Rating: 
Summary: A perfetc blend
Review: Once in a while authors get a tale just right-- this novel is one such example. In a perfect harmony of a sci-fi thriller and religious passion the writers have gotten the reader into a fast paced novel that brings them face to face with a well-conceived and well-thought out predicament: a genetic scientist finds the Cross of Christ. Will he clone the remnants on that Cross? Step by step, carefully and with rigor, the authors take the story from Mount Olivet, where scientist Max Train is confronted with a possible discovery of Jeus that set him off from all others. Is he in the presence of God incarnate's remains? Assassins commissioned by a clerical power in the Vatican have been watching Train for a while, as well as other geneticists, in preparation to do away with them all in the name of religion and faith-- but their faith is not the faith of the religion of Christ, or any religion. The novel is now joined from Jerusalem on the Joppa Road to Tel Aviv, on a plane to Rome, where Train is shot at, and where he himself turns into a savage to ward off those he cannot understand or fathom. On to Bologna, Lake Como, Zurich as the Vatican's blackmailing prelate Cardinal Mugant issues orders of his compromised followers to kill the fleeing Train before he "commits a sin against Christ again". Paris, Edinburgh-- a brutal encounter for Train and his Mossad aid Sarah, a woman instructed to help Train avoid the treacheries of Mugant's long extending talons--, and then off to New York whither Train escapes by a hair as it seems almost all the world is after Max Train. The media spread lies,the police of different cities have their orders, and now in New York traps are set all through Manhattan-- but Train eludes Mugant's most unbelievable hire, The Scorpion, as the woman Mossad aid is tortured in Colombia. So much more happens in the book, but you get the point: we have a brilliant blend of action and reaction, plan and counterpoise, message and ignore-- all within the pages of this distinctively laid out novel of suspense and turmoil. I re-iterate what I wrote before: authors once in while get a tale just right, and Peter Senese and Robert Geis fit that description here. Now a movie should be made to bring to the screen one of the rare achievements of learning and action conjoined in a novel that only comes around when talent gives rise to true artistic accomplishment. Cloning Christ is one such novel. It gets 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Good thriller, bad writing--but an interesting concept
Review: Wow! What a great plot--an ancient earthquake hides what might be Queen Helena's True Cross. Another, in our day, shakes up the rubble to reveal this holy relic once again. And there is blood on the rusty nails! Can the blood from this artifact be cloned? And if so, what theological beliefs are going to be affected? Who wants to stop the project to clone Christ? And to what lengths will they go to make sure this doesn't happen?Peter Senese has the makings of a great thriller here, with a round-the-world deadly chase and a great premise. Alas, his writing is really, really bad. To quote from Kurt Vonnegut about his alter ego Kilgore Trout, the world's greatest (fictional) science fiction author "If only he could write!" Any editor worth his salt would have grabbed a blue pencil and started weed-whacking this manuscript. I am not talking little things here, I am talking about things that would get a freshman English paper a handsome red "F". For example, almost every paragraph is lavishly adorned with adverbs and adjectives that not only are superfluous, they are stupid--every gun or bullet is "deadly"--well, duh. I knew that! Dependent clauses don't match up with the independent,dangling participles, you know, all the things your high school English teacher Mrs. McIlhenny told you NEVER to do. Well, she was right. It's a shame that someone didn't give this a thorough edit job, because the novel is otherwise a real page-turner. Novelists, get thee an editor--one that has a copy of "Elements of Style" and knows how to use it.
Rating:
Summary: Everything you've wanted in a thriller
Review: Peter Senese has come through again with a twisting and nerve wracking tale of the human condition in this book. I read Mr. Senese's first book "War on Wall Street", and here he has developed the characters with much the same realism and in-your-face tragedies that mark, in Cloning Christ, Max Train's existence. Here is a man who has everything go wrong with his plans for his discovery of Jesus Christ's Cross. Senese, a man of obvious religious sentiment and sensitivity, lets you feel Train's anxiety and pain in ways I have not seen before except in Dostoevsky. The development of the clerical character, Anselm Mugant, leaves nothing to be desired and is an achievement few writers I think can match. The style of writing is very forward, very rich in its attention to detail and meter, and makes one go on and read as fast as he can to see what is next. I hope Peter Senese gets to turn this book into a movie. "Left Behind" is one such movie as a predecessor to this book's possibility for a movie, and Mel Gibson is doing a movie on Christ. Also Robert de Niro has done a movie on this intriguing science of cloning, a dififcult science which Senese unpacked in a very forceful and dramatic way. Kudos to the authors Senese and Geis, and maybe a movie on this book is the next stage for the story Peter Senese so effectively wrought in his novel "Cloning Christ".
Rating: 
Summary: Too Much of Too Little
Review: "Cloning Christ" you say? Well, this novel has little to do with its title. While it has chances to explore theological and ethical issues, it bypasses those and dishes up a B-version of a cheap bombs-and-bullets thrill ride. It quickly becomes one overextended chase scene. I tried to enjoy this, I really did, but it nosedived after the first chapter. Max Train, a geneticist who happens to also do archeaological work, discovers what he believes to be the True Cross, and within hours he has assassins on his tail--even though he's told no one of the artifact's existence. The authors do attempt to give Train some motivation and character, but it falls flat after he becomes an international fugitive. (Luckily for poor Max, he knows how to bounce over borders like a wind-up toy, smoothly carrying the True Cross under his arm.) Still, I might have enjoyed the improbable chase if it had led to true innovations on the cloning theme. The ideas here are latent with theological depth and power. Unfortunately, we never see any of it. We do see a bloodthirsty bad guy, The Scorpion, who is able to easily kill everyone around Max Train, but fails to ever get Max. (It's similar to those "A-Team" shows where helicoptor fire follows the running man on the ground but never quite catches up. Yawn!) Aside from the grammatical errors, the overuse of adverbs and adjectives, the point-of-view mistakes, and the thin plot, I had to groan at the ridiculous scenarios that pop up throughout. For example, early on Max pulls into an Israeli gas station and hides in the restroom to deal with a bullet lodged in his leg. Fortunately--how very fortunate!--he sees a pair of needle-nose pliers on the ground and uses them to remove the bullet. After scenes like this, I never truly doubted that the writers would let Max off the hook. In fact, I stopped caring soon after that. For a much more involved and believable thriller, try "The Christ Clone Trilogy" by James BeauSeigneur. The writing is so-so, but the story is great. For a literary approach to the same subject, try "The Jesus Thief" by JR Lankford. The characters are three-dimensional, and the cloning aspect is explored with medical detail. As for "Cloning Christ," I tip my hat to any writer who actually sits down and completes a novel. If the authors had taken the time to let a good editor mop this up, the story would've been greatly enhanced. For me, too much of too little became far too long. Then again, maybe I have it all wrong!
Rating: 
Summary: A gifted storyteller.
Review: Dr. Max Train, ascetic and alone for over a decade, discovers in Jerusalem a cross that appears to be the true cross Jesus died on. In denial that God exists, Train attempts to resolve the bitterness he has carried ever since his wife and daughter were murdered upon realizing the possabilities of his new-found discovery. The passionate scene Senese creates is brilliant -- a conversation I am sure many individuals may have had. However, for Max, there is little time for him to rectify his own personal issues of faith since there are others, including an out of touch Cardinal in Rome who desire him dead!
Page after page, this novel spins a deeper tale of intrigue and turmoil, as each carefully created character represents ideological beliefs we have come to hold. The story of Cloning Christ is fast moving and cleverly crafted.
Rating:
Summary: A Fresh Approach to A Well Talked Out, Written Subject.
Review: First off, I want to say there are to many Apocolyptic books out there! What in the world is going on, are The Horsemen Coming, or what? It seems as if everyone is talking about cloning Jesus these days! Now lets get real for a minute, and I say this with no intent to offend those religious folks who actually believe Armageddon will occur upon the sun's next rising! Maybe its the upcoming war, maybe its the cloning buzz, and maybe there are just too many liberties being taken in the publishing business. You go figure this out for yourself, I'm tired of it. Fortunatly, or unfortunatly, I work in a book store, so I get to see the best as well as the 'what were they thinking' in books. Here's my scoop on this book: I kept noticing the cover jacket from the counter, designed with its dna cross, and decided to take a look. Interesting. Yes, once again the cloning Jesus theme is brought out, like other stories, but, to my surprise, this book actually has no intent of diving into the drawn out issues of cloning Jesus. The story, to my applause, takes the reader into the main character's own personal struggles as well as the dark struggles of the protagonist and the villan (who, I will say, were enjoyable to follow). The story is a strong thriller with some unexpected twists that were not predictable, which kept me interested in continuing on. And so I did. Strong points of Cloning Christ: the reader becomes one with the books plot and settings, and, there is a non-preachy education the authors share with their audience. Negatives: I wish we had more insight into the villan known as The Scorpion, and I think the writers could have increased the tension in the epilogue a bit. Overall, I enjoyed this book and will recommend it to readers who like clever thrillers. I can understand why this book is catagorized under Inspirational Fiction, however, I think this book should be considered a thriller, for that's what it really is.
Rating:
Summary: An Inspiring work
Review: Syracuse, New York research geneticist Dr. Max Train deeply believed in God until, a dozen years ago, someone brutally murdered his beloved wife and four-year-old daughter. For Max, their deaths and his legal tribulations afterward left him void of any belief in an All Mighty. While Max is visiting the Jerusalem area, an earthquake hits uncovering a buried cross. Max wonders if he holds the True Cross that Jesus was crucified on. If the answer is yes, could he clone the Christ from the bloodstains and hair remnants on it causing the Second Coming? In the Vatican Cardinal Anselm Mugant learns of the discovery in Israel. He plans to prevent Max from cloning the Christ by hiring an assassin The Scorpion to kill Max. Though there are several subplots such as the "Fifth Crusade" that spins the reader away from this delightful inspirational tale, fans will relish this thriller. The tale is loaded with action yet uses the characters as symbols of mankind similar to a medieval passion play like Everyman. The cast represents the faithful, the disbelievers, the dividers (torn between science and religion) or the selfish. CLONING CHRIST brings the debate of religion vs. science to the forefront in an exciting manner that focuses on the sacredness of life. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful gem.
Review: Evolving around historical themes of human betrayal and Man's continual quest to 'Beleive', Peter Senese and Robert Geis have created a piece of literature worthy of the highest praise. Raw, savage, irresistible, and compelling, the authors descend the reader into Man's darkest hours through a carefully construed plot where noteworthy characters seek out the Cross Christ was crucified on and the man in possession of it, before allowing the reader to ascend to a deeper understanding of life's purpose. One of the most noteworthy and memorable scenes in Cloning Christ is based upon The Temptation of Christ, where the story's protagonist is confronted by a character who possesses the embodiment of Satin. As I read this book, I could not help but compare its depth and style to one of my favorite authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Rating:
Summary: Instantly engaging!
Review: 'Cloning Christ' breaks new ground for its imaginative and edgy confrontation Man has with God when life's ways turn downright rotten. I was hooked on this book once I got to page 12, and there was no turning back. With a tour de force, Senese's work is a rich, complex story that tackles big themes including each living persons desire to love and fell freedom through that love, the belief in a Higher Being and the quest to discover and hold sacred and real the existance of God, the issue of medical advancement in genomics while juxtaposing the sacred issues of God's Way . . . the themes and issues are wide ranging, challanging and beautifully written in the form of a novel for individuals who love to settle into a big, rewarding story. Most impressively, while I read on, I could not help but visualize the beautiful settings. If ever a book was made for the Silver Screen, it is 'Cloning Christ'.
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing and Powerful
Review: Senese compellingly conveys the profundity of his thoughts through the saga and quest 'Cloning Christ' protagonist Dr. Max Train unexpectedly commences on in his search for an enlightened and meaningful life . . . the world today could hardly do better than to ponder the wisdom of this sage. A Soaring Achievement for the author, an experience so compelling and stirring for the reader not to be forgotten.
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