Status Updates From Conclave

My first ever read of a Robert Harris book. I rarely read fiction but this feels like a biography or summat - really good!

Ooooh the plotting starting to come out! The book is a lot of tedium of the church and procedures but there’s this air of tension and this just sort of pulls it another step up. I also continue to like that the cardinals all suck. They bust out unexpected racism or homophobia and are like “remember we’re some of the most powerful old men out there and we’re Like This!” And the author gives it space.

The author also does a really good job of using single words to paint a picture. “The neon strip above the mirror” like the bathroom lights aren’t neon but that single choice of words drives home the garish brightness and his irritability and just works. Earlier in the same section he describes the room as a cell to similar effect.

I am enjoying this choice of main character. “Very well. Manage.” He’s fussy and particular and not exactly likable.

Kind of fascinated by the way this is written like a thriller aimed at people like my dad but it’s about old priests. Like the actual opening scene was some old dude complaining about his job and his knees and saying a prayer for his dead boss but the way it is written, it has this spy thriller tension.