M.J. Rose's The Reincarnationist is a fairly fast paced thriller/adventure novel that I really wanted to like. From the cover blurbs it seemed to have all of the elements I was looking for: action, intrigue, a DaVinci Code style plot, etc. And truth be told, I was fairly well engaged over the length of the story. The concept was sound, despite what you may believe about reincarnation. I was sympathetic to the plight of the protagonist. There was some romantic attraction with other characters and there was some cool scenes/flashbacks to ancient Rome.

But the ending was unsatisfactory, to put it politely. The build up was great but the revelations at the very end were not satisfying to me at all and it was over in a heartbeat. We did not get to experience the reactions of the other main characters at all. No sense of real resolution, especially the emotional resolution that is so necessary. But that's not the only unsatisfying thing about this book. Something was missing from the entire novel that I can't quite seem to wrap my head around. It's like the elements of the plot were there but it just didn't grab me by the throat as a good adventure novel should. I think the problem is more characterization than plot; I wondered what would happen to them but I wasn't emotionally connected enough to care.

I see from the author's blog that a pilot is being developed from this novel. Who knows where that will go since the quality of a novel and the quality of a tv series/show isn't always parallel. But at this point it's not one of the shows I am looking forward to in the future.