The Last Gospel by David Gibbons
My editor keeps saying that I go on too long with my reviews. Well, he’s not going to be happy with this one because there is a lot to say.
This book is another in the growing Indiana Jones genre. You know the plot, a clue to the location of an ancient treasure has been found and our hero has to race the bad guys to locate the treasure and rescue it for humanity. Sometimes this ancient treasure has supernatural powers, and sometimes it is simply the power of truth.
This time Jack Howard is looking for artefacts from the beginnings of Christianity. First he finds the ship that wrecked under St Paul. But before long he is under Vesuvius looking at an ancient library left by Emperor Claudius. There he finds that Claudius left a precious document, but another archaeologist from the early 20th century has already found it and moved it to a new secret location. The bad guys in this case are a special committee within the Catholic Church, because exposure of this treasure could easily destroy the Church.
You see, the hypothesis is that Claudius, a cripple, travelled with his friend Herod Agrippa to Judea to meet this young man who was gaining fame as a healer. This carpenter from Nasareth did not heal Claudius, but did present him with a scroll and a warning. When Claudius became emperor, this scroll was sealed and hidden with his friend who lived in Herculeum. Later Claudius faked his own poisoning and escaped for life as a hermit in a small villa on the slopes of Herculeum. In 79 AD Vesuvius got excited and buried a couple of cities, and Claudius as well.
At first I found the whole idea a little over the top. But the longer I read, it seemed more plausible. Gibbins is nothing if not thorough in his archaeological information. Since Gibbins is really an archaeologist by training he does have some credibility, certainly more than many others who are writing in this genre.
But I suspect his publisher would sell more books if there weren’t quite so many ancient history lectures found in the text. Every now and then Gibbins, in the voice of Jack Howard, stops all action and goes on for a page or three about ancient history. All right already…if I were that interested, I am perfectly capable of looking it up for myself.
This is a good read, but keep your brain engaged or you will be lost.
