I read two other books by this author and found them quite entertaining even if there's always plenty of alternate history.
This one starts with a bang and loses steams when it starts to delve into religious theories. Please note that the early Christianity is base on text fragments and hypothesis. There's a reference to the "Source" in the first pages and, assuming it's the "Q source" it's a hypothesis.
That said it could have been quite enjoyable, and the part about Leyden are interesting, but too much religious theories and not enough action.
There's potential but it didn't work for me
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Hi

I have been unable to read St Peter"s Mystery as the book was removed from my mobile even though I have

another two weeks to read it.

I am therefore unable to read and review it. What a pity!!!!!

.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperCollins #Onemorechapter publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of the English version of this book #Stpetersmystery which is due for publication on 16 September.

The synopsis of the book outlines the main plot of the story that through an archeological dig a discovery is made which could shake the foundations of the Christian faith.

The story line follows a University professor and his student who accompanies him to the site, trying to unravel the secrets of the object while being pursued by others who want to keep it hidden.

Portrayed as similar to Dan Brown’s The Davinci Code, there are similar elements of research, mystery and suspense present however, this story has a much greater focus on the Jewish and Christian religion. It dives into detailed discussion of the texts of the bible and presents a story of historical discussions and letters between the disciples Peter and Judas.

The story was enjoyable however, personally for me, there was a little too much focus on the history of the region where the book is set that I am not familiar with. For those who are not knowledgeable on Jewish or Christian religion or it’s history the detail in these sections may also be slightly too much.

I did not feel I got an end to the story. There was no great revelation, it seemed as though everything returned to how it had been prior to the find. I’m not sure if that is because there is to be a follow on book however I felt as if nothing had been achieved except for the main characters gaining knowledge that they then didn’t do anything with.

I wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't relate to the characters and the story was a bit too disjointed. It started out interesting, with an attack at an archeological dig. An artifact becomes the focus of several people and the reason they are pursued with deadly intent, This sounds more tension building than it was, in part because the modern day story was broken up with numerous chapters purported to be from Jesus Christ's disciples. These chapters suggested an entirely different religious message than the one known today. I'm not enough of a scholar to know if any of these far-flung ideas exist in the world of academics or were merely a writer creating a fictional account of people known to the world from their existence in the Bible.These ideas became tedious in their depth of presentation, and, since I was expecting a mystery/adventure book, not a treatise on religion, I lost interest in them fairly quickly.
There was also a loosely developed love story between the two characters although there was almost no buildup and very little interaction that showed a growing attraction between them. It may be that again, the disjointed nature of the book itself kept me from following the love story with any real interest.

If a reader is interested in an alternative Judeo - Christian development than the one offered in the modern day biblical texts, this book might hold interest for them. Others may find the alternative religious points of view and "facts" as presented in the supposed writings between the two Apostles too off-putting to enjoy the book. ai would like to thank Harper Collins, UK