The Secret Gospel

by Dan Eaton

"A dangerous and thrilling adventure ... This multi-faceted work of history, conspiracy and religion will gain favour among fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry." —Publishers Weekly In 1958, a young Bible scholar stumbles upon a version of the Gospel of Mark far older than that recorded in the New Testament. Unfortunately, his discovery brings him nothing but vilification and accusations of forgery. Eventually, the Secret Gospel simply disappears. Fifty-one years later, the scholar is dead, the victim of an apparent heart attack. However, evidence found in his room, coupled with a letter to Cairo-based journalist Alex Fisher, suggests murder—and hints that the missing gospel harbors deep secrets. Alex, his girlfriend Sadie, and British diplomat Aubrey Bairstow’s attempts to locate the gospel quickly turn deadly. An Islamic terrorist group, an Israeli intelligence agent, and the head of a scandalous Christian sect also want the gospel. In Egypt’s Western Desert, in the midst of a massive sandstorm, the fate of the Secret Gospel will be decided in blood. As the hunt grows increasingly dangerous, it becomes apparent the lost manuscript has ties to both Nazi Germany and the Vatican’s refusal to condemn the Holocaust. More is at stake than a lost the Secret Gospel could spell disaster for the Catholic Church—and change the balance of power in the Middle East. A rousing religious conspiracy thriller, The Secret Gospel ties religion, politics, and history into a tangled skein of intrigue. It has at its heart a true story – the discovery in 1958 of fragments of a previously unknown account of the life of Jesus by Morton Smith. The rest is pure fiction. It was shortlisted in the Rethink Press New Novels competition in 2014 and a quarterfinalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. “A well-written and engaging plot keeps readers going…" “Thoroughly researched, this novel is steeped in history…" —Publishers Weekly

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Historical

302 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2015

About the author

Dan Eaton grew up among the ruins and deserts of North Africa, born across a dusty square from a Roman amphitheatre in Carthage. He studied classics and history at university before a career spanning journalism, defence, intelligence, and law enforcement. He now lives in New Zealand.

His debut, The Secret Gospel, was shortlisted for the Rethink Press New Novels competition and reached the quarterfinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. No White Lies, his second book, was a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards.

His new novel, The Gospel of Echoes, due out in September 2025, continues the story of Alex Fisher—the globe-trotting journalist turned theology professor and expert in ancient religion—blending history, mystery, and thriller into a gripping series.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and well written. It's like Dan Brown with talent!

[Holly C. Duksta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The squabbling yet contins

Wonderful tale of the onward war on interpretation of scripture in order to validate a sect of religious order. Most people just accept what they were taught not realizing that there has been severe conflicts from the early formation of the Catholic church and other Christian sects. The desire for control has been viciously fought all of almost 2 thousand years and is still ongoing today for the control of the. Masses

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

When this appeared as next on my “to read” list I really feared the worst. I have read too many “threat to Christianity” books, most of which are two or three steps down from “The DaVinci Code” in terms of the quality of the writing. But I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. It is much better thought out than most of this sub-genre and very cleverly plotted. The main character is always interesting and the writing style very readable. Recommended.

[OleetaJ.Hays · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faith lost in peril, found in believers

This story is rich in the history of world war II and the landscape of the middle east. The truth about the authenticity of the documents concerning the life of Jesus is explored with careful reference to the academics who study and protect them. The last page is in support of faith. The characters act as visceral figures in a fast moving morality play. Enjoy!

[Lynn Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complicated

The author has written a really interesting story about very important stuff. I spent a lot of time looking things up on Wikipedia to see what was fiction and what was real because the gospel stuff is just fascinating! Most of it is real. A lot of it really happened. That makes this story so very cool. It also makes it very troubling for me. If you are a person who likes to keep your faith simple, you should probably stop right about here and find another book. This will give you a headache. But, if you like pondering what you base your faith upon, then this can be fun. The end fizzles a little, but overall it's ok. You'll like it.

[Jay Ronchelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I marked this book as "read" just to move it from my reading list. The truth is, I didn't finish it. I couldn't get through the first 15% because the characters were so cliche. It was like reading a high school kid's attempt to mimic a Dan Brown novel in his Creative Writing elective. All the players in this book were some version of a "hard boiled" detective (whether they were a journalist, a secret agent, or diplomat). I wish Goodreads would create a shelf called DNF for the books we cast off as not being worth the investment of time.

[Margie Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and sometimes alarming romp.

If you like politically motivated action thrillers (the politics of power that is), then this is a great read. If you want to peal back the layers of middle-eastern history combined with lost gnostic testaments mixed with religious and quasi-religious cults, still a great read. You will have to do your own research however.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought this was so well researched and thought provoking. Gripping story as well. It did take me a bit longer than I liked to work out the time switches and characters at the start of the book. Dan is my cousin, nice to be related to someone who is so smart!

[Norman Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite pacy and fairly well written. It did seem similar to some of Dan Brown's efforts, but the long, historical and technical explanations made me feel that a lot of them had been lifted from Wikipedia. However, as a novel, it's probably the closest to actual events I've read.

[Joseph Piecora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.

Combining fact and fiction usually makes for an interesting book , Mr. Eaton does not disappoint . Might a prequel of Dr. Morton Smith double agent be in the future.

[Mandy Sommer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I highly enjoyed this book. This was my first written by Dan Eaton and I'll admit, it won't be my last. I highly recommend!

[Tim N. Tuggle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reading!

Great reading ! This keptme was ting more, the further I went. Not your usual book on biblical findings kept me going on to the very last page.

[J Pryor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good 👍

This genre of stories are mixed between really good innovative stories 👌and dross luckily this is the first! Fast paced and exciting

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Very well paced.

[J. Bruce Harreld · Rating 4 out of 5]

well done!

A nicely written thriller about a possibly authentic manuscript written by Mark. Plausible, compelling, nice pace, and a nicely woven story. Worth your time.

[kirie hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edge of your seat stuff

Amazing & stunning writing from start to finish. Full of wonder, a story that makes you think. Probably one of the best books I've read in a while

[S’s Reading World · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a conservative Christian, I had to stop reading this book and find it a bit heretical. I understand that there are many books of apocrypha in existence historically that are not part of the canon of the old and New Testament however this story, of which I'm not sure how much is fact versus fiction regarding what alleged "gospel" extras found purported to be scribed by Mark, puts the New Testament and Jesus in a light that I cannot condone nor will believe.

I do not recommend this book to anyone that is a conservative Christian and believes that the protestant reformation of the Bible is our gospel and that the words of the apostles in the Gospels and the apostle Paul represent most accurately the divinely inspired message of Jesus Christ.

This author has tried to bring cultural trends to twist the New Testament in a way that liberals and progressives in our society would find Jesus more "hip". Frankly it disgusted me. Way too progressive for my beliefs.

[Edward M Bullard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book. Using historical fact with fiction is a favorite theme of mine

Of mine. I have no real disagreements with the story or how it was told. I would recommend to those readers who share my interest in history

[Michael Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Weave of Truth and Imagination

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: NOVEL OF TRUTH, MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION

Usually, I don't even read "Da Vinci " type stories these days, and I write very few reviews of that genre. (I read many over the years, and few were worth the time spent.) THIS IS THE EXCEPTION!


Dan Eaton has skillfully mixed historical facts, early Christian church history and modern discovery with imagination and panache. This is the historical tale that readers are looking for.

As I said: HIGHLYRECOMMENDED

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, the first third of the book involves long, ponderous descriptions of visuals and very little character development, so little character development that when a girlfriend dies horribly, my response was a casual "How unfortunate". When they didn't find any signs of her body after the intense inferno, my response was "She's not dead".

The descriptive visuals were not only ponderous, he later explained things twice.. the historical description of one of the sectors of an enclave in or near Cairo (once was enough) was repeated in the later half of the book. He mentioned twice (once in the beginning and once in the end) that the book "The English Patient" was what brought him to Egypt as if we hadn't already read that.

Now, I know I nitpick, but when my major response to a read is to nitpick it to death, that usually means the plot and characters were not as noteworthy as they should have been. It was way too predictable

Grammar was almost always correct. If that's the best I can say about a book, it's really not that good. I award it two stars for Good Grammar. sheeesh

[Sandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The set up for the story took much too long for me. I plodded along waiting for something to happen. I found out much more than I ever needed to know about places I will never go. It is apparent this author spent a lot of time in this area of the world. That being said, when I finally got to the meat of the story, I had trouble identifying with the characters and their angst and kept wondering if this was an entire work of fiction, or if it was based on some little known facts. I did appreciate the author's note at the end which explained all that for me.
I did manage to get through the whole book (rarely do I put a book down - I'm an eternal optemist, always hoping for redeeming grace to descend), but I will not seek any more books by this author.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may have reached the outside limit of the DaVinci Code ripoff genre. This book is a nice summer read, but could have delivered so much more. The ending was predictable and disappointing and left me wishing the author had a little more focus on the plot than on the action. The underlying theme was provocative, the narration and descriptions of Egypt were excellent, but it felt like the author got tired of the story and just wrapped it up without delivering on all the promise the novel had at the beginning.

[Rosemary Dreyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had known that elements of this book were based on fact. I would have been more intrigued. Instead, I found the book to be a Dan Brown wannabe without much charm. The story unfolded at a brisk pace, filled with lots of drama. At times, it seemed the book was like a thesis, very dry and full of facts. However the murder mystery qualities were overdone. It was just ok: not bad, but not really good either.

[matteo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly picked up this book after having just finished reading Zealot, which made for some interesting parallels. A fair amount of the story was based on historical information, which made it more believable. But as with most of this genre, the language and characters were lacking. The story moved quickly, and the book was a quick read. But I have a feeling that if, in a week, I'm asked about the plot, I'll already have forgotten most of it.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another search for supposedly different version of an early an Gospel.
A reporter receives a letter from a friend to then find that the friend has died under suspicious circumstances. The reporter then experiences a number of thefts, attacks and the destruction of his apartment as several different factions attempt to get a copy of the gospel they think he has. A reasonable read.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a standard "find the document and save the Church" novel. The good guys are few, the bad guys are many, and everybody has a different reason for wanting the document. There is a lot of action, double dealing, and a high body count. When all is said and done, there are enough unanswered questions to suggest a sequel.

[Phil Polich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the author. This story like all his others are riveting.

The five star rating is the result of how much I liked the book.
I am far from a creative writing critic. This story kept me totally engaged.
The author is a wonderful yarn spinner. The historical fiction aspect of the book is icing on the cake. I am already looking for another book by Mr Eation.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing story

I enjoyed this novel but had to skip through several pages of unnecessary info toward the end because I felt bogged down by too many details. The story was interesting but few points were confusing. Almost too many players searching for the lost gospel. I did enjoy the descriptions of Cairo and its people. I hope the story continues.

[Mary A. Muchowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing story about the battle to find The Secret Gospel of Mark.

Using many historical facts the author has woven them into a fictional account of how the Nazis obtained this secret gospel and used it to blackmail the Vatican into remaining silent about the Holocaust. Sad the lengths of torture, violence and murder that men will go to supposedly in the name of their God.

[Cynthia T Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting historical fiction about Alternative Gospels

Not only is the mystery first rate, but the political impact of the existence of many alternative or apocryphal Christian writing s from the first and second centuries is well done as well as the various priorities of conflicting parties in this the most contentious and dangerous part of the world.