The Shroud

by Dallas Tanner

Nathan Archer is a Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Chicago, and a forensic historian who believes that Leonardo Da Vinci created a perfect copy of the Sindon, the burial cloth of Christ known as the Shroud of Turin. Citing an unpaid commission by the House of Savoy to paint a replica, he searches for proof that the renaissance master employed techniques that took four centuries to discover the faded image of the crucified Jesus.Divorced by his wife and ridiculed by his peers for what many feel does not take into account its biblical timeline, Archer travels with Sindonologist Amanda Wilkes across Europe at the request of a stranger who insists that he can help them solve the riddle of the Holy Grail, and the fate of the last Knights Templar. What they discovered at the ruins of the Temple of Solomon is bound up with the flight of Joseph of Arimathea from Jerusalem.Everywhere they turn, colleagues are dying or revealing themselves to be something other than what they truly are. No one is to be trusted, as Archer and Wilkes are accused of crimes committed just before or after they find another clue. Others pursuing them will stop at nothing to fulfill biblical prophecy, and bring about the end of the world. The only way the two experts can stop them is to discover the truth about its origins, and prevent its theft.

Paperback

First published November 24, 2010

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. I liked the general concept and the story line, as well as the characters. I do believe the characters needed more depth and for as well as I could "know" them, I sometimes found them acting against how they were developed.

Overall, I think this book could be very good if it had a good editor. It proves how essential that is, especially for an author that is published independent or by a smaller house. In this case, there were several large chunks of "info dump" which slowed the pace of the book considerably. This information could have been provided as an addendum at the end of the book, as several larger chunks of information were not essential to the storyline. Where the information was essential or quite helpful, I believe it could have been written as dialogue between characters or woven into more action-oriented scenes.

I also found at least once where the main female character had an entirely different name. It was confusing enough to see the author randomly switch between using her last name, her first name and her nickname. However, at one point he used a totally different name which makes me think an earlier draft (or perhaps a middle draft) changed her name entirely from the one in the final publication - only this one time it did not get caught. Those things are confusing and again interfere with the pace of the story.

While the story did follow a systematic flow through approximately the first two thirds of the book, the last third seemed to jump around and was very awkward. A few scenes were entirely unnecessary, to the point one made me cringe a bit in embarrassment for the author. By the end of the book, I found myself skipping large segments and scanning the pages for essential information. I just wanted to get it finished. While I was sometimes bored through those first two thirds, I was interested enough in the storyline to see how the author was going to solve the problems and explain some of the situations. I did find it fairly predictable in some ways (such as the identity of Boangeres), which was slightly disappointing.

I think the author has promise, but I found myself wishing I could edit this book and perhaps other future books of his. I think with good editing his writing can be tightened, his characters made more consistent which would add depth, and basic errors (such as consistency in names, and double checking timelines, etc.) would be immensely helpful. With that, I think he could find a home at a larger publishing house and get recognition for his unique storylines and story concepts.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story--thought it would be sort of a Dan Brown type fast paced mystery, but not so much. Descriptions of cities, specific streets and locales became a little too detailed unless you have been to those places in various parts of the world. If those descriptions had been shortened or applied to something more familiar to maintain the interest it would have been much better

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel had a great story line, it was just a little long and packed with some historical and geographical details that were too cumbersome and repeated several times. If the editor had chopped out about 100 pages of the details it would have been really good amd easier to read.

[Dawn Jobes]

This book was the major suck. I read a book my Mr.Tanner before and barely made my way through it. I didn't even finish the first 10 chapters of this one. Who told this man he can write?

[Crissy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is amateurish but the premise is not bad. I read about half of it and had to abandon it. I rarely do that but I just couldn't take anymore!!

[Diane Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much detailed, not fast paced, took a long time for me to read which is unusual.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had great potential, but really missed the mark. Definitely needed a good editor and another re-write prior to publishing.

[Chris Wiegman · Rating 1 out of 5]

horrible