Title: Too Clever by Half
Product review: This very popular book uses alternative ideas of the history of Christianity as the basis for the plot. The author has taken a large number of crackpot ideas about the history of Christianity and European history in general and stitched them together to produce a conventional thriller. In general, all these ideas center around the common theme of a hidden or secret history of Christianity suppressed by the Church. The plot elements are cleverly integrated using a series of puzzles. The overall story is cast as a kind of Grail legend with virtuous knight (a la Parsifal) and an evil sorcerer type (a la Klingsor). The quality of writing, however, is poor. The characters are schematic and exist only as devices to move from one gimmick to another. The action of the plot per se is rather silly. Not recommended, even for light reading.
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