Book Review - The Third Secret by Michael Parker
Category Book Review Michael Parker The Third Secret
I received a pretty good recreational read the other day in the mail... The Third Secret by Michael Parker. It had a bit of everything... intrigue, conspiracy, buried treasure, and a number of people all after a single item, but most all for different reasons.
There are two driving forces in the story. One is the third secret of Fatima from the Catholic Church. During World War II, it was thought that perhaps the German soldiers might overrun the Vatican and loot a number of treasures. A priest, acting on his own, decided to take the unrevealed third secret document, substitute a fake document, and send the real document out of country for safekeeping. The other force is a shipment of Vatican gold being sent out for the same reason. It just so happens that the document is also with the gold. While the Italians are transporting the gold shipment, it's attacked by an Allied patrol in the middle of the desert. They decide to hide the shipment in an unmarked cave until they can figure out how to divvy up the spoils. Of course, human greed takes over, a gun fight ensues, and only one(?) person is left alive that knows about the hiding spot. The rest of the story revolves around his plans to head back, recover the gold for himself, and potentially figure out exactly what that strange piece of paper was that was also with the gold. The main problem is that he's not the only one who gets wind of the recovery, and there are some very powerful people who are willing to do just about anything to make sure they are the winners in the search.
I've grown a bit tired of the Catholic conspiracy genre, as it's been done over and over. But in this case, the story line didn't seem to go overboard on the topic. There were enough competing interests so that the story stayed fresh. And even when I thought most everything was settled and I knew who was on what side, I found out I didn't. The Third Secret was an entertaining novel, and one that I'm glad I had the chance to read.
I received a pretty good recreational read the other day in the mail... The Third Secret by Michael Parker. It had a bit of everything... intrigue, conspiracy, buried treasure, and a number of people all after a single item, but most all for different reasons.
There are two driving forces in the story. One is the third secret of Fatima from the Catholic Church. During World War II, it was thought that perhaps the German soldiers might overrun the Vatican and loot a number of treasures. A priest, acting on his own, decided to take the unrevealed third secret document, substitute a fake document, and send the real document out of country for safekeeping. The other force is a shipment of Vatican gold being sent out for the same reason. It just so happens that the document is also with the gold. While the Italians are transporting the gold shipment, it's attacked by an Allied patrol in the middle of the desert. They decide to hide the shipment in an unmarked cave until they can figure out how to divvy up the spoils. Of course, human greed takes over, a gun fight ensues, and only one(?) person is left alive that knows about the hiding spot. The rest of the story revolves around his plans to head back, recover the gold for himself, and potentially figure out exactly what that strange piece of paper was that was also with the gold. The main problem is that he's not the only one who gets wind of the recovery, and there are some very powerful people who are willing to do just about anything to make sure they are the winners in the search.
I've grown a bit tired of the Catholic conspiracy genre, as it's been done over and over. But in this case, the story line didn't seem to go overboard on the topic. There were enough competing interests so that the story stayed fresh. And even when I thought most everything was settled and I knew who was on what side, I found out I didn't. The Third Secret was an entertaining novel, and one that I'm glad I had the chance to read.
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