The Spear Book

Louis de Wohl created something pretty amazing in The Spear, which he considered to be the magnum opus of his career. He took a cast of real characters from history, such as Pontius Pilate and his wife, Claudia; Caiaphas; the woman who committed adultery; Barabbas; and the man who hurled his spear into the side of Christ. He took these people and he breathed life into them and fleshed them out beautifully, intertwining their stories and lives all together. Then he built up around these people a world totally real, with detailed descriptions of this truly fascinating period of history and all the events that made it so. It may have started out a little bit slow, but after a short while, I was rapidly turning pages to see what would happen next, even if I already knew. It was unexpectedly gripping and I became completely enthralled in lives of Cassius (a.k.a. St. Longinus, who was a particularly fantastic and relatable character) and everyone else he came in contact with on his journey from Rome to Judea.

This is a book with great characters, great writing, plenty of scope, and everything that makes a book good. And in the eyes of the odd few (like myself, for example), perhaps even flawless.