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List Price: $16.97 | | Publisher: Great Reads Books
Salesrank: 1187306
Released: September 24, 2008 |
| Our Price: $15.95 |
| Used Price: $15.95 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
In this sequel to the acclaimed thriller, THE JESUS THIEF, police find an unknown man near death, and evidence of a recent birth, at a crime scene in Central Park. Days later a celebrated scientist, Felix Rossi, holds a press conference at the prestigious University Club in New York. He announces to a startled world that the rumors about him are true. Felix did produce a human clone from DNA he stole from the Shroud of Turin. His virginal housemaid, Maggie, gave birth to the child. Ten years later, Maggie and Jess are living blissfully on Italy's Lake Maggiore in the little yellow villa that is their home, having eluded the world’s pursuit. Maggie believes the man she loves died while saving Jess's life. Did he? If not, will he remember her and help her or give his allegiance to the New York billionaire with Vatican ties who wants Jess destroyed? Soon everyone must face the truth. Is Jess, her child, only a deeply loving but ordinary boy, or a reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, bringing a new message to the world?
The Secret Madonna Reviews:
a series to read 
2009-02-08 - Fiction or non-fiction? Cloning of someone from dried blood is almost possible with the technology available today. The book is second in a series and is fiction. The story is about cloning Jesus using dried blood stolen from the Shroud of Turin.
Lankford has researched well. The description of the landscapes and architectures of Italy are real. The sexual desires, religion, power and the mystery of how a human mind makes decisions is used throughout the book, but is well placed and not overdone to the point of becoming the theme of the book.
You never know how or when the character will change. The doctor, who saves the life of the private eye, commits murder without hesitation. The powerful rich man, who will do anything to retain power, realizes he cannot cheat fate. The private eye who worked for the power player becomes a protectorate of the young virgin, only to be seriously wounded, which creates a personality change to the worst. He then must return from a killer personality to the protectorate again in time to save the young Jesus. The virgin sacrifices her future to carry and then care for the cloned Jesus.
The book is excellent reading and may be closer to real life than fiction. To get full enjoyment of this book, you should read the first book "the Jesus Thief" by J R Lankford.
Solid reading, recommended
2009-01-08 - The Holy bloodline, a concept explored by the hit book 'The DaVinci Code.' - But what of Christ's modern day descendants? "The Secret Madonna" follows the theoretical search for this distant great grandson of Jesus. A tyrannical millionaire is out for hunting down this boy for his own gain, and is abusing all of his power to do so. This desire leads to a fast paced and riveting tale elaborating on the concept that has come to modern light. "The Secret Madonna" is solid reading, recommended.
A great, insightful read
2008-12-16 - The Secret Madonna picks up, story-wise, where The Jesus Thief left off, though it fast-forwards almost immediately ten years into the future. The Jesus clone who was born at the end of The Jesus Thief is now a young boy, and the story is mostly about him, and how he affects those around him. So is this boy really Jesus, come again? If he wasn't, that was bound to be a let-down. If he *was* Jesus all over again, then what have we here- second coming, and end of the world? Seemed suspiciously like the author had got into her sequel without knowing how to handle a messy situation.
Turns out the author had more than just a great premise for a book and a sequel. A scientist who steals genetic material from the Shroud of Turin was an awesome enough premise for the first book, more than enough to carry it through. But the sequel needed more, and it delivered, though this wasn't immediately apparent to me upon finishing The Secret Madonna. In fact, upon finishing this sequel, I was left with the uncomfortable feeling that either I'd missed something, or that the author had. It was me, after all.
The boy clone himself reveals, mid-way through the book, exactly why he came to be on this earth; and this revelation shows a good deal of insight on the author's part, and additionally, not just an assimilation of the messages of multiple religions, but more importantly, an understanding of how these seemingly conflicting messages reconcile with each other. If this boy *was* Jesus, (and The Secret Madonna leaves little doubt that he was), then he had a wonderful, moving reason for coming over, besides his second coming.
Turns out the author had the philosophy of her novel and sequel worked out well in advance. And this philosophy seems very much in line with a God who has not just affection and concern for His creation, but respect and reverence. Seems strange to hear of reverence for His creation on God's behalf, hmm? Respect, I believe, is never a one-way street, not even with God. And this happens to be the conception of God as enshrined in Hinduism- a God who respects the choices that His children make, even when He knows it would bring them harm. Not His style to forcibly enforce His will- no sir, He'd rather win them over, one at a time, with love. And when the boy clone in The Secret Madonna reveals to his biological mother his reason for coming down to her (and for doing some of the other things he did), it perfectly wrapped up, for me at least (though it took me some subsequent thought to figure this out), the philosophy of this book. That was the best part of the book for me.
The Secret Madonna didn't seem as fast-paced as The Jesus Thief, but "fast-paced" is a relative term here- The Secret Madonna does deliver a decent dose of thrills. And to those who still miss the frenetic pace of The Jesus Thief, The Secret Madonna certainly makes up in other ways, most prominently through the human interactions in the novel, and with the understanding, or at least the ample evidence of invested thought on the subject, that it displays with regard to ancient messages. Not to mention the vivid descriptions of sunny Italy.
If you want a good, fast-paced intelligent thriller, read The Jesus Thief. If you're looking for a more thoughtful, insightful sequel to wrap up the experience, The Secret Madonna is just what you need. There are many ways to the one God, and there is hope for all, regardless of religion. Thank you, The Secret Madonna, for reinforcing this in an entertaining way.
A page-turner!
2008-12-03 - Once in awhile, I come across a book that I can't put aside. When I sat down and opened The Secret Madonna, I intended to read one or two chapters at a time, but found myself turning page after page until the very end. Only rarely do I find a story so compelling that my own world falls away while I find myself transported to realistic settings such as this. From the sophistication of New York city to a picturesque Italian villa, I felt like I was there. And speaking of realistic, each character came alive, from the sweetly spiritual Jess to the sinister Theomund Brown. As with all good reads, there are memorable life lessons interwoven here too, along with questions about spirituality and morality. Settle down with a cup of tea and make sure your chair is comfy - you'll be reading for awhile!
A striking vision
2008-11-28 - The Secret Madonna ran side by side with me as I read its pages within the charged dimension of deepening awareness. This thriller brought to me the vision of a young man who contained within himself a bold, new message for this brave, evolving world of ours.
