I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, the plot was interesting enough but I just couldn't get into the story.

Any Dan Brown fan will be delighted by this book! Full of action with several moments of "what??", The Pilgrim conspiracy is an excellent book to read in 2 days... as you can't put it down once you start.

When I came to read this book, Jeroen Windmeijer was not a name that was known to me. All I know of him now is that he worked for many years as a teacher of Religious Studies at a secondary school in Leiden, in The Netherlands, where he lives. It seems that it is only recently that he has given up teaching to become a full-time novelist. I also know, however, that he is more than capable of producing an engaging and satisfyingly gripping mystery novel.

“The Pilgrim Conspiracy” is the third in a trilogy of novels set in Leiden and tells a story very much in the style of Dan Brown. “St Paul’s Labyrinth” and “The Confessions of Petrus” complete the trilogy. “St Paul’s Labyrinth”, the second book in the trilogy, has also been published by HarperCollins, in translation from the Dutch, but I do not believe that “The Confessions of Petrus” is available in an English translation as yet. In any event, “The Pilgrim Conspiracy” reads well as a stand-alone novel.

Central to the novel is the fact that several of the Mayflower pilgrims escaped England in the seventeenth century and settled for over a decade in Leiden before continuing their journey to America. Add to that the discovery of a previously unknown manuscript written by one of the Pilgrims themselves and weave the two together with the secret world of freemasonry and you have the beginnings of a complex and satisfying mystery.

The author uses the unusual device of including a real-life person in his novel. Piet van Vliet, the author of a booklet on the Pilgrims in Leiden, is the discoverer of the manuscript in the novel. In 2018 an article appeared in a local newspaper in which van Vliet and Windmeijer announce the discovery of the manuscript complete with a photograph of them holding the document. They also announce that a lecture on the manuscript is to be held in a few days’ time on 1st April. A week later the newspaper reports that nearly a hundred people were taken in by the spoof article. Clearly Mr Windmeijer has an eye for publicity.

The novel begins at an open evening of the Loge Ishtar, a Masonic Lodge in Leiden. Two of the attendees are Peter de Haan, the protagonist of the two earlier novels, and his partner, Fay Spežamore. Peter is a lecturer in Archaeology and History at Leiden University while Fay is a lecturer in Greek and Latin Language and Culture at the University and the Curator of Roman and Etruscan Art at the National Museum of Antiquities. Fay is also a member of the Loge Ishtar. The visitors are shown the lodge room of the Masonic Temple where the Worshipful Master, Coen Zoutman, gives a presentation on the nature and purpose of freemasonry before they move down to the function room for a drinks reception.

Before leaving, Peter and Fay return to the lodge room to say their goodbyes to Coen Zoutman and it is there that they find the body of the Worshipful Master. He has been murdered and his body mutilated after death. The death is reported to the police immediately by Peter and Fay and we are soon introduced to two further characters: Detective Chief Inspector Willem Rijsbergen and his junior partner Detective Sergeant Van de Kooij. From this point the novel begins to feel something like a police procedural crime story with the two detectives tracking down and interviewing those that attended the open evening. But it is not long before the story moves overseas, and a tale of conspiracy and intrigue unfolds around the world with Peter De Haan at its centre.

Interspersed in the story are sections of the newly discovered manuscript telling the story of the Pilgrims leaving England and settling in Leiden before some of them uproot themselves again and make the trip to America. Slowly as the plot progresses the reader sees how the events of four hundred years ago are still exerting their influence over the present day.

This novel is a substantial and well plotted piece of work. The characters are engaging and well defined. The relationships between them are well worked and believable. The tension builds slowly at first as the mystery and intrigue are developed and picks up pace nicely as we move towards the story’s denouement. The comparison with Dan Brown is perhaps unfair as Windmeijer’s story is grounded in a more detailed and better researched understanding of the historical and philosophical strands that this novel is woven from.

I would like to express my thanks to Net Galley and HarperCollins for making a free download of this book available to me.

I stopped reading books set in present/modern day as they don’t pull me into the story as much anymore. What got me interested in this story were the Freemasons and the Pilgrim Fathers living in Leiden. And that’s why I decided to give this book a chance, hoping that part of it would be set in early 17th century. However, the “Fragments” set between 1609-1620, when pilgrims are making their way from England through Amsterdam to Leiden before some sailing for America, are short and take a small part in this story.

The present day story brings a lot of historical facts, but they are stated. And that’s the problem for me with present day stories describing past. I like stories set back in time and presented in action. I love the story presented in the “Fragments.” It transported me to a different time period, when some people believed in religious freedom, thus being on a move from one place to another in hope of finding a place to freely practice their believes. I love being transported to a time period that reminds us how much we take for granted. The present day story doesn’t do it for me.

This is based on personal preferences. Thus, I highly recommend reading other reviews.

It was interesting but I would have liked some more focus on the investigation of the murders.
It is definitely a book I recommend if you like history though.

This was a crazy book! I loved it. The twists and turns non of which I saw coming. This is a must read for anyone who loves a good thriller or just loves conspiracies.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into crime/thriller books and even psychological thrillers too so I am extremely pleased and grateful to them for opening up my mind to something totally different.

Even it required a lot of suspension of belief I had a lot of fun reading this book.
It's a engrossing and entertaining story, well plotted and with a great cast of characters.
I liked the characters and the plot that kept me hooked.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A well written mystery plot that leaves you wondering all the way through. I enjoyed the plot and traveling around the world with the story. The characters were believable. The book will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Pilgrim Conspiracy promises a tale in the style of Dan Brown, and it delivers. Connecting Freemasonry with the Pilgrim trek from England to Leiden and eventually to the New World by way of England, this is an erudite novelisation inspired by a real-life discovery of a fantastic manuscript.
There is a profound mystery, spanning time and enticing a series of disparate characters. There's a gradual reveal of the context and the unifying thread and subtle subplots amongst the investigating detectives, and a real-world commemoration of the Pilgrim Odyssey set for 2020.
It's a clever concept. In real-world 2017, linguist Piet van Vliet discovered the writings of a Leiden puritan. The discovery in itself is of great scholarly interest. The decision to collaborate with a novelist to spin a suspenseful tale around the artefact takes academic exploration to a new level. The concept is excellent.
The tale woven is rich and well researched. The structure into three specific episodes also contributed to the readability of the novel. It's not a short tale, and breaking it into three makes it more digestible. By doing this author maintained my engagement throughout, and I wanted to read on.
As a note, I am unsure as to whether the author translated it into English or someone else was responsible for this. The narrative is slightly disjointed, and I wondered whether this emerged from the transition. Often the speech seems somewhat overly formal in English and when our hero Peter den Haas lectures he speaks differently to the character elsewhere and I was led to wonder if this was a more natural situation for the author.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the tale. The depth of research is well evident and well constructed. The cast of characters is well devised, although, in deployment, I was left troubled. Overall I have few bones to pick and I apologise in advance if some of this would have been revealed or substantiated in his earlier novel - although I was led to believe that they were too closely related.
The characters, although engaging in concept, seem somewhat wooden. There's a strange relationship quadrangle between Peter as the main protagonist, his partner Fay, his married colleagues Mark and Judith. It's hinted at but not overly explored, and one is left wondering why it is even raised. The relationship between Peter and his partner falls apart under suggested but seemingly unresolved circumstances. They reconcile, and this seems unsatisfying as we don't come to understand what had really caused the rift and how it was so easily overcome at the end.
The villain of the piece seems a little bit bigger than life. Troubled, but seemingly omnipresent, and always with a ready trick to explain his survival and awareness.
The overall pace as well - although satisfying in reading - takes a long time leading up to the action. The tale is drawn out and the extensive context developed slowly (possible overly-developed), but the resolution seems to come at an unsatisfyingly fast pace.
In the end, I am not sure that I feel that the outcome reflects the buildup of revealing the fragments from the discovered manuscript, or the mysterious secret passed from generation to generation.
However, unlike a Dan Brown novel, this one operates on a far more erudite level and demands the reader be far more thoughtful and demands a degree of concentration. It is a solid piece of work and one that will be enjoyed by those looking for a novel in this conspiracy vein.

The Pilgrim Conspiracy is an interesting, if a bit perplexing, read. Like many historical mysteries, this one is predicated upon the discovery of a mysterious new manuscript—in this case by one of the original Pilgrims during their sojourn in Leiden that preceded the journey to the "New World," one who chose to remain behind when that journey was undertaken. The book opens with a foreword claiming that historian Piet Van Vliet (a real person) discovered this manuscript. Excerpts from the manuscript appear at throughout the book. And the book ends with an afterword by Van Vliet discussing how much fun it was to have a legitimate academic find published via a work of fiction.

It took a bit of digging—since The Pilgrim Conspiracy hasn't been released yet, so there aren't many reviews available—to figure out whether such a manuscript exists or not. It doesn't. The author, Jeroen Windmeijer, and Van Vliet actually staged a discovery of the manuscript, including photos to the press, but these were part of publicity for the work of fiction, not an actual discovery. The best source I've found on this question is https://www.tamurajones.net/ThePilgrimFathersConspiracy.xhtml

That question answered, I can say a bit more about The Pilgrim Conspiracy as a work of fiction. Aside from the non-existent manuscript, the book posits an early connection between the Pilgrims and the Freemasons, one that spans several continents. The book opens with the murder of a Leiden Freemason during an "open house" at his lodge. More deaths, which may or may not be related, ensue.

I found The Pilgrim Conspiracy to be slow reading. For the first two thirds of the book, I had to push myself to keep reading; when the denouement was at hand, the pace picked up considerably. I found the central character, historian Peter de Haan rather off-putting, a bit cavalier about his primary relationship and drifting into a series of fantasies about an affair with a female colleague who was his grad student years ago. He's a man who would be an interesting conversationalist, but not one who would impel the building of a real friendship.

All that said, I did find myself caught up in the last six or eight chapters of The Pilgrim Conspiracy. This is a book for a patient reader with a taste for historical detail. If you fit that description, you will ultimately find The Pilgrim Conspiracy to a rewarding read.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own.