Three young teenage girls across the globe all find themselves in the same position. They see a bright light while walking home at night, have no recollection of a lapse of time and now find themselves pregnant. They are all named Maria or Mary, all three are Catholic, and all are virgins. How can this be?

That's what Pope Celestine IV wants to know too. He is being pushed by a US Cardinal to declare Beautification and Canonization on these three young ladies, although they are not dead which is usually a pre-requisite. He calls his good friend and Professor of Religion at Harvard University, Cal Donovan, into action to interview these girls and give an unbiased opinion regarding the authenticity of their claim and the virginity question. This is not an easy task.

Cal has to fly to Manilla, Philippines to visit the first Maria, then on to a remote area outside Lima, Peru to visit the second. He sends a good friend, Harvard colleague and Irish native, Cardinal Joe Murphy, to Galway, Ireland to interview the Mary. Both men verify the girls' stories and view the doctors' reports verifying that each is indeed a virgin, yet very much pregnant. These findings only lead to more questions about whether this is a hoax or if God is sending a message to the world.

THE TREE MARYS by Glenn Cooper is a dynamic, inspirational thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, turning pages as fast as possible to see where the story heads next. It is fast-paced and engaging. All the twists and turns in the storyline definitely thicken the plot and reveal even more questions than the most important one. Is this a miracle, or is it science? Cal is a strong, intelligent and resilient character, supported by a plethora of other characters that help to move the plot along and bring even more intrigue. The Marias / Mary are typical teenage girls in the cultures in which they have grown up. They too have questions about what has happened to them. You will not be disappointed in this excellent book about the changes in the Catholic Church and Catholicism in general. Do not miss THE THREE MARYS!

Interesting premise. I liked the pope and the Mary Riordan, nothing is getting that girl down.. Quick read without too many dead bodies. Thanks Netgalley

This book was fun to read and engaging.
I love this thriller that mixes religious and the adventurous elements to create a book that you cannot put down.
Even though I knew Glenn Cooper this was his first book I read and I can he can surely create fascinating and entertaining plots.
The plot was interesting, fast paced and I was hooked since the first pages.
I liked the cast of characters and look forward to reading other books in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this ARC

Three Marys, the second religious conspiracy novel to feature Harvard Professor of archaeology and religion Cal Donovan, is a superb thriller, and it's clear the author, who has written many other books that take inspiration from well known Bible stories, is comfortable filling this niche area of the market. The story is well written, soundly plotted and is an exciting, intriguing read. It held my interest throughout. Cal is such an interesting and unusual character, and I liked him despite his appalling behaviour towards women. There is action aplenty for the duration, and the pacing is excellent. Although I am not religious I am always fascinated by books in which religion is heavily featured. This is a satisfying and entertaining novel. I look forward to the third instalment!

Many thanks to Severn House Publishers for an ARC.

This was an interesting read that certainly entertained though lacked the deeper examination of religious extremism and political division I was anticipating.

I was unfamiliar with Glenn Cooper's work and apparently there's another story in the adventure finding, womanizing Cal Donovan's bag of tricks but not having read that didn't affect my enjoyment of this story at all which is a very good sign.

While I found the story of three unrelated young, virginal women from around the world suddenly finding themselves pregnant with triplet messiahs fascinating, seriously its a really cool idea, Cooper was a little too interested in action film antics and less the societal implications and a close examination of exactly how something like this would realistically pan out for my taste. I found myself pretty damn confused once the Mary's disappear and are squirreled away from their friends and families as to why more people weren't desperately searching for them and why exactly everyone was so immediately willing to jump to "clearly these are messiahs" with barely any actual investigation into literally any alternative.

I also never quite understood why Cal was so necessary to the story or what made him so special. Sure he's a capable guy but it seems like really any half intelligent special ops type could have handled things. I also found his treatment of women pretty appalling. I think Cooper is going for a James Bond meets Indiana Jones thing but Cal isn't nearly charming, intelligent or even interesting enough for that. He just looks like a jerk when he callously sleeps around and abandons various women all while misleading is supposed girlfriend.

I also found the ending a bit lackluster. A huge idea like this better have an equally huge who, what, where, when, how, and most importantly why behind it and this just doesn't. The whole thing more or less amounts to "because I could" when the reader gets to the big reveal. Which might have been the point but was still disappointing.

All that aside I did enjoy this. It was fun and moved fast and was well written. Just not substantive or believable enough to recommend to anyone except as a very light beach read.

Do. Not. Put. This. Book. Down.

Three teenaged girls, all named Mary (including the Spanish-speaking ‘Maria’) were chosen as the new Mothers of God(s). Cal Donovan was called by his old friend, Cardinal da Silva, to meet the Pope in Rome. The Holy Father asked Cal if he had heard the global news reports about three pregnant girls, all called Mary, all virgins.

The Pope asked Cal to go to the Philippines and Peru to investigate the so-called miracles and his Irish-born friend, Father Joe Murphy, went to Ireland to see the other Mary, who lived with the benefit family. Two other Marias’ families were from the most deprived areas. The Pope wanted to know if the miracles were confirmed.

Then, all three girls were “kidnapped” by a strange Mexican woman and her thugs, who paid the families before Cal had the chances to confirm the assessments for the virginities. The girls met each other in a large and secret mansion, thousands of miles away from their homes. They were looked after by the midwife, Sue, who was training them to be the holy mothers in ante and post-natal periods.

Cardinal George Cole opposed the Pope’s liberal attitudes towards the LBGTQ people, abortive mothers and the other reformed canon laws within the Holy Catholic Church. He made a secret masterplan.

This book nearly put me off as the three Marys were “too human” – sin as opposed to the Blessed Virgin Mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Then, the truths about the virgins started to come out with the real stories of how they became impregnated. This was a very exciting thriller with lots of adventure activities. Thank you, Glenn Cooper!

Caesar XIII

Breakaway Reviewers received the copy of the book to review

This book is very well written. The plotting is perfect. There are no wasted words in this book. I like Cal Donovan in spite of his drinking and womanizing. He is an interesting character, engaging, level-headed and easy to like. This book has much action and excitement. This is my second Cal book and I very much look forward to the next one.

Cal Donovan was on his way to Iceland to meet up with his latest girlfriend for a little vacation when he receives a call from the Vatican. Being old friends with both Cardinal Da Silva who called him and the current Pope Celestine he learns that there are three girls who apparently are recipients of an Immaculate Conception. The Pope wants Cal to check it out. The girls are living in the Philippines (Maria Aquino), Peru (Maria Mollo) and Ireland (Mary Riordan). Arriving in the Philippines, Cal has the opportunity to interview both Maria and her best friend. She tells of seeing a blinding light and hearing a voice saying, “You have been chosen.” When he arrives in Peru, he learns that that Maria has disappeared. She was taken by a man and a woman who claimed that they represent the Vatican and gave the family a lot of money. He aunt tells him the same story as the other girl. Meanwhile, his good friend Father Joe Murphy who is a doctoral student goes home to Ireland and gets told the same story. All of the families are poor to very poor and living in slums.

One by one, all three of the girls are abducted. Then the murders begin. Father Joe is abducted in Ireland following a funeral service. The kidnappers have orders to shoot him. First though, they decide to hold him for ransom first. It all goes awry for the kidnappers when one gets shot and the other falls at the end of Cal’s boxing champ fists. The Gardai rescue Father Murphy and Cal delivers the beaten man to the police. The man begins to sing like the proverbial bird.

President Llewellyn Griffith meets with billionaire Randall Anning from Texas. During the meeting the President tells Anning that he got the three visas for the foreign girls to enter the United States. But Anning already knows this. The both admire Cardinal George Pole, an arch conservative, who just resigned his Cardinal’s office. The former Cardinal and Anning know more than they are telling.

A dangerous conspiracy is afoot.

Cal goes to meet Steve Gottlieb in a parking lot. He doesn’t know what sounded so urgent. Before he can speak to him Steve’s car blows up. Now Mrs. Gottlieb is terrified. Someone broke into her house. She calls Cal and wants to meet with him urgently.

With midwife Sue Gibney (with whom the girls have formed quite an attachment), the girls make their escape with their babies after Sue overhears a discussion between George Pole (Pope Peter of the New Catholic Church), and Randall Anning. He promised the girls that he would bring their families over to make them behave, but he now tells Pole he has no such plan. He further says he is going to take the babies and send the mothers back home. Sue is horrified and she and the girls make their escape.

It turns out that Gottlieb did business with Anning and was in a plane crasher three years earlier in which Steve and Anning were the only survivors. The reader gets some very interesting information during Steve and Anning’s discussions while they are hoping for rescue.

In a thrilling chase scene through Texas, the book comes to a satisfying conclusion.

This book is very well written. The plotting is perfect. There are no wasted words in this book. I like Cal Donovan in spite of his drinking and womanizing. He is an interesting character, engaging, level-headed and easy to like. I like to read about Popes, Rome and the Catholic Church. Growing up Catholic (but rather lapsed now), I take an immense interest in the subject. This book has much action and excitement. This is my second Cal book and I very much look forward to the next one.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this absolutely great book for me to read, enjoy and review.