The Expected One

The Expected OneFor two thousand years, Mary Magdalene has been something of a mystery: could she have been the bride of Jesus? Did she actually keep a written account of her life and of the events surrounding the Crucifixion? Why did the Church declare her to be a “woman of ill repute?” Maureen Paschal is writing a book on heroines throughout history that got a raw deal from historians. Her research takes her to France and directly into the throes of age old mysteries and secret societies that are all looking for the Expected One. It is believed that only she can locate the Gospel of Mary, thought to have been hidden by Mary Magdalene centuries before. But there are forces at work who don’t want the Gospel found or its contents made public. These forces are the followers of John the Baptist, who hold a grudge against Mary Magdalene for her perceived role in his execution. Can Maureen fulfill her destiny and find the Gospel of Mary before it is too late?\r\nThe Expected One by Kathleen McGowan is one of many novels spawned after the success of the The DaVinci Code. This one is different though, in that McGowan goes the extra mile with her research in to the Magdalene legends and does an excellent job of mixing fact with speculation. I am surprised that this book has not raised as much of a controversy as Dan Brown’s bestseller, as it lays out a “translation” of the Gospel of Mary, much of which runs counter to Christian tradition. The idea of a holy bloodline certainly isn’t new but this book takes it to a new level. The book has all the elements of a good religious mystery: a secret which could shake the foundation of Christianity, a protagonist to find this secret and secret societies battling each other for control of the secret. As this is just the first entry of The Magdalene Line, I look forward to reading the sequels. I give this book 5 of 5 stars.\r\n\r\n*Reprinted with permission from bestsellersworld.com*\r\n