James Patterson is quickly becoming my favorite Author, and “Cradle and All” is my favorite book of his. This is not your typical detective/mystery novel, mainly because the “case” in this story is completely unique. This is a great story of Biblical proportions.
It all starts with the pregnancy of Kathleen Beavier, a young girl from a well-to-do family in Massachusetts. She claims to be a virgin. The church of course investigates this supposed miracle birth to see if the savior is truly going to be re-born.
Anne Fitzgerald is a private detective who at one time was a nun. She gets assigned this case by the church to investigate and see if there is actually a virgin pregnancy. She has a Jewish doctor take a look at Kathleen and he sees that she is still “intact”. Struggling to believe that this young girl can be the mother of God, Anne tries to comfort her and shield her from the media as best she can.
Meanwhile, across the ocean another young virgin girl, Colleen Galaher, is pregnant. In the small Irish community in which she lives, her story is kept secret unlike in the media frenzied United States. The Vatican sends its own investigators to check out both virgin pregnancies.
The world is being plagued. Signs of the apocalypse are everywhere. Even the Pope dies, remembering a long forgotten secret of his childhood that is crucial to the events of the world now. He witnessed the Mother of God coming to three children in the city of Fatima about 80 years earlier. It was here that it was prophesized that two virgin births will take place. One will be the mother of God. The other will be the mother of Satan.
Kathleen Beavier is haunted by a memory that won’t come back to her, which happened 9 months earlier. Anne and her love interest, Justin, whom she was in love with some time ago but abandoned her feelings for, are sent to investigate the pregnancy of Colleen Galaher as well. Justin is a priest who now is questioning his faith and is being drawn toward his love for Anne.
The ending of this book is fantastic. It’s a complete turn around from what you’d expect. The prophecy does come true. You’ll have to read to find out how. It’s a stunning turn of events.
I thought that James Patterson did a great job of telling this tale of such a controversial topic – Jesus’ re-birth and the end of the world. He gave us a great ending in this book in which he gives a unique, brief characterization of the “Son” of God. He also brings up a great great question. Mary, the Mother of God, is such an important person in the history of the Bible, but why is she only mentioned in it six times? It brings up the question of blatant sexism in the male writers of the Bible.
I can’t say how much I enjoyed this book. It’s hard to categorize this. It’s not really a murder/mystery like the other James Patterson books. I think religious fanatics as well as agnostics would enjoy reading this book. It was a well told suspenseful read.
It’s a very short book however. It may not be worth it to shell out $25 for the hardcover that’s only about 290 pages. Wait for the paperback, although this was such a great book that I’d not recommend waiting to read it. Whenever you do decide to read it, you won’t be disappointed.
Recommended:
