Are you a religious thriller novel aficionado?  You might just love Sanctus by Simon Toyne.

Toyne has created a dark and sinister world in which a secret socity of monks resort to drastic and terrifying measures to protect their Sacrament, a ritual so steeped in mystery and violence that even a minor act of betrayal can have catastrophic results.

Official Back Cover Blurb -

One man’s sacrifice shocks the world.

One woman’s courage threatens a conspiracy as old as humankind.

And some will do anything—anything—to keep their secrets in the dark.

Sanctus

A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. But this is no ordinary ascent. It is a dangerous, symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is an event witnessed by the entire world.

Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it’s evidence that a revolution is at hand. For the Sancti, the cowled and secretive monks who live inside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built. They will stop at nothing to keep what is theirs, and they will break every law in every country and even kill to hold it fast. For American reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she lost years before, setting her on a journey across the world and into the heart of her own identity.

There, she will make a discovery so shocking that it will change everything.

Click here to watch my video review if you cannot see the video below:

I give this novel 2 of 5 stars.

What worked for me:

• The Gripping opening – was immediately pulled into story
• Premise/High Concept
• Samuel – great character
• Short Chapters – like a bag of potato chips…just want to keep reading/eating
• Fabulous writing skills – action words, fast-moving description, well-written

What Did not work for me:

• Middle of book was saggy
• Skimmed over last 1/3 of book – Just wanted the book to be over
• Too long – could have benefitted from some plot tightening
• A few darlings needed to be killed
• Author did not deliver on what I felt was promised to the reader at the beginning
• Deus Ex Machina Ending – Resolutions came from outside the protagonist, not any character change in Liv
• Lingering plot threads
• Ending was more fantasy/supernatural than I expected
• Horribly disappointed by the ending – felt like the author took the “easy way out” by using  supernatural elements to “explain everything”
• A few too many characters for me to keep track of – could not connect with any of them on a deeper level – felt superficial
• Climax of the book was too predictable for me – no real twists – just weird
• Repetitive information – rehashing the same info