The Death of a Pope

With the coming of summer, I was excited to get my copy of "The Death of a Pope" by Piers Paul Read. I am not a big fiction reader, but I do like a good story, and I was hoping that this book would deliver. In some ways it did, but often like a candy bar: enjoyable to consume and initially fills you up, but ultimately not complete satisfying.

What did I like? "Death of a Pope" had many interesting and believable characters - the first criteria of good fiction. No character was a caricature, and the reader could identify with each character easily. Also, the narrative was gripping; right from the beginning I was interested in the story and had a hard time putting the book down. The plot, while fantastic, never fell into unbelievable territory.

But what didn't I like? My first criticism is minor: for some reason Mr. Read decided to write the whole book in the present tense. This might seem inconsequential, but I found that every time I picked up the book it was an adjustment to get used to the present tense which then became distracting. My main criticism, however, is simply that the book was too short. This could have been a great 400-500 page novel; instead it was a good 200 page story. It feels like Mr. Read had a deadline to get the book finished and just turned in what he had completed at that time. He could have really gone more in-depth into the movitations and backstories of the characters and could have developed the plot in much more detail (à la Tom Clancy). Instead, when I finished the book I was left with a definite "that's it?" feeling.

I would recommend this book to others, but with the caveat that it is probably more worthwhile to get it from the library or wait for the (cheaper) paperback version of the book.

You can purchase this title here.