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Virgin

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They followed the path of ancient scrolls into the Judean desert. They unearthed one of the greatest discoveries of all time. The perfectly preserved body of the Virgin Mary. Soon the world would know the wonder of her healing. The sick are made well. The weak are made strong. But with the miracle of her return comes an omen of evil.

337 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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About the author

Mary Elizabeth^^Murphy is a pseudonym for F. Paul Wilson

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5 stars
153 (31%)
4 stars
170 (35%)
3 stars
106 (22%)
2 stars
37 (7%)
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15 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
Profile Image for Alejandro.
1,304 reviews3,777 followers
February 13, 2015
One of the best novels that you probably never heard about it


WHAT HAPPENED WITH THOSE FOUR YEARS?!!!

This is a novel that many people hadn't read or even they know that exist, and it's a shame, since it was one of the novels that I enjoyed the most.

It's not in my "Favorites" virtual shelf, only because the 10 books limit that I chose myself to do there and in the "religion" genre I already have The Secret Magdalene but if it wasn't for that, this book would be there without a doubt.

Still, this is a great novel and it was written in a moment way before of the "rush/fever" made for The Da Vinci Code and that now you can find a lot of books with religious topics about some epic quests.

Even the very publishing date was something memorable and pivotal to the impact of the story when I read it back in 1996. I was lucky to catch this book in a bookstore by casualty and reading it almost in the moment that it was out in the market, because, it was published on 1996, but in the book explains (at that moment I didn't know, that now it's a very common fact by people) that the Gregorian Calendar was wrong, the monk back then on the 6th Century, made a mistake of 4 years to calculate the precise calendar based on the date of the birth of Jesus Christ imposed by the Catholic Church...

...so, why was so important then?

Well, that meant that 1996 was in fact 2000, and because of that it was the year that the Christ will come back and the Judgment Day would occur.

Sure, nowadays, you know that Judgment Day didn't come, BUT reading that book, back then, living precisely in 1996...

...I can assure that it was way way WAY SCARY!!!

It was like, hey! Wait! I am not ready for the End of the World yet! I need those 4 extra years!

Even so, to be fair, that monk in the 6th Century was a freaking genius!!! Do you understand to do such a calculus, in some remote monastery and without the advantages of computers?!!! WOW! So, the mistake of merely 4 years was something really astonishing!


THE RESURRECTION WASN'T THE END OF THE STORY

When I read that the premise of the novel was about the discovery of the body of Mary, mother of Jesus, in 1996!!!

I knew that I want to read that book. SOLD!!!

I am always being a religious person and with open mind to read novels about religious angles, not matter if they take some free license, while they contain an intriguing and smart premise.

And you can bet that's the case here.

Also, the characters, here in this novel, are awesome and very well defined.

You have some surprising appearances of "characters" that I won't spoil, but you will be amazed.

Since the author wasn't afraid to put elements that some people would classify as paranormal but to others is nothing else than the very power of God.

There is a quote that stuck in my mind since then, and I love...

God made faith to unite people, but Man made religions to separate people.

This quote is the very essence and the heart of this wonderful novel!

If you have any chance of ever reading this novel, I am pretty sure that you will love it.










Profile Image for Alejandro.
1,304 reviews3,777 followers
July 1, 2016
I read this novel on its original edition when the author used a pseudonym with his wife's maiden name. I knew this thanks to a fellow reader Sean, that he was so kind to comment it about on my original review of the book.

If you wish to check the link of the original edition of the book, you can do it... HERE.


One of the best novels that you probably never heard about it


WHAT HAPPENED WITH THOSE FOUR YEARS?!!!

This is a novel that many people hadn't read or even they know that exist, and it's a shame, since it was one of the novels that I enjoyed the most.

It's not in my "Favorites" virtual shelf, only because the 10 books limit that I chose myself to do there and in the "religion" genre I already have The Secret Magdalene but if it wasn't for that, this book would be there without a doubt.

Still, this is a great novel and it was written in a moment way before of the "rush/fever" made for The Da Vinci Code and that now you can find a lot of books with religious topics about some epic quests.

Even the very publishing date was something memorable and pivotal to the impact of the story when I read it back in 1996. I was lucky to catch this book in a bookstore by casualty and reading it almost in the moment that it was out in the market, because, it was published on 1996, but in the book explains (at that moment I didn't know, that now it's a very common fact by people) that the Gregorian Calendar was wrong, the monk back then on the 6th Century, made a mistake of 4 years to calculate the precise calendar based on the date of the birth of Jesus Christ imposed by the Catholic Church...

...so, why was so important then?

Well, that meant that 1996 was in fact 2000, and because of that it was the year that the Christ will come back and the Judgment Day would occur.

Sure, nowadays, you know that Judgment Day didn't come, BUT reading that book, back then, living precisely in 1996...

...I can assure that it was way way WAY SCARY!!!

It was like, hey! Wait! I am not ready for the End of the World yet! I need those 4 extra years!

Even so, to be fair, that monk in the 6th Century was a freaking genius!!! Do you understand to do such a calculus, in some remote monastery and without the advantages of computers?!!! WOW! So, the mistake of merely 4 years was something really astonishing!


THE RESURRECTION WASN'T THE END OF THE STORY

When I read that the premise of the novel was about the discovery of the body of Mary, mother of Jesus, in 1996!!!

I knew that I want to read that book. SOLD!!!

I am always being a religious person and with open mind to read novels about religious angles, not matter if they take some free license, while they contain an intriguing and smart premise.

And you can bet that's the case here.

Also, the characters, here in this novel, are awesome and very well defined.

You have some surprising appearances of "characters" that I won't spoil, but you will be amazed.

Since the author wasn't afraid to put elements that some people would classify as paranormal but to others is nothing else than the very power of God.

There is a quote that stuck in my mind since then, and I love...

God made faith to unite people, but Man made religions to separate people.

This quote is the very essence and the heart of this wonderful novel!

If you have any chance of ever reading this novel, I am pretty sure that you will love it.










Profile Image for Carl Bluesy.
Author 8 books113 followers
October 1, 2023
This started out with a lot of promise, unfortunately it didn’t do what I hoped it would. It had an interesting plot and unique characters. I hope it would have been a story similar to Dan Browns books but with new point a view, but it was a lot of the same old stuff.

It ended with a overly preachy speech that went on for far to long and the characters didn’t have enough growth after act 1 to give me any emotional investment in how the story ended for them.
Profile Image for Lyndon.
Author 80 books120 followers
August 15, 2018
Written under a pen name over 20 years ago before the Dan Brown religious conspiracy thingy took off. I read (mostly skimmed, long boring parts throughout) this as part of a box set of supernatural horror stories. It's not. Spoilers - this novel is really a set up for a mushy gobbledegooky new agey gnostic sermon (final chapter or so) about the end of faith and the beginning of gnosis. All we need is love and harmony. You'd be better off listening to the Beatles (and skipping Imagine by Lennon, which is the musical equivelant to this novel). Don't waste your time reading it. The author takes folk-lorish christianeze plot points (Mary wasn't assumed into heaven, she's sort of a mummy instead and Judas is her guardian, doubting priest and nun living together, all religions are the same, blah blah blah) and stirs them up into a kind of novel that you think is going somewhere. It doesn't.
Profile Image for Danny Tyran.
Author 21 books190 followers
February 14, 2014
"Let’s call it a religious thriller. When you were raised Catholic, as I was, you never entirely loose your religion (REM). I don’t believe that Mary was the mother of God, but don’t you go talking her down. I don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus, but damn it, don’t you go peeing on crucifixes."

"The result was Virgin—a thriller about faith, about hope, about love and charity. And yet, for all its seeming orthodoxy, unquestionably subversive. It will offend some and bring joy to others. I hope you found yourself in the latter category."

There was a long sermon expressed through the world by the Virgin Mary. I can summarize it as follows:
"Abolish your ceremonies, your communions, your sacrifices, real and symbolic; discard your dietary laws, cast off your clerical vestments, disband your sects, cease calling yourselves Catholic or Christian or Jew or Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist, for these customs, these identifications, these sects, these labels serve only to set you apart from your kin... He did not create you to be divided... Forsake your dogma children, and find Harmony... And act not in fear of eternal reward or punishment. Your reward or punishment is here. This is your world, these are your lives. He has given them to you. Use them well, make the most of them, make them mean something, make them count. For this is your Heaven or Hell... You have but to choose. Find Harmony, children, and you will find Heaven."


I read many other novels by this author, very different novels. I read "The Keep", "The Tomb", and many novels of the series "Repairman Jack". I love Repairman Jack. Jack's main tool to fix things is his gun. Wilson's novels are all excellent thrillers.

Virgin sustained my interest too. No as much as the Repairman Jack series, but it was interesting even though I am not a believer.



This is more my kind of religion. ;)

But I read this as a paranormal thriller or a kind of fairy tale with suspense.

There were a few typos. One particularly laughable: Instead of Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), it was written "Shit Bet". lollll Anyway, I give it 4 stars.

Profile Image for Paul Hyde.
76 reviews1 follower
October 24, 2024
Quite a unique story. Makes you think. Story ends with the 2 nd coming of Jesus.
Profile Image for Rose.
795 reviews48 followers
March 26, 2014
This is the first book in the Ultimate Supernatural Horror Box Set. I bought it because Blake Crouch and Jack Kilborn had books of theirs in this set and I knew I liked their writing, but I hadn't heard of F. Paul Wilson before.

This is a very Catholic/Christian based book but not a preachy one. Like The Da Vinci Code, Wilson uses religious stories as a backdrop for his own. I absolutely loved it...up until the end. I didn't hate the ending but this is where it really got supernatural and preachy. Not religiously preachy, more like anti-religiously. And I didn't disagree with the message...in fact, he essentially put into words how I feel about religion. It just seemed a bit over-the-top in it's execution.

Regardless of the 'less than fantastic' ending, and really it's just my opinion as others may love the ending, this is a book that will make me seek out more books written by Wilson.
Profile Image for Courtney Perry.
141 reviews25 followers
February 3, 2021
This was less horror and more religious propaganda...really not impressed by that...was looking forward to tucking into a good horror
Author 1 book
November 2, 2022
this is an older book that I somehow missed. Loved the premise. Read one years ago about an investigation because some people thought they found Jesus's body hidden behind a wall. It was called The Body. This book went in another direction but the characters were all very real and the story just flowed. Nice ending but wonder if it would ever work people being what they are. Just look at the Senador.
Profile Image for Jerry.
343 reviews35 followers
February 21, 2022
Simply appalling. The most sacrilegious piece of garbage I have ever had the displeasure of reading. I never expected that someone of F Paul Wilson's caliber was capable of such dreck. It may have put me off of Mr Wilson's work forever.
Profile Image for Steven jb.
521 reviews8 followers
October 31, 2010
F Paul Wilson is one of my favorite writers and this book did not disappoint. This was an excellent thriller, a could not put it down thriller. I loved the denouement and F Paul's message. My only criticism is that there was a point where the action seemed a bit formulaic, and I wish the author had spent even more time developing the character's and their situations, but perhaps that is the mark of a good book and good writer--that I wanted more. The book seemed a bit atypical for Mr. Wilson; it seemed more typical of what I would expect from Tom Monteleone. I had the pleasure of meeting him, and Mr. Wilson at a horror convention once, and while chatting remarked that "Black Wind" was my favorite F Paul Wilson novel, and it too was not typical of Mr. Wilson's usual work. I felt the same about this book; atypical, but excellent, among my favorites from him.
Profile Image for Maryann Breedlove.
61 reviews25 followers
March 2, 2014
5 stars for this story. Throughout, your mind races ahead knowing the story must lead to a well worn conclusion. NOT SO.. at many points in this story there are a multiple avenues the author could have branched off into another vein of thought and reach a different ending; produced a different story and that possibility, on its own, keeps the reader riveted.
The author has a wonderful descriptive ability which brings his visions into the theater of my mind. For me this is rare. The author writes to his reader assuming intelligence, not dumbed down to simplistic 6 grade level and not overblown with needless tedious embellishments.
I found this work in a collection of horror stories but this is NOT horror! Definitely a thriller. I would not have read this work based on the synopsis and that would have been a sad loss of an awesome story.
Profile Image for Morbideus.
10 reviews1 follower
June 22, 2009
It's easy to throw this onto the pile of "It's like DaVinci Code," but this book goes far beyond. There's real spirituality in them thar pages, yet doesn't preach or try to sell you on any religion. In fact it does a bit of the opposite, while equally respectful (and non) to all of them equally.

As a staunch critic of religion in general, I had no difficulty whatsoever in granting the small amount of suspended disbelief Mr. Wilson asks of us. In addition to a gripping story with interesting characters, it's one of those books that *needed* to be written, by someone. Anyone. Fortunately it was written by a Master...
Profile Image for ☆Angel☆.
441 reviews38 followers
March 8, 2014
When I started reading this, I thought it was going to be a spooky ghost story because it was in a supernatural horror boxed set. So imagine my surprise when I realized it was about The Virgin Mary. I gave it two stars because this just isn't my thing, but the story itself was well-written.
Profile Image for Mike.
497 reviews2 followers
July 23, 2014
Not one of Mr. Wilson's better novels. Somewhat predictable at times and the ending was basically the equivalent of "Be Excellent to Each Other" from Bill and Ted ' s Excellent Adventure.
Profile Image for Alana.
38 reviews
May 28, 2015
A bit too preachy for a horror/thriller book.
Profile Image for Robert.
322 reviews4 followers
August 25, 2021
An interesting light read. I think there was a twist at the end that was unexpected but all in all not bad. The beginning starts out well gets a little slow in the middle, then speeds up again. This books isn't about grand philosophies where the author thinks they defecate marble, but its a story to entertain. That being said, there is a significant amount of philosophical thought in the ending as well as how the characters interact in the soup kitchen.

Without actually saying it the author does a good job of presenting alternating philosophies relating to homelessness, the church's take on celibacy, the role of their past lives in clerical callings---how that can be a positive, or in the case of the nun's situation, running from a bad situation which in the end works out....Devotion vs obsession vs salvation...and in the end the original concepts that drove the christian community

All of this was done without the book being what I would term as a Christian ( as in American rural christianity vs Catholicism) book. Fairly well written.
Profile Image for Gilda Felt.
740 reviews10 followers
October 25, 2025
I’ve read several of Wilson’s books and enjoyed most of them. But every once in a while he writes one that has some major flaws; this is one of them. It had a promising start, but went downhill from there.

To start, I wasn’t crazy about the female protagonist. She’s supposed to be almost saint-like, but is anything but when it comes to having her way. I suppose that’s the main driving force of the story, but it made it hard to care as to what happened.

Which is another problem. Was this supposed to be horror? Because a lot of went on could only be explained by a supernatural force. If it’s supposed to be god, he’s got some major problems. It felt too much like “I’m going to mess with you just because I can” sort of story.

And the ending was sort of weird. And one of those endings that’s not really an ending. I’m so glad that the book isn’t part of his “Secret History of the World” series; I don’t think I could have stood that.
Profile Image for Keith Phillips.
124 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2020
Prescient...

I had to keep reminding myself Mr Wilson wrote this book 2 dozen years ago. Before 9/11; before the rise in world wide violence, hatred, fundamentalism became so heart-rendingly common; before the vicious partisanship; before CoVid-19.
All the ingredients, covering each of the Deadly Sins, the longing desire for true healing make up this book. Nothing beyond the generic, until the last pages.
That's the chilling--and hopeful--part. God, as God Is, asserts God-Self through the Mother of God's Son...with startling clarity, compassion, encouragement.
And, finally, redemption, at many levels, but most significantly for Judas Iscariot. Who resides in each of us, despite our denial...
Those last pages elevated the story, beautifully...
347 reviews
March 14, 2020
A wonderful story

I loved this book. Dan, a priest, is given a scroll. He is having an affair with a nun, Carrie. Carrie sees the scroll and becomes obsessed with it, even though she's been told it's a fake. She is determined to go to Israel and follow the scroll. What her and Dan finds is beyond belief. Have they really found the body of the Virgin? Can they get it out of the country. Kasev, who was the guardian of the Virgin realizes something is wrong and he has to find the Virgin. I don't want to give away too much of the book but the Virgin comes to America and miracles bein to happen. I know you will enjoy this book.
870 reviews25 followers
November 24, 2021
True confession here, I picked this book because I love the narrator, Assaf Cohen, so I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed it so much. It's a clever story that on many occasions I was hoping would come true. The writing keeps the story going at a good pace and although it's somewhat of a fantasy I found myself really buying into the concept. Assaf Cohen's narration is spot on and really upped the enjoyment of this book.
224 reviews
May 24, 2022
2.5 rounded up due to F. Paul Wilson's good writing.

I thought this book started off good and had a few good sections but overall I was not impressed.
It was not enough of a 'Dan Brown-esque' thriller or enough of a historical fiction.
Additionally, it had some weird elements (that although I like in the Repairman Jack or ICE Sequence Trilogy) did not go over well for me.

Unfortunate, since this sounded great with the mix if religious mystery and modern thriller.
Profile Image for Kenneth.
620 reviews12 followers
August 25, 2024
F Paul Wilson delivers yet again. He is an unstoppable machine of odd thrillers and this is odder than most. What gets it four stars is that none of the characters are particularly likeable. They were not terrible anti heroes or anything, but I was happy enough to not live with them for any longer. Still, this one will live with me for awhile.
Though I really wanted it to be Cthulhu at the end in the center of the storm. Than would've put it over the top.
Profile Image for Linda Edmonds Cerullo.
386 reviews
February 20, 2021
Unusual book about a priest and a nun who locate the burial place of the Virgin Mary, retrieve her body and move it to NYC, leading to numerous healings and miracles. This is clearly an "end-time" novel with a bit of a sci-fi take. Lots of excitement, action and interesting characters. Love the way the various people involved were drawn together for the final chapters. A good read.
23 reviews
April 28, 2025
Fantastic author

Started reading Mr Wilson with the release of The Keep. Have purchased everything he has written since. This book is not one of my favorites, but it is definitely worth the read, and offers the reader much to think about. The subject matter may be polarizing to some readers so an open mind is recommended.
67 reviews
Read
August 1, 2019
Wow. follow the path of a nun and a priest in plumbing the depths of their own belief and unearthing the body of the Virgin Mary. What you thought you knew is about to be tested. This was one great read.
Profile Image for Vincent.
180 reviews
October 26, 2025
A stupid, selfish woman trying to be a nun and a priest with no intestinal fortitude. Sounds about right. As a fan of F. Paul Wilson, I can allow a dud - Repairman Jack is, after all, onr of the best characters of all time.
Profile Image for DolphinBlue.
187 reviews3 followers
August 23, 2017
Well-written, compelling story, interesting characters. Storyline reminded me a bit of Dan Brown. Had no idea where the story was going, and I enjoyed the ending. Would read more from this author.
Profile Image for David.
422 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2019
Strange to read a Wilson book without Repairman Jack but an interesting read nonetheless.
11 reviews
April 4, 2020
Not bad. A few eerie parallels with present reality; namely, the name of Fitzpatrick's soup kitchen, Crenshaw's plan to address homelessness and his idea to "make America great again."
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews

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