The author‘s thesis is intriguing and compelling. He makes sense of the patristic witness and the many peculiar details of Mark’s gospel. His take on the “secret gospel” of Clement is a gem. Most of the work, however, is an unnecessarily thorough walking through every redactional seam and explanation. Overall, it is a work worth reading and pondering. It would be improved by reducing some of the sections to paradigmatic examples and a table with an exhaustive list.