The Secret of Fatima

Interesting story. Nice piece of fiction.

Simply brilliant. For an in depth review read Nassim Taleb's review on Amazon; can't put it better than him. Highly recommended.

I wanted to read this book as it was recommended by Nassim Talib. I am only hoping that rest of his recommendations will be more worthy.The plot feels like a bond movie, with plenty of loose ends. At the end, the author finds a way to justify an American's action for *greater good*. That said, at many places I could predict what was going to happen so it wasn't that thrilling to realize that the author and I pretty much think alike.

Author says that he researched for 3 decades for this book. What a waste of long 30 years. This could be written by anyone in 30 days and Wikipedia. This book was recommended in a book list by Naseem Taleb. Either he owes something colossal to the author or he was completely brain dead to recommend it. A black swan event, indeed!

Plain language - not a single interesting phrase in the whole book.

So it wants to be a non stop action book and keep you on the hook, but starting with the flat characters and ending with a completely unimaginative and forced plot, it is a failure.Perhaps one or two chapters are aceptable, but on the whole the story seems intended for a too gullible audience.

I first picked up this book as it was suggested by Nassim Taleb who is one of my favorite authors. It is a page-turner, I am not particularly a fast reader but I finished this book in record time! It is a thriller that keeps the reader engaged and if you enjoy secret societies and mysterious plots you will definitely love this book!

Although Christian, I wasn't raised in the Catholic tradition so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I found this novel to be an action-packed read and an interesting way to learn about these traditions. In addition to enjoying the plot of adventure of a Catholic priest, I found myself taking notes and researching the history of actual Catholic traditions. Although rich with religious overtones, I found the book not to be too heavy and was an easy read with enough mystery and thrill to keep the reader engaged.. You will definitely find yourself "what happens next"! (And there's even a little love story too!)

Imagine your favourite James Bond is also a Catholic priest. That puts you quite close to the character of Father Kevin Thrall, the protagonist of The Secret of Fatima. A wonderfully well-written story that had me thinking I could be drinking a Peroni or good red wine on an Italian piazza whilst catching a glimpse of some of the action. After reading the novel it I gave my copy to my very Catholic Mother-in-Law, and she thought it was great too (I wondered if it would be too near the knuckle for her). Her observation was that it’s a modern drama so well presented that it reads like a true story – which I think is a perfect synopsis.