The Christos Mosaic by Vincent CzyzMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Drew Korchula is drawn into a historical mystery that could change the whole world and especially Christianity. Drew is asked by a friend of his, a Turkish dwarf named Kadir to hide an ancient scroll just for a day and that is the start of an adventure Drew never expected he would participate in. This ancient scroll could rock the foundation of Christianity and there are people out there that would do anything to stop the knowledge to come to light.
I didn't read what the book was about before I started it. All I knew it was a theological mystery. And, I must admit that I was a bit surprised about what the book was about. As a Christian was this, not an easy book to read. But, it's also, in my opinion, healthy to question one's faith because if you don't, the risk is that you will turn into a fanatic. And, much of the things the book wrote about like that Christianity has borrowed from other religions and sects are stuff I already have read about. Still it can probably be hard for those that doesn't haven the theological knowledge.
Now I'm going to spoiler the book a bit so if you don't want to know about the ancient scroll stop reading. The ancient scroll is the Q document. The Q document is a hypothetical collection of Jesus Sayings. You can read more here. The problem with the finding is that it is older than Jesus and that means that it could question the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. And, that is pretty much the essence of this book. It all boils down to; did Jesus exist or not?
Vincent Czyz has done an outstandingly good job with the theological part of the book. For some, it can probably feel too academical, for me was this like reading my favorite subject again. The only change is of course that this is a fiction, not nonfiction. But reading about the Mithras, the Dead Sea scrolls, and The Essenes, etc. was just great. The thing that I had a problem with was actually more the character and the predictability of the story. The theological part was done great, but the book never really surprised me when it came to the story. I just felt it lacked some really good twists. Not even the ending of the book felt that surprising. It was just not that hard to figure out the outcome.
And, that's just too bad. It was really good written otherwise. I read it quickly, despite being over 500 pages. But, I never really found myself caught up in the story and to be honest, Drew and his mundane problems besides finding out the truth and some religious crisis was just not that interesting to read about. Drew has wanted to get back with his wife for two years and still he gets distracted by a woman he hasn't seen for 12 years that suddenly appears? Please!
Still, it was very well researched, I loved the theological part and it was good to read something that gets one to think outside the box. I think Czyz has done a superb work with this book and I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to read religious thrillers or likes to read books with conspiracy theories.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for a blog tour at TLC Book Tours.
I loved the novel. I was totally into it. I was THERE in all those places Czyc wrote about. And I agree with Joe Kilgore's review, which starts off like this: "Often, the best novels are difficult to categorize. Perhaps more often, novels that try to do too many things, don’t succeed at doing any of them particularly well. Fortunately, every now and then, a novel comes along that is both hard to define, yet exceptional at juggling multiple genres whose sum is even greater than its individual parts. Such a novel is The Christos Mosaic, which melds historical fiction with contemporary adventure and produces a compelling mystery that is as educational as it is entertaining." The US Review of Books. I don't have a blog or some affiliation, just a yahoo email. vcresskill at yahoo.
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