[Review] Robert Harris - Conclave

Rome, the cnre of Christianity. After the Pope dies the cardinals meet for the Conclave, the election of the Pope in a closed envirnment without medias or disturbing questions. Noone knows what happens inside the walls of the chapel, but one thing is sure. one of them will be the next pope ...

This book was thr first of hopefully many Robert Harris books which will I read. For some reason I always ignored this writer in my shelves and I just bought this book because it is set in the Vatican City and therefore was a few good points for my reading challenge. I wouldn't have thought that a book without any blood (well, not really, but the terror attack happening in here is just mentioned and never really described) could be such an incredible brillant and page turning thriller! Seriously, I alsmost missed my station twice because I did not want to stop reading ;-)

So, what is the secret behind the book? First, it is an interesting setting and a rarely used one. Especially the fact that we just do not know what happenes exacty in a conclave makes it the ideal set for a piece of suspence. Harris did a lot of research and I enjoyed a lot learning new things about the Catholic Church and the legal backgrounds of cardinals. Second, the book has a great amount of persons who are interesting characters by themselves. They are not just religious fanatics, but ambitious politicians who might be able to become the next leader of the Catholic Church. The main-character, cardinale Lomeli, is an elderly man who recently has some doubts about god and believing. I was very interested in his development and his thoughts, especially when he was confronted with the few people who are thought to become the next pope. Nevertheless he is resposible for the correct procedure of the election and is soon confronted with the general question: what if the possible nex Pope has commited a moral or criminal fault? Who is really directing the election, is it the holy spirit or the manipuation by people? Those questions and a lot of plot twists will give you as a reader the constant thrill you need.

There is only one thing I am really not happy with and that is the stupid plot twist in the end. This final twist is so ... well, Harris wants to be really surprising, but seriously, my feeling while I read it was more "oh yeah, of course, it has to be this, otherwise it would be so normal ...". There he wants to be too surprising. Nevertheless, I really lved the book and it is one of my this year's highlights which I absolutely recommened!