover too much in 500+ pages....Knights Templar, a couple of french kings, Constantinople....and...more
Some might say that this book is a carbon copy of Dan Brown's smash hit 'Da Vinci code'. In my opinion, they could not be more wrong. Jumping from one location and time to another from chapter to chapter like in 'Da Vinci code', parts of this book are alot more dark. The thing that convinced me that this was not a carbon copy, however, was the depiction of Jesus, and those who loved him and believe in him.
nothing at all happened. the story is told along two timelines: one in the far distant past just before and sorta during the Crusades and the other in modern times. Despite being hard(at times)to follow the names, the story arc in the past was much more involving than the one in the present. The ending wasn't all that fulfilling, either: it just happens. Period. Definitely one for the yard sale box!
Okay, I swear this is the last Jesus-religious-artefact-coverup-giant-conspiracy-making-money-off-The Da Vinci Code- book that I'm going to read. I swear.
Basically, you can pretty much predict where the book will go and what will happen from just reading the cover. Controversial Church relic? Check. Shadowy international organization? Check. A conspiracy to unravel? Check. Oh, the excitement!
I suppose it was slightly useful in that I learned a little about the Shroud of Turin, but, really, I cou...more
Basically, you can pretty much predict where the book will go and what will happen from just reading the cover. Controversial Church relic? Check. Shadowy international organization? Check. A conspiracy to unravel? Check. Oh, the excitement!
I suppose it was slightly useful in that I learned a little about the Shroud of Turin, but, really, I cou...more
I kept reading, which says a lot, despite some flaws. This book felt like a sequel, with a large cast of characters, many of whom were burdened with quite a bit of gratuitous backstory. I think the anguish and fundamental decency of some of the main characters, who have to make very unappealing decisions in the name of beliefs that give their lives meaning, is what kept me reading.
Think Navarro tried to do a bit too much. Glad that there were some strong female characters but to have each of them described as so beautiful and smart--yet their 'smarts' weren't displayed that much. Seemed as if their connections got doors opened for them not much else. Unfortunately, wasn't pulling for too many of the characters so their sad endings weren't too upsetting.
Interesante, mezcla la acción del presente al ritmo que relata hechos acontecidos en el pasado para que poco a poco el lector llegue a una conclusión, pero como muchos de estos libros (históricos, de un grupo de gente en busca de un objeto muy buscado), la acción transcurre casi toda hacia el final del relato.</p><p>Si os gusta la historia este es vuestro libro.
One of the worst books I've ever read in my life. I seriously wanted to throw this book to the bin. Not only it is really bad written, but the characters are flat and unlikeable and extremely annoying and the storyline is just... blah. Seems like a bad remake of "The Da Vinci Code". Couldn't care less about this stupid book. How could I ever read this, I still don't know.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Julia Navarro (Madrid, 1953) lleva más de treinta años dedicada al periodismo trabajando en los principales medios de comunicación de este país, tanto en prensa escrita como en radio y televisión.
Después de publicar varios libros de actualidad política como Nosotros, la transición; Entre Felipe y Aznar; La izquierda que viene, y Señora presidenta, se atrevió con la novela y consiguió un éxito sin...more
More about Julia Navarro...
Después de publicar varios libros de actualidad política como Nosotros, la transición; Entre Felipe y Aznar; La izquierda que viene, y Señora presidenta, se atrevió con la novela y consiguió un éxito sin...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
