The Blood of the Lamb

by Thomas F. Monteleone

Book Overview

Inspired by the beginnings of Millennial Fever, this spine-tingling novel elaborates on prophecies contained in the Bible, the writings of Nostradamus presaging the End of the World, the Second Coming, and the coming of the anti-Christ. Monteleone has a dark imagination and the rare ability to convey an evil chill with words.--Dean R. Koontz.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031285031X
• ISBN13: 9780312850319
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 419 Pages
• Weight: 2.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Guts

It's nice to read a book by an author who has some guts. Monteleone's story is astounding. It fills you with hope, doubt, fear, joy and anger. This book really takes you on an emotional and spiritual journey with Vatican henchmen constantly on your tail. Think Robert Ludlum meets Dan Brown, although I think this book is by far better than anything the aforementioned scribes have penned. The ending is haunting and just plain out awesome. This is a book you wish never ended. I hated having to close the backcover. Luckily, there is a sequel called "The Reckoning". That's in my shopping cart!

Twisted plot and great ending!

I just finished reading this great novel and, even though I thought the plot was quite ludicrous at first, I definitely got into it and I must admit it was a great pleasure to read it. The ending is superb, couldn't ask for more!

Good book, though somewhat silly

"Blood of the Lamb" contains an extremely creative idea: to clone Christ. Of course, such a premise is fairly hard for anyone to take seriously, and this book doesn't achieve that. But it's a good, readable book which I felt had many unusual plot twists which occasionally made one feel a bit queasy on the inside. It's easy to find all the biblical references in it; Satan's temptation, virgin birth, calling of the first disciples, Judas' betrayal, and the idea of Jesus having a lover (Marion in the book, Mary Magdalene in legends). After reading it and finding the "surprise" ending (which isn't really a surprise; you can probably guess who Peter REALLY is halfway through the book) it's hard to resist the temptation to get out your Bible and turn to Revelations, 'cause the similarities are definitely there. I disagree with Kirkus Reviews that this book calls for a sequel. It's one of the books that sound like there would be one, but would definitely be ruined by it. Probably my biggest problem with the book is that Peter Carenza is such a likeable character that it is much too hard to accept the truth. But I guess that that's what the author wanted. In short, it's really a good book. Get it.

Great Book, Great Characters, Great Story!!

While cloning Jesus might seem like a great thing to be doing, on the surface, we find out that it might not be the best thing to be doing. Thomas F. Monteleone comes out with a great premise. Suppose the Vatican cloned Jesus to bring about the Second Coming. As with most any book of a religious basing, the Vatican once again becomes the bad guy. But, in truth, as the book progresses, the idea of any villian or hero beomes mixed and confused. Monteleone has done something that I absolutely love to hate. He has made the true villian of the book a most interesting and lovable character. All of the clues are put before us in this wonderful thriller, but we choose to either ignore them or interpret them in a totally different light as the story progresses. It makes for excellent storytelling when a plot that twists as much as this one does turns the characters the reader abhors into the actual "white hat good guys." It is seldom that a writer can do this in a satisfactory way, but Monteleone has pulled it off with stunning success. The book has quite a few well-developed characters, though, in truth, I would have liked to have seen about 200 more pages dedicated to the "prequel" of this story wherein we could better get to know the main character's mother, the old scientist, etc. However, as it stands, the book is quite excellent. One thing that has always bothered me about books such as this is that if the Vatican has all these wonderfully naughty people working for them, why must they constantly attack a main character head-on. Would it not be simpler to place a guy on a tower with a high-powered rifle? Of course, the story might be quite a bit shorter if such were to happen, so I will live with these delicious little thrillers as they are. An excellent book. Well-written, intricately plotted, and most certainly thoroughlt entertaining. A must-read!

What a premise....cloning Jesus?

This novel takes the Jurassic Park idea and puts a disturbing religious twist on it. Imagine using DNA cloning on the blood taken from the Shroud of Turin (It's late.. I hope I spelled this right) This is a very well written novel, well deserving of the Bram Stoker award, which it won. Read it! (Great ending as well)