The Third Secret: Summary and book reviews of The Third Secret by Steve Berry, plus links to an excerpt from The Third Secret and a biography of Steve Berry.
The Third Secret
by
Steve Berry
Hardcover: May 2005,
416 pages.
Paperback: Jan 2006,
400 pages.
Explosive in both its pace and its revelations,
The Third Secret is a
remarkable international thriller. Bestselling author Steve Berry tackles some
of the most controversial ideas of our time in a breakneck journey through the
history of the Church and the future of religion.
Fatima, Portugal, 1917: The Virgin Mary appears to three peasant children,
sharing with them three secrets, two of which are soon revealed to the world.
The third secret is sealed away in the Vatican, read only by popes, and not
disclosed until the year 2000. When revealed, its quizzical tone and
anticlimactic nature leave many faithful wondering if the Church has truly
unveiled all of the Virgin Mary's words–or if a message far more important has
been left in the shadows.
Vatican City, present day: Papal secretary Father Colin Michener is concerned
for the Pope. Night after restless night, Pope Clement XV enters the Vatican's Riserva, the special archive open only to popes, where the Church's most
clandestine and controversial documents are stored. Though unsure of the
details, Michener knows that the Pope's distress stems from the revelations of
Fatima.
Equally concerned, but not out of any sense of compassion, is Alberto
Cardinal Valendrea, the Vatican's Secretary of State,. Valendrea desperately
covets the papacy, having narrowly lost out to Clement at the last conclave. Now
the Pope's interest in Fatima threatens to uncover a shocking ancient truth that Valendrea has kept to himself for many years.
When Pope Clement sends Michener to the Romanian highlands, then to a Bosnian
holy site, in search of a priest–possibly one of the last people on Earth who
knows Mary's true message–a perilous set of events unfolds. Michener finds
himself embroiled in murder, suspicion, suicide, deceit, and his forbidden
passion for a beloved woman. In a desperate search for answers, he travels to
Pope Clement's birthplace in Germany, where he learns that the third secret of
Fatima may dictate the very fate of the Church–a fate now lying in Michener's
own hands.
Book Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Visions of the Virgin Mary, secret documents and politicking in the highest echelons of the Catholic Church - Berry (The Amber Room) combines combustive elements in this well-researched thriller.
Booklits - Ilene Cooper
Berry handles his thriller tradecraft skillfully....Characterizations, however, are not quite as strong....But the story is its own reward. The contents of the explosive prophecy prove suitably shocking, if unlikely, and the surprising ending keeps the tension intense until the last pages. Readers won't be disappointed.
Kirkus Reviews
Berry . . . serves tantalizingly true tidbits about the Church, and his measured, elegant prose is a solid fit with the story.
The New York Times
The links to religion in The Da Vinci Code and [Dan Brown's] previous, Angels and Demons, pale beside those in The Third Secret. Here's a lurid, churning thriller that centers on the election of a new pope . . . featuring ruthless behind-the-scenes ambition in Vatican City, and apparitions of the Virgin Mary. . . . Berry raises this genre's stakes.
Florida Times-Union
Seamlessly weaves history and fiction. The meticulous research . . . drives Berry's writing a notch higher. He has crafted an intense, fast-paced thriller that suceeds because of clever plotting and introspective characters . . . a compelling read, a thinking man's thriller that proves as informative as entertaining.
Katherine Neville, author of The Eight
Controversial, shocking, explosive . . . rich in a wealth of Vatican insider knowledge and two thousand years of Virgin Mary visitations. The Third Secret will change our view of the relation between religion and wisdom.
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The Third Secret
Florida Times-Union
Katherine Neville, author of The Eight
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