The next
adventure for Jack and his crew of historical heroes has a lot of different
paths but ultimately it boils down to a hunt for a Gospel written by none other
than Jesus Christ. The trip takes them all around the world from ancient Rome,
to California in search of where it’s been kept. As always with these things
though, there are arbitrary dickheads who want to stand in the way of history
but this time it’s not for money, but more just to keep the Gospel hidden –
because there can be no change to religion.
The book
itself is well written but goes a little further with the ongoing dialogue
sections that explain the history behind everything that happens. There are a
lot more flashbacks in this one which makes me think there isn’t enough modern-day
information to keep the story going and we keep needing to dip back into the
past to have more explained to us. Again, there is nothing majorly wrong with
this, but I did feel like it broke the flow of the story as it always seemed to
happen just when the modern-day parts were building up momentum.
Another
criticism is that, just like in the last books, Jack’s power to recall
knowledge at a moment’s notice to serve the story has gotten even stronger and
this takes away a lot from the characters. I see that it serves the purpose of driving
the story forward, but it feels too easy as it’s always at the exact moment the
information is needed.
I found it a
lot harder to keep on reading this one, probably because the continual dialogue
explanations slowed down the story a lot more than in previous books. That
said, there is a very good, and also historically plausible, story in the
background here and it’s very enjoyable to see it unfold over the 542-page
extravaganza.
There’s not
really a lot else to say to be honest. The stories are written in a consistent
and coherent way and stick to an established pattern. While I’ve enjoyed these
first three books, it’s time for a break and to read something new, however,
I’m sure that the next few books will follow the same blueprint when I do go
back to them.
The Last Gospel by David Gibbins was
published by Headline Publishing Group in 2008. RRP £8.99 (Paperback)
