Book Review: The Book of Light

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Book of Light     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Michelle Blake
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Religious Fiction   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Lily Connor # 3
Putnam, May 2003, $24.95, 215 pp.

After graduating from Cambridge Theological Seminary, Lily Connor becomes an ordained Episcopalian priest. At present she is the interim pastor of Tate University located a few miles from Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One day while counseling a student in her office, Samantha Lamb-Henderson walks in and says she want to get reacquainted with Lily. Lily feels the professor has a hidden agenda because when they attended seminary school together they were just acquaintances, not friends.

Lily’s suspicions soon prove right when Samantha confides in her. Samantha’s assistant, Francine, has been getting photographs in the mail that look like they could be the mythical Q document, the second source document for the Gospels of Luke and Mark. If it is proven to exist and is authenticated it will be the most important religious revelation in over a millennium. However, Lily, Samantha, and Francine are all being followed and it is clear that these individuals want the photographs and will go to any lengths to retrieve them.

Readers will absolutely adore the protagonist who knows that she doesn’t have all the answers and at times, her faith, the foundation of her life, can be shook. She is believable as she is willing to go the extra mile to see if the photographs could be the Q source and is even willing to accept the danger that goes along with that mission. Michelle Blake writes a creative theological mystery that will enthrall readers with its insights into the realities of organized religion.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner