Conclave

Robert Harris' Conclave is a bit of a chameleon, its not necessarily what you expect when you pickup the book from the bookstore or library - at least it was not to me, especially because Robert Harris is being presented as one of the thriller authors of our time etc. 

This is  not at all to his or his book "conclave" discredit, its just that it may set some expectations that may not be fulfilled. I started to read this book with the expectation of a thriller, well it all depends on what each one us defines as a thriller, but if I tell you that this book is all about cardinals holding a conclave to elect a new pope in the Vatican - and thats pretty much it, I guess I will discourage lots of readers - unfairly!! Unfairly because this is a very well written story, the research done is exceptionally good and the result is definitely one of the best books I have read for a very long time - despite it is only about a bunch cardinals in gigantic segregated holy place called the Vatican... which would normally not catch my interest, but this story made me love the main characters, the secrecy and the close companionship between the men... and one or two women.. Given the context of the story one would need some surprises and cliff hangers to keep the interest. Robert Harris is not necessarily such a big cliff hanger master, but he does not need to because his story telling is an all cliff hanger story telling with just the right amount of surprises all the way till the last page... so, great book, great reading!!