The Second Messiah

A Thriller

  • reading group guide
  • customer reviews
From the award-winning international bestseller whose “FAST, SLY, AND SLICK THRILLERS DELIVER THE GOODS . . . UNTIL THE SMOKE FINALLY CLEARS” (Booklist) comes a riveting blend of fact and fiction that solidifies GLENN MEADE’s place among the likes of Tom Clancy and John le Carré.

The desert near Jerusalem. A renowned professor is murdered and a two-thousand-year-old parchment is stolen before its stunning references to not one but two messiahs can be fully translated.

Rome. Widespread panic erupts among the faithful when a charismatic American priest with long-hidden secrets is elected pope. Is he the antichrist or the second coming?

A political and religious standoff explodes. Archaeologist Jack Cane and Israeli police inspector Lela Raul must stay one step ahead of a vengeful assassin before they are permanently silenced and the real truth behind the scroll and its controversial revelations is forever lost to humanity.
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  • Pocket Books | 
  • 592 pages | 
  • ISBN 9781451672831 | 
  • June 2012
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$7.99 List Price
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Read an Excerpt


1

EAST OF JERUSALEM
ISRAEL


Leon Gold didn’t know that he had two minutes left to live and he was grinning. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’ve got terrific legs?” he asked the drop-dead gorgeous woman seated next to him.

Gold was twenty-three, a tanned, good-looking, muscular young man from New Jersey whose folks had immigrated to Israel. As he drove his Dodge truck with military markings past a row of sun-drenched orange groves, he inhaled the sweet scent through the rolled-down window, then used the moment to glimpse the figure of the woman seated next to him.

Private Rachel... see more

2

ROME


It began with an omen.

Some said the bizarre event in the Sistine Chapel that midnight had been prophesied by Nostradamus, that it was a sign destined to happen.

There were other signs.

The Eternal City had an air of stillness, as if a storm were about to break, but that evening the sky was clear, a soft wind blowing from the west. Rome’s usual aggression and bustle had become a hushed calm.

On the main roads and along the Tiber, drivers occasionally pulled in, switched off their headlights, and turned on their car radios. Around a densely crowded St. Peter’s Square, the... see more

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Book Reviews

Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for The Second Messiah includes discussion questions and a Q&A with author Glenn Meade. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. In The Second Messiah, the idea of a second coming is proposed by the author. Do you think that the world needs a second coming? If so, why? Do you think it’s necessary for mankind? What do you think the effects of a second coming would be worldwide? What effects would it have on you personally? If a second coming was to occur, how do you think it would manifest itself?

2. The new American pope, John Becket, decides to renounce all the trappings of a wealthy and a bureaucratic church, to leave the pomp and circumstance of religion behind and to embrace the simple ways of Christ by going out to the people, much as Christ’s apostles and disciples did. How practical do you think such an act would be if a church leader did likewise? Would it be popular and embraced by Christians? Would it spur them on to stronger faith? Would they admire such an act or consider it reckless?

3. John Becket wishes to unite different faiths to a common purpose. Do you think that’s feasible? Are different faiths really more alike than unal see more

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