Bookburners

To best understand this work, one must read it with an unusual perspective: read it as though you are actually God. The story is being told to you, God, as it happens, and you, God, watch everything that happens, all the way to the end.

And do absolutely nothing. You, the omnipotent, omnipresent, all-knowing being these characters worship and adore, watch and do nothing.

As a reader, this will have one of two effects. It will turn the story into a comedy of errors, folly and cartoon violence, or the story will become another trip through the closet into an alternative Earth of magical powers and deluded cultists who battle them without any help whatsoeveer.

Evey event, every turning point I was compelled to ask: "Where is your God now?" And, since the book is about pretending to believe in a magical sky fairy and not about a real God at all, it becomes farce instead of drama.

Don't be dismayed. If you liked the episodic, movie screenplay-like writing of The DaVinci Code, you'll find much the same rollercoaster adventuire here. Just don't for a minute think that any of the characters actually believe the religious nonsense that is put in their mouths, and you can read it as a noir detective adventure story with a transparently thin patina of religiosity.

If you're not laughing loud and heartily at the utter preposterousness of this work, you're truly missing out.