BOOK REVIEW: Blood of The Lamb: A Novel of Secrets by Sam Cabot

Blood of The Lamb synopsis from GoodReads:

While in Rome, American Jesuit priest Thomas Kelly is called upon to reclaim a centuries-old document stolen from the Vatican. An enigmatic letter leads him to the work of a 19th century poet, where Thomas discovers cryptic messages that might lead to the missing manuscript. His search is unexpectedly entwined with that of Italian art historian Livia Pietro, who tells him that destructive forces are threatening to expose the document’s contents. As they’re relentlessly chased through the heart of Rome by mysterious men who quickly demonstrate they would cross any line to obtain the document for themselves, it becomes clear to Livia and Thomas that the pages hold a deep, devastating, long-buried truth. Livia, though, has a secret of her own: she and her People are vampires. But all this pales in light of the Secret that Thomas and Livia discover together—a revelation more stunning than either could have imagined.

 My first impression was wow, this is like The Da Vinci Code and it is something I could definitely get into. And then the twist that I did not anticipate was that there were vampires involved! So Da Vinci Code meets Twilight. And not in the whole vampire meets werewolf meets girl, but more so if The Volatri had their own book. Thomas Kelly and Livia Pietro are brought together to search for a missing document called The Concordant. This document binds the two worlds together, so naturally if it is missing the world could go a little crazy.

 Blood of The Lamb was a good read; it took you on a journey through both religious and supernatural venues.  Cabot’s writing is free flowing and easy to get swept up in the mystery aspect of the book. I just wanted to keep reading.

The one thing I didn’t like about it was some of the characters. The main characters were great and I felt like Cabot did a fine job describing them- making you sympathetic with exactly how they are dealing with the life they are give:, priest or vampire. However I found that some of the characters just weren’t needed such as the police officer.  I didn’t really care that he was drinking coffee, eating bread and fromaggio (which is another point.  You are writing it in English; you don’t need to throw random Italian words in there).

 I loved the revelation at the end of the book, which of course I won’t share due to spoilers. But wow. From the upheaval that the Da Vinci Code had (sorry I keep referring back to it) I can see this book causing some of the same. It may seem very controversial to some, so I warn you not to read it if you are strongly religious.

 Also, Sam Cabot is a pseudonym for two other authors, S.J Rozan and Carlos Dewis. I think this is pretty cool as they each offered different expertise to the novel. I have not read any of their individual books, so I am curious to maybe try them out now.

Another netgalley read that I was fully impressed with. Expected to come out on August 6th, 2013 and I recommend you add this to your book shelf. 3.75-4 stars