Crypt Code

by Nicholas Kelly

A present day search for scrolls hidden in caves beneath a monastery almost eight hundred years ago is violently opposed by the Vatican. The conservative cardinals fear a missing book of the Bible, one that could overturn their authority. At best this would destabilize the Vatican’s financial empire - at worst it could plunge Europe into civil war. Most of us have heard of The Dead Sea scrolls, which concern early Judaism. Less well known are the Nag Hammadi scrolls, which concern early Christianity. These were found in a cave by shepherds in 1945. They were probably hidden around A.D. 367 when the Church ordered the destruction of all material deemed non-canonical. They include the Testimony of Phillip, which describes tension between Jesus and lead apostle Peter over the affection between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Part of the testimony is missing.In Crypt Code, three Americans help Magdalene, the superior of a liberal, partly lesbian order of Sisters in the search for the scrolls. Otto Weiss, a hired archaeologist and caver, is assisted by Michael James, a struggling journalist and his companion Rachel Este. The couple are on a working holiday in the Languedoc region of southern France, the site of a bloody crusade launched by Rome against Cathar heretics in the thirteenth century. She is pursuing a Ph.D in medieval French history. When she attends a seminar in the Languedoc at Beziers, Michael James tags along in the hope of freelancing some work on the wineries. But she manages to interest him in what may be a new manifestation of the ancient heresy.The Magdalene Sisters have seized control of their monastery from the German Abbott Egon Kreuz, who remains based in a castle a few hundred feet away. A temporary court order separates the two sides as each tries to infiltrate the other. Both know of the legend that some written material extremely damaging to the Vatican is hidden in the monastery.When the bishop in charge of the local search is asked if the scandal is about Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene, he “I’d settle for that in a heart beat.”The three Americans narrowly beat Kreuz, an accomplished exorcist, to an overgrown Cathar mortuary as they look for directions to the scrolls. The final clash takes place in the extended cavern connecting the two properties, where Kreuz has his dungeons and conducts his exorcisms. In this struggle, Kreuz does not shrink from employing the demons he controls.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lifeless Not badly written, but strangely lifeless in both characterization and plot.