Sean Chercover

OK. I show my age here, but this book is Amber revisited. Except that Roger Zelazny was so much better a writer.

I enjoyed Book 1 of this series, had reservations about Book 2 and I think Book 3 is preposterous. And it is like so many many others. The bad guys are really really evil and the good guys aren't very good. It's better for us all if the world ends.

Nonsense.

I received a review copy of "The Savior's Game: The Daniel Byrne Trilogy, Book 3" by Sean Chercover (Thomas & Mercer) through NetGalley.com.… (meer)

The Vatican objects to Father Byrne's findings about Tim Trinity and his prophesying so Father Byrne resigns the Devil's Advocate office and the priesthood in order to find out the truth. And so off we go to la la land where the bad guys are all powerful and the good guys are nearly all powerful and we are all trying to take over the earth. Daniel dumps his girlfriend from Book 1 and takes up with another and the world is going to end with a plague released by the bad guys so we will all turn into prophets.

Is all this necessary? Why couldn't we just have some interesting stories about Father Byrne from the DA's office?

The book is overwrought and Mr. Chercover should have talked to a few more infectious disease specialists about prophylactic dosages and antibiotic failure.

I'd give this a miss if I were you.

I received a review copy of "The Devil's Game: The Daniel Byrne Trilogy, Book 2" by Sean Chercover (Thomas & Mercer) through NetGalley.com.… (meer)

Daniel Byrne is a priest attached to the Office of the Devil's Advocate at the Vatican. That's the office that argues the negative case in the process of approving a new Catholic saint. (Christopher Hitchens most famously was a Devil's Advocate in the examination of Mother Theresa.)

Father Byrne is charged with investigating reports of miracles around the globe. It is completely unclear how he came to be in this job after only four years in the priesthood, if we are to believe the math in the book, but that's the story. Father Byrne is one of the Church's best investigators, cleverly tracking down false claims wherever they arise, but he keeps an open mind, always hoping against hope that some day he will find a miracle that will prove that God acts in our world.

Well, one day he finds one. The uncle who raised him, Tim Trinity, now the leader of a Pentecostal mega church, is delivering prophesies on TV. Father Byrne is sent to investigate and is knocked for a loop by the power of memory as he is thrown back into his childhood following his con artist uncle from revival to revival extracting cash from sinners. But when he meets his uncle he finds a changed man. One who really seems to be speaking prophesies. What is going on? How is he managing the con? Why would God's chosen predict horse races?

The mob, understandably upset at the prospect of gambling losses, blows up Tim's church and Daniel hits the road with uncle Tim in tow. But the mob isn't the most dangerous foe, the church doesn't want Tim's story told either.

I think the book would have been pretty good if Mr. Chercover had left it at that but he brings in another thread, two opposing secret organizations (think Masons or Templars), one seeming good, one seeming evil, to carry us into the trilogy. I think this thread drags the book down unnecessarily.

I received a review copy of "The Trinity Game: The Daniel Byrne Trilogy, Book 1" by Sean Chercover (Thomas & Mercer) through NetGalley.com.… (meer)