When, after suffering horrendous losses, the 3 million-strong Red Army liberated Eastern Europe, Stalin was feeling his oats. Who couldn't they defeat if he gave the order? The Catholic Church was the reply. How many men does the Pope have, he chuckled? One billion, was the reply. The supreme dictator stopped chuckling.
The figure wasn't exaggerated (matched by the number of Muslims). Holy Mother Church has been around for two millennia, based on a Jewish carpenter who never converted to Christianity. Over the centuries, it dealt with heresies, rivals, monarchs, refusing to bow to their supremacy.
The pontiff called the First Crusade. He was the arbiter of disputes on the continent. He was the centre of wars of religion and of succession. For a period, there were two Holy Fathers simultaneously. Il Duce was persuaded to give the Vatican separate state status.
Laymen do some research and pen novels about Jesus, several more popular than accurate. Not to be confused with scholars who specialise in the operations of the Catholic Church past and present, such as Brit Tom Fox. In The Seventh Commandment, he emphasises the necessity of knowing ancient languages.
Fluency in Latin and Greek for starters. Then Akkadian and/or Cuneiform. To be sure, hieroglyphics and ancient Hebrew wouldn't hurt. Such importance is from the fact that the Old Testament lifted some of their stories. (The author eschews such terms as archaeologist and anthropology.)
With so many ancient scholars in the field, there is rivalry among them to find a significant fact that will fill in holes in the past. And at the same time increase their professional prestige. Alas, more than a few fake such "discoveries". Exposing such fakes is difficult, but not impossible.
It is the plot of this work of religious fiction. A tablet reinterprets the meaning of the seventh of God's Ten Commandments: "Thou shall not steal." It is discussed at length. In the minor plot, a new and growing Catholic sect believes in the truth of revelations and prophecies, such as the Ten Plagues of Egypt in the Old Testament.
Among other things, a volcano erupts with many deaths. The Catholic Church has mixed feelings about them. According to an ancient papyrus, Jesus was married. The truth or falsehood of this is still under discussion by the Curia.
The Seventh Commandment won't give Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code a run for its money. It is more accurate but less suspenseful. Readers may be interested in the titbits it offers about the Catholic Church.
What it doesn't do is rock it to its foundations.
Tom Fox has two earlier books -- Genesis and Exodus -- under his belt. One of his literary creations is a mysterious faith healer whose voice enables the afflicted Pope to walk.
Extreme Prey by John Sandford Simon and Schuster 418pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 350 baht
Food for thought
Several Yank authors enjoy playing games with their readers, especially when it comes to titling their novels. One uses letters of the alphabet. Another uses each of the Commandments. John Sandford uses the word "prey". His 25th Prey book is Extreme Prey.
A Pulitzer Prize winner, his crime fiction is highly popular. Over the years, two of his literary creations, Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport, have captured the popular as well as critical imaginations. They aren't interchangeable, but as the French say, vive la difference!
Davenport is with the Minnesota Bureau of Investigation. His best feature is his intuition. To be sure, he uses the latest criminal investigation techniques, yet his colleagues can't analyse evidence as well as he can. Sandford notes that the surest way of catching a culprit is by chasing him down, on foot.
Lucas isn't a womaniser. Don't look for romance in the middle of his investigation. Like all US lawmen, he carries a weapon, yet prefers to arrest baddies rather than shoot them. He has little time for trigger-happy police. Then again, culprits tend to carry guns.
This time around Davenport is invited to Iowa, an agricultural fair to be held in Des Moines. To be followed by speeches and parades by the state's bigwigs. Sounds like fun, temporary relief from the job.
However, as Prey book aficionados are aware, there's bound to be crime.
We, unlike the characters for a while, aren't kept in the dark that there's dirty work afoot. Iraq war veteran Cole Purdy was the victim of a home-made roadside bomb while on duty. He survived, yet it shook up his brain. He means to subject a hawkish presidential candidate to the same.
The fair is the place to do it and he ropes his family into it. Hundreds of pages are devoted to trying to locate them at the crowded fair and to determine where the bomb has been placed.
The entire police force is in on the search, culminating in a shoot-out. Nevertheless, the rest of the Purdy clan is still at large. By the time Lucas intuitively figures out where the bomb is hidden, it's too late, causing maximum destruction.
Where is the guilt to lie -- with the Iraqis? The soldiers sent there? Purdy? The question is raised, discussed, no conclusion arrived at. Food for thought for the readers. Apart from the politics, John Sandford is adept at building suspense. The characters do a lot of running, unlike the usual car chases.
This reviewer wonders whether the scrivener will get off the Prey kick. He's overdoing it.
