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The God Machine

by J.G. Sandom (Goodreads Author)

3.20 · rating details · 35 ratings · 9 reviews

A secret so explosive, the church always insisted it was just a legend. Now it'll stop at nothing to prevent its discovery...

The coded journal of Benjamin Franklin. A hidden map. A legendary gospel. These are the first pieces to an ancient puzzle so powerful, it could destroy the very foundation of Christianity.

Once before, Joseph Koster unearthed one of the church’s most...more

Mass Market Paperback, 480 pages

Published April 28th 2009 by Bantam (first published April 16th 2009)

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Nov 22, 2010

John Murphy rated it

I was introduced to J. Sandom and his early work, Gospel Truths, by chance. Intrigued by Mr. Sandom I decided to read the Gospel Truths but did so with some intrepidation. As a Jesuit-educated history student I was concerned that the historical, theological underpinnings of Mr. Sandom's novel would lack the academic rigor I would expect even for a fictional writing. Not only did Gospel Truths exceeed my intellectual expectations but I was impressed with the seamlessness with which Mr. Sandom c...more

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Aug 12, 2009

George Smith rated it

Recommends it for: Yes

Recommended to George by: Found it online

This is the best religious thriller I've ever read, and I've read a lot of them. The narrative is fast-paced and relentless, the characters 3-dimensional and interesting, the writing is crisp and muscular, and it stretches the genre in new directions. Part historical fiction, I loved the way it brought Benjamin Franklin to life, and made me look at this fascinating founding father in a whole new light.

The God Machine is perfect summer reading, a beach book that will shake you like a...more

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Jul 02, 2009

Bazile rated it

I really enjoyed this book, it was a thrill ride from beginning to end. One of the things I loved was the strong female character. So often in thrillers the women are either afterthoughts or literary candy, something tasty that's thrown in as a distraction. The female leads in this book cover the dark and light side of the spectrum. The women are well drawn out interesting people that highlight the protaganist Joseph Koster.

I hate reviews that just reword the plot, so I'll just sa...more

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Nov 15, 2009

Betty rated it

Shelves: adventure, fiction, historical-fiction, international, legend, novels, faith, mystery, suspense-thriller, historical-religious-fiction

The God Machine by J.G. Sandom

A fast-paced thriller of a ride which kept this reader on her toes. With side by side search and chase sequences more than two centuries apart, the pace and mystery do not waver. A tremendous amount of research must have gone into this book, and into the hands of an author who knew what to do with it. J.G. Sandom has written previous thrillers, but this was my first introduction. It won't be my last.

The story is historical fiction written wi...more

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May 03, 2010

Katherine Coble rated it

While there are some interesting tidbits, the author gets lost on myriad rabbit trails. Sex lives of minor characters are extensively detailed, as are esoterica such as the layout of Penn's farm in the early 18th century.

But the book's worst problem is its dreadful pacing. Just when things start seeming to get good and interesting, the chapter...

See how iiritating it is?!? Leaving thoughts unfinished is the poorest way to create dramatic tension. Yet that seems to be the ...more

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Aug 11, 2009

Nate rated it

I got interested in The God Machine after discussing with Mr. Sandom Amazon’s Historical Fiction blog. At that time Mr. Sandom was seeking people to review The God Machine and I agreed to do this with him understanding that I would post my candid opinion. For those not familiar with The God Machine, this book is a religious action book (note, I’m not using the word thriller) in the vein of National Treasure or Angels and Demons. The story revolves around the finding of text from Benjamin Fran...moreI got interested in The God Machine after discussing with Mr. Sandom Amazon’s Historical Fiction blog. At that time Mr. Sandom was seeking people to review The God Machine and I agreed to do this with him understanding that I would post my candid opinion. For those not familiar with The God Machine, this book is a religious action book (note, I’m not using the word thriller) in the vein of National Treasure or Angels and Demons. The story revolves around the finding of text from Benjamin Franklin that’s encoded and might point to the Gnostic Gospel of Judas. As might be expected with something like this, religious powers (the Catholic Church and a modern protestant sect) and the Freemasons.

Rating wise, this one was worthy of three stars to me (btw, it was only 2.5 stars until the last 100 pages). I'll open by saying that The God Machine is not a piece of historical fiction; rather Mr. Sandom weaves the occasional historical fiction into the storyline from time to time. While Mr. Sandom might feel this qualifies the book to be historical fiction, I feel it’s a weak sell at best, especially since parts of the historical fiction are questionable. As I stated above, The God Machine is really more of a current action novel with the occasional historical piece to interrupt the story.
While this isn’t good enough to rate the book three stars, it does establish the trend. Other factors that drove me to lowering my rating included:
• Mr. Sandom’s use of time is a little off at times. This was initiated in the opening sequence telling about Christians in 33 AD (CE) (sorry, there were no Christians at that time, purely different Jew sects. Christianity is a relatively modern religion. You also have the fictitious way the Romans were "hunting" for Jews. This generally didn't occur until the 66-73 AD Maccabean Revolt.). This is followed up with Benjamin Franklin timeline with the Freemasons. Freemasons were just starting to come to the New World in the 1730's. I seriously doubt they'd be as established as the author leads us to believe.
• My next major issue was when Mr. Sandom had his characters using coordinates from the 18/19th century to find an item. The coordinates used were provided down to the second, which provides an accuracy of within 100 feet. While this may have been possible in the 18/19th century, it wouldn’t have supported the main characters being on top of the artifact (a note: I seriously doubt that 18/19th century technology would have provided the accuracy required with any confidence).

• Mr. Sandom has a significant amount of gunplay while the characters are in England. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it happening in America, but I know that the English have some of the most stringent gun control laws. While Lyman’s use of a gun is explained fairly nicely (it’s rather weak though given how the English are), the bad guys wouldn’t have had ready access to guns (another note, in the scene where gunfire is exchanged, a Cuban who’s a member of the Sovereign Military Order Malta kills himself, something I seriously doubt a strong Catholic would do).

Character and writing wise, things were fairly bland; none of the characters were attractive to me and the chapters seemed a little choppy (every time things started to flow nicely the chapter ended and the next one started out flat). I kept looking for something more to shine but there was nothing to possibly drive my rating higher than three stars (really I was prepared to call it a weak 2.5 stars).

--- 11 Aug 2009
After having a discussion with George Smith I realized that my rounding up to 3 stars was in error because it really wasn't that strong. Because of this, I've lowered my rating to 2 stars.

Thanks George!!!(less)

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May 08, 2010

Matt rated it

Great read. Fast paced and exciting. Really interesting concept, very thought provoking. Joseph Koster is a great main character, smart and deductive. A thriller you'll have a hard time putting down.

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Dec 14, 2010

Matt Lehman rated it

Ok, I'm about a third of the way through and it's a fun read. I gotta say, I enjoy all genres, scifi, fantasy, mysteries etc etc and I can suspend disbelief with the best of em. But c'mon....a hot, hyper sexual, child killing nun assassin in full habit? I seriously laughed out loud. I don't think that was what the author was going for but really, how do you write that character with a straight face?

Finished and I would give it a 2.5. Its enjoyable the way watching a sit com is. Its f...more

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Oct 19, 2009

Debbie rated it

Unbelievably slow moving. Nothing happens for basically the first 200 pages. And the author gets really bogged down in the details, as if he was lecturing to a college class. OK book, but there are much better books of this genre.

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Jan 08, 2012

Gemma marked it as to-read

Shelves: thriller

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About J.G. Sandom

J. G. Sandom, often referred to as the "Father of Interactive (Internet) Advertising," co-founded the world's first interactive advertising agency, Einstein and Sandom Interactive (EASI), in 1984, before launching an award-winning writing career. He is the author of nine works of fiction, including THE GOD MACHINE; GOSPEL TRUTHS; THE WALL STREET MURDER CLUB; THE WAVE - A JOHN DECKER THR...moreJ. G. Sandom, often referred to as the "Father of Interactive (Internet) Advertising," co-founded the world's first interactive advertising agency, Einstein and Sandom Interactive (EASI), in 1984, before launching an award-winning writing career. He is the author of nine works of fiction, including THE GOD MACHINE; GOSPEL TRUTHS; THE WALL STREET MURDER CLUB; THE WAVE - A JOHN DECKER THRILLER; KISS ME, I'M DEAD; and CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER.

Booklist called GOSPEL TRUTHS, "a splendid, tautly woven thriller...(and) an intelligent mystery of tremendous spiritual and literary depth." Library Journal said, "A masterful first novel, based on a true incident, which spins a complicated web of corruption, greed and deception." And Mostly Murder characterized it, "A fascinating mystery...captivating and engrossing."

Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent, called THE WALL STREET MURDER CLUB, "A gripping story, well-told...not only a tale of murder and betrayal, but an intelligent exploration of issues of male identity." Kirkus termed it, "A Big Apple Deliverance, endowing New York culture with all the corrosively dehumanizing power of Dickey's wild nature." And Booklist said, "(Sandom) writes with stunning elegance and nearly poetic beauty...A sure hit with any suspense reader."

While known mostly as a writer of thrillers and mysteries, Sandom is also the author of several award-winning Young Adult (YA) novels.

Publishers Weekly called CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER, "A haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s...Teens will likely be both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail in the face of harsh injustices." KLIATT said, "Like M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory." And School Library Journal said, "Part historical fiction and part adventure story, the novel brings excitement to Victorian England...Readers will be on the edge of their seats."

Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of the year by the Washington Post, KISS ME, I'M DEAD was named a Notable Book for Teens by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, a Young Adult Library Services Association Teen's Top Ten, and nominated for a Cybils literary award, a Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and recently added to Horn Book’s list of Recommended American Historical Fiction.

The Washington Post said, "(Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction," and called the novel, "a subtle gem." School Library Journal said, "KISS ME, I'M DEAD tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way." And Horn Book called the work, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story...(and) a tightly wound novel."

THE GOD MACHINE was released in May, 2009. Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) called THE GOD MACHINE, "a thrilling and breathless, rapturously-written and mind-blowing read. It'll keep you up all night, turning pages as fast as your little fingers can manage." Bookpage.com called the novel "a simmering stew of conspiracy, intrigue and danger that keeps the plot pot boiling until the very end." And the Historical Novels Review said, "THE GOD MACHINE is a very impressive historical thriller!"

Sandom’s most recent novel, THE WAVE - A JOHN DECKER THRILLER, was reissued in June 2010. Kirkus said, "Sandom’s strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle...(and) brains...Races from improbable to crazywild, all in good fun, with Sandom always one step ahead...A story with enough manic energy to be worthy of a nuclear explosion."(less)

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