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Rating: 
Summary: A sweet and sour read
Review: A book worth reading! But, as another reviewer mentioned, an ending not consistent with the main part of the book. That reviewer speaks of "ascention" and there just is no such thing. Ascending to where? The clouds? The heavens? The Kingdom of God is within, not 'out there'! Everyone knows that, on a cellular level, the physical body dies and re-creates itself daily and death is when that event no longer takes place. The author of this book may well be right, when he states that Jesus possibly lived on. What most Christians, and others, are uncomfortable with is the question: What did Jesus do after such an event, and why hasn't anyone heard about that part of his life? We'll never know for sure. That corrupted "apostle" Paul saw to that! What might help the curious reader is to form a larger backdrop to this sort of information. Here, a few other authors provide an interesting tapestry: "Evolution's End" by Joseph Chilton Pearce (odd title, but one of the best books I've read), "Jesus, A Revolutionary Biography" by John Dominic Crossan, "The Gospel According to Jesus" by Stephen Mitchell and perhaps "The Five Gospels" by Funk(?) The answer to "Who is MY Jesus" comes to each of us differently, just like every fingerprint and every snowflake is different, but this book will make up one of the mileposts we all need to become the being we want to be.
Rating:
Summary: A sweet and sour read
Review: If other researchers along with forensic scientists say that the body on the shroud is in rigor mortis state, how can the man on the Shroud be "Comatose"? Although this book tries to give proof of the Shroud's authenticity, it turns into a "sour" experience once you find yourself with such a contradiction (not only for researchers and readers in general, but for Christians that believe in the death and resurrection of Christ).
Rating: 
Summary: Fair review of evidence but very very, very poor ending
Review: Let me first say a couple things about myself so you can better know how to interpret my review. First of all I am a physician who was previously a biochemist, and I have been an assistant professor of medicine at a major university; and secondly (actually primarily as a person) I am a devout Catholic Christian. Now for my review. Mr. Hoare starts his book out with a solid review of the scientific research done upon the Shroud. This does help for those who want to review what has been studied. And to his credit Mr. Hoare does this rather even-handedly. Where the author really fails is what he does after reviewing the data. And what contributes to his failure is his very poor understanding of Christianity, despite the fact the book describes him as a "protestant". This quote from the book should help explain what I mean: "Experience and studies have shown that on this earth there are certain laws that operate. Is the only answer really that God stepped right outside those laws in the case of Jesus?" (p. 130) This short quote fairly clearly shows how the author either doesn't realize that Jesus Christ is Himself God (in the second person of the Holy Trinity) and therefore not subject to the laws of nature since He is the creator of all that is, or it shows that Mr. Hoare does not believe in Christ's divinity. Either way it leads him to draw seriously flawed conclusions about Jesus. He basically suggests that Jesus was in a coma in the tomb and removed by followers who nursed Him back to health! This brings us back to the basic truth that how we see and interpret everything depends on our belief (or disbelief) in God. A poor analogy might be that if someone saw a jacket hanging on a door and had no knowledge of "hooks on doors" then their entire interpretation of gravity would be incorrect since they would postulate reasons why the jacket did not fall to the ground. This of course would not be reality - infact it is the layman's definition of insanity (failure to recognize and live in reality). So in essence his book reviews the evidence fairly soundly but draws conclusions from that evidence that simply are far beyond what the evidence is able to say. Mr. Hoare arrives at the correct conclusion about the shroud being that of Christ but simply takes too much liberty beyond that.
Rating: 
Summary: Brave conclusion, dedicated to the truth
Review: The explosivness of the shroud of turin is that if you assume that the man under the shroud was dead, there is no natural explanation for the formation of the image. But if you assume a living body, not only the formation of the image can be explained by a natural process, but also alle the other findings (like the padle of blood under the back) can be explained.
Rodney Hoar dared to brake a tabu: Yes - under the shroud lay Jesus, but the man of the shroud was not dead - the evidence for this is clear.
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