Susan Lucas read and liked Jennifer's review of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt: A Novel:

"I realise that authors go through many stages of their careers, exploring different facets of their personality, trying different roles.

I am a great fan of Anne's work. I have attended dozens of her events in New Orleans, and own numerou...more I realise that authors go through many stages of their careers, exploring different facets of their personality, trying different roles.

I am a great fan of Anne's work. I have attended dozens of her events in New Orleans, and own numerous signed copies and first editions. I love (with the exception of Queen of the Damned) the Vampire Chronicles, I enjoyed The Witching Hour, I owned the Beauty Triology when you still had to ask for it quietly in kink shops on the lower East side. I had read the historical novels when few people knew she'd even written them. I forgave her for selling the title of Exit to Eden to that debacle of a film. And I understood that she became deeply ill with diabetes, had lost a daughter, and then lost her husband Stan. I suppose such things could turn any renegade Catholic back to the Church.

I don't know how I would have felt about this book if it had been written by anyone in the WORLD other than Anne Rice. I have read other religious and antireligious works... I believe "The Red Tent" was one of the best books I read the year it was released. I have nothing inherently against fictionalized accounts, I've seen JCS, Godspell and Joseph so many times I sing them in my sleep (some folks dream of the wonders they'll do...)

However, over the many years I have read Anne's work, I have come to expect a certain kind of character, and a certain kind of book. Not even necessarily horror, the original scene aside books like "Cry to Heaven" are not horror novels. But I have come to look for the sort of sweeping tale Anne has given us for years. This was not it. This book creeps well into the range of what I would consider to be "oppressively preachy." While alienating her HUGE fan base with a book so off-the-charts Christian, I doubt Anne was able to approach the audience who would have enjoyed this book-- Bible Belt readers, most likely-- since she would have hopelessly alienated them by the time Belinda was released. I still own my copy because it completes my collection, but unless I encounter G-d on the road to Damascus, I do not anticipate being able to finish it. I am just completely unable to reconcile the authoress I have read passionately for two decades with this work.

I recommended this book to "The Pope" in my review, because I assume one of the only reasons she would write such a completely out-of-character novel is to "make amends" with the Church for her earlier sexually-charged works, so she might as well get credit for it upstairs. (less) "