Grail

by Philip Michaels

The search for the Holy Grail has ended. For nearly 2000 years since the blood of the crucified Christ was collected in it, the most sacred relic of Christendom was hidden from the world. Sealed in a Vatican vault, it was kept secret even from the popes. Now it has been found, send to a Boston museum for scientific testing... And the end of mankind has begun. A power older than human faith shall now inherit the earth!

Genres: Horror, Fiction

330 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

Reviews

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

For 300 years, the Fisher Kings have kept the Holy Grail on consecrated ground in the Vatican’s Museum of Pagan Antiquities. But now a traitor on the inside snorts some cocaine off a smoked glass dining room table through a McDonald’s straw and tips off the ancient enemies of the Roman Catholic Church: Demons. And not just any demons, but an actual race of demons known as Demonkind who have existed in hiding since the dawn of time. If Mankind are God’s children, Demonkind are Satan’s—and they prove it by slicing up co-eds in front of shocked priests just to show what kind of edgelords they are. Their species have withered and their women have all died so now the demons want to “plant their seed” in human women, not all of whom will survive the “planting”. With tough cops on the case named Donnellan (who murdered the IRA agents who killed his family, so you know he’s hard), and slimy, demon-coddling international antique dealers named Percival Leech, the Fisher Kings deliver the kind of international jet set cult caper that is perfect for readers of Robert Ludlum, Dan Brown, or European Travel & Life. If you’ve ever wanted to see Paris in the Springtime while getting plowed by a Demon, then Grail is for you.

[Taylor - Muse Ignited Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would love to give this book 3 stars, it had fairly good potential but then at the end just fell apart...almost as if the author spent six months writing the first 3/4 of the book and then only a week for the last quarter. It’s a little bit DaVinci Code (secret societies, Fisher Kings, the Holy Grail) with a dash of Predator thrown in there....or like “The Relic” (museums and monsters).

The author did a decent build up with all the characters then sped up so quickly through the last portion they all ended up flattened like bugs against a windscreen....there was just too much rushing of things (ie characters that have spent like 2 hours together in the story are suddenly in love and seem to know each other on an equivalent of weeks worth of dating?), then no follow up/denouement on some characters who were given whole sections early on, and then a glaring error:
SPOILER ALERT 🚨:

with a twist reveal at the end, the identity of the mysterious “stranger” whom another character meets with twice saying its the only time he’s ever seen this stranger - and the surprise is: it turns out the evil and mysterious stranger is the guy who works for him and is obviously in contact with him every day?! I get making “the kind guy at work” turn out to be the secret baddie (even though we saw it coming a mile a away) but as a writer you should probably remember that in an early scene you have a major character not recognizing him/knowing who he is. I’m pretty good at suspending my disbelief in an effort to go on an adventure with the writer - I wanted to like this book, its decent writing and has some interesting ideas but then its all just rushed and slushed....and mushed....

[Nelio Gomes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Holy Grail – so much more than just a cup from the Last Supper! I like how this book takes the lore of the Holy Grail, and layers onto it an alternate history of biblical proportions. That whole bit was great fun! Admittedly, most of the characters were a bit wooden. And the outrageous back story of the “hero” Frank Donnellan and his romance with Dr. Blair are pretty egregious examples intrusive writing. But over all? 5/10 = 2.5 stars. So, round up, or round down?

[Manda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. That ending was terrible. And it was super weird that the name change for Lauren in the last third(?) of the book was never caught and corrected.

Also, the idea that the traces of blood in the cup were so ancient that the machine couldn’t date them didn’t really make sense to me. What? God has infinity DNA that he passed on to Jesus…really??
And the story never clearly explained when the shell inlay from the North Sea was added to the cup. If the shell part was what had the traces of Jesus’s infinity blood on it, that also doesn’t make sense because I thought the cup was taken to Britain *after* Jesus’s death.

Trigger warning: nearly every man loves or wants the female researcher. There is both non consensual touching and intercourse (though the latter is implied, not graphically described).

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4 stars

[jessi · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was so much potential in this book and then there were the last six pages that ruined it.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting start. No-sensical conclusion. Plus a typo renames the heroine about halfway through. That was a first.

[G. Edweird Cheese · Rating 2 out of 5]

oofff. this was a hard one to get through. Cool premise, dismal execution. Stereotypical characters, weak motivations, horrid ending. It took me forever to read this. I kept falling asleep.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

"He could take him apart like a stalk of celery."

It had potential but it was just too disorganized and the characters, while fine by themselves, were poorly written together. The pace was also all over the place. The characters ran around exclaiming about what was going on and what they needed to do without any rhyme or reason. And then everything kind of catches on fire. Also... *sigh* rape.

[Suj · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first I thought I had something similar to Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately, the author could not sustain the story once he had the parameters of his story in place. Should have left it on the dollar rack.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Earns an extra star because I love grail stories with demons in them. But I thought this would be a quick read and it turned out to be dense and a chore to finish.