Book Review: A Counterfeit Priest by Paul Cross

A Counterfeit Priest
by Paul Cross 
Digital ebook; 374 pages


Kudos to Paul Cross for a wonderfully written tale of deception, trust, truth and action-packed suspense. The truth is, I consider this unbelievable book an incredibly believable story.

There were two things I realized after reading Paul Cross's novel:

First, I wasn't reading a Dan Brown book, that much is true. Paul Cross, the author of A Counterfeit Priest is a very effective storyteller with a more realistic approach. He captivated my interest right from the start, where Henry Hawkins was seen contemplating about his real purpose in Vatican. He knew, deep within the fortress-like walls of St. Peter's Square, were the answers to his never-ending questions about the Catholic Church.

Secondly, I realized, I was actually reading a fiction. All along, I thought it was a true-to-life blow-by-blow account of what's happening in and out of Vatican, particularly on how priests decide who to choose as the next pope. Reality and fiction are merged into this robust storyline about a Pontifical Conclave, and the politics behind the holy assembly. There is a ring of genuineness among the characters, which left me dumbfounded when I reached the end.

A Counterfeit Priest is really a good suspense that kept me interested all the way through. My advice to those who are interested in reading as suspenseful as Henry Hawkin's life, "do not pass this one up."

Book Blurb:

Blaming the Catholic Church for the death of his wife, filmmaker Henry Hawkins is determined to make an expose revealing the Church's responsibility. Not divulging the true intentions of his documentary, Henry's quest leads him to Rome where he's promised access to the Vatican by its highest ranking cardinal, Silvio Contini, the Secretary of State of Vatican City. 


After arriving in the Eternal City, Cardinal Contini reneges on his agreement to meet with Henry. Refusing to have his plan compromised, Henry devises a bold scheme to get behind the impregnable walls of the Vatican to confront Contini. The sudden death of the pope, and a quirk of fate, throw Henry into a whirlwind when he is isolated in the inner sanctum of the papal conclave where he covertly records the secret election process, and clandestinely films Contini's unscrupulous method of eliminating papal candidates for his own agenda.  

Henry's obsession to avenge his wife's death is put in jeopardy when his tapes are stolen and he discovers that if Contini is elected pope he would alter sacred Church doctrine thereby destroying the meaning of his wife's death, and all that she believed in. To prevent this, Henry must reclaim his tapes, while ultimately deciding whether to smuggle them out of the conclave, and use the information they reveal to make his documentary, or exploit them to the voting cardinals to stop Contini's election, and uphold the dignity of his wife's death.

------ About the Author: -------

PAUL CROSS is an award-winning screenwriter, actor, director and producer with many feature films including Operation Terror, and Sever Visibility and television movies such as Studs Lonigan and Amazons to his credits. He is also the writer/director/producer of the award-winning documentaries, Follow The Leader and West End Story. His novel A Counterfeit Priest is the basis for his screenplay by the same title. Paul lives in Hollywood, California.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189237/