Conclave

One of the best books of 2025 ! Must read with all the plot twists is super shocking !

Good read

Harris has penned another great thriller. The book keeps you on edge all through and the climax stands true each turn of the plot

Great book

Its gives a very detailed account of conclave process...but as a thriller, its average

Excellent book

Robert Harris was so flamoxxed by his own work that he forgot he was writing a fiction. This happens with people who are too much In Love with themselves. Every occurrence and situation has been overtly addessed and painfully repeated. Thus I wish I could have given it 0 Stars.

"Conclave", by English writer Robert Harris, is a look at a papal conclave, sometime in the future. Harris takes the reader behind the scenes to look at how a pope is chosen. If you think electioneering is part of a secular political election, Harris shows that the the papal elections also consists of acts of betrayal, back-biting among candidates and their supporters, and just all-around bad behavior among those whose aims are other-worldly. But here's the problem with "Conclave" - it's not particularly interesting. The writing is flat and so are the characters, which are largely caricatures of the religious, from top to bottom. The eventual winner of the conclave is fairly easily determined by the reader and even though there's a twist at the end, it isn't enough to make a three star book a four star one. I think most readers of this review will be long-time readers of Robert Harris and they know what how well he can spin a yarn will be disappointed with "Conclave". If you're interested in papal politics - and I am - it might be worth your time to dig up a copy of Father Andrew Greeley's "The Making of the Popes 1978: The Politics of Intrigue in the Vatican". The book is out of print but is fairly easy to get on the internet, and it is everything Robert Harris's book is not. Father Greeley's book examines the papal elections of 1978 - yes, there were two that year - in a gossipy, insider way that is as interesting as non-fiction can often be. The "papabile" and their supporters and detractors come to life in Greeley's lively prose. (His later book, "The Making of the Pope 2005" is almost as good as the earlier book, but Greeley was more "on his game" in the mid-1970's) Getting back to Robert Harris and "Conclave", I'd say it's not a bad book but it could have/should have been better. You may not remember you read it in six months.