Eyes of the Virgin

Rating:
Summary: Action-packed
Review: After reading eleven books of the LEFT BEHIND series, I have sought out Religious Thrillers. I have read "The Da Vinci Code" as well as Brown's "Angels and Demons," and I found "Eyes of the Virgin" to be a fast paced enjoyable read. There are enough surprising twists and turns in the narrative to keep readers attention and I would recommend it to my many reading friends.
Beverly J Scott author of RIGHTEOUS REVENGE and RUTH FEVER

Rating:
Summary: Potential, but that's all
Review: I don't know about the Da Vinci Code, I haven't read it. But it doesn't matter, even if it is a completely original work, The Eyes of the Virgin is a very poor execution of a potentially intriguing subject.

Monteleone starts with an interesting premise: that the Fatima chapel bombed in 1922 (an actual event) left behind a single piece of stained glass depicting the Virgin Mary's eyes. This glass has supernatural properties and has become the center of an international battle between religious spy organizations (the Knights of Malta mainly) and the Guild (an international shadow organization to whom nations and leaders are puppets in some amusing play).

The structure is very loose and lacks key elements. The heroine has no real goal, but to survive. She has no love interest. The death of her husband happens off screen and while it could be a major motivating factor (revenge) is curiously absent from her thinking. The guild is a poor adversary. It also has no real motivation for its theft of the eyes. It has no real interest in keeping it. Besides the reader can't identify with some vague international organization's hopes and fears and desires. They must be personified, they must be given a personal motive. The only character that is developed at all and who provides any interesting fodder for the reader is the villian. And his growth is incredibly suspect. He goes from ruthless, emotionless killer, to confused and simpering schoolboy in puppy love. Monteleone's rollercoaster ride has no climbs, no plunges, definitely no loops, just maybe an occasional wrinkle.

I would not recommend this book except to the most inexperienced of readers.

Rating:
Summary: Skip Senneka is wrong!
Review: Skip Senneka suggests Monteleone is ripping off DaVinci code, and nothing could be farther from the truth! If anyone is ripping anyone off, then it would be Dan Brown, who is travelling the same terrirtory as Monteleone has been writing about for 13 years. Monteleone INVENTED the religious thriller with his NY Times bestseller THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB more than ten years ago. EYES OF THE VIRGIN was published in hardcover a YEAR before DAVINCI CODE appeared. To suggest Monteleone is cheap rip-off hack is grossly unfair to a writer who has paid his dues and writes a very good book.