Take “The Da Vinci Code” and replace the art with a mysterious book and the 40-year-olds with 17-year-olds and you essentially have “The Book of Blood and Shadow,” secret religious societies and all. Not that that’s at all a bad thing. I liked “The Da Vinci Code” and I liked this book well enough too. There’s something to be said for books that take you traipsing across foreign countries while the characters search for clues to solve a centuries-old mystery in between dodging the secret societies out to stop them. These kinds of books are engrossing and exciting and informative all at the same time.When the night began, Nora had two best friends and a boyfriend she adored. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands. Chris was dead. Adriane couldn’t speak. And Max, Nora’s sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.
Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora’s determined to follow the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. But Chris’s murder is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.
And all those adjectives describe “The Book of Blood and Shadow” too. I thought it did a good job at setting up both the mystery and the history, and I loved that a big chunk of the story takes place in Prague. I also liked that the book managed to surprise me towards the end with which characters were involved in the conspiracy and how. I mean, there were definitely some people I could tell from the beginning weren’t who they said they were, but others—and one in particular—caught me off guard.
And yet . . . there were times when the book stretched my willing suspension of disbelief a little too far. I found myself thinking, “There’s no way someone could be that naïve/ oblivious/ lucky/ skilled/ etc.” too often to really get sucked into the book. There were just a few too many things I found implausible even within the realm of the story, and they distracted me.
Overall, though, if you’re in the mood for an adventure/mystery, this isn’t a bad place to start.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
This sounds really interesting. I have the worst time suspending my disbelief, but maybe I'll try it anyway.
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