The God Machine

One thing I liked about The God Machine is its historical detail. I spent hours looking up enlightening things from the book. And it's a good read and a great story.

The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons were made possible by Mr Sandom's genre breaking novel "Gospel Truths" published in 1992. Now with "The God Machine" he has set the bar even higher for future religious thrillers. All of the titles in this genre take liberties with history and technology, blend fact and fiction and whirl up unimgaginable action and intrique, that's why we read them. And in "The God Machine" the reader gets it all: crafty intrique, implausable situation, historical reference all tightly woven and masterfully written. Before you head to the moveies this summer and spend $12 for a ticket to see another lackluster Hollywood summer bummer like Angels and Demons, order "The God Machine" pull out the beach chair, pop open the umbrella, dig your toes in the sand and have fun with this well crafted thriller. It's well worth the time.

This is the best religious thriller I've ever read, and I've read a lot of them. The narrative is fast-paced and relentless, the characters 3-dimensional and interesting, the writing is crisp and muscular, and it stretches the genre in new directions. Part historical fiction, I loved the way it brought Benjamin Franklin to life, and made me look at this fascinating founding father in a whole new light. The God Machine is perfect summer reading, a beach book that will shake you like a rag doll while you sizzle. Plus, unlike others in this category, at $7:99, it's priced right for my budget. Yes, it has your now-familiar set of good and bad guys: the nerdy and flawed protagonist, mathematician/architect Joseph Koster; and the twisted, evil villains, including a sociopathic nun who sent shivers down my spine, and I'm not even Catholic! But it also features a sexy and smart Indian-American female character, Savita Sajan, whom I found absolutely fascinating. As if that weren't enough, the book is also a keen exploration of the relationship between science and religion, proof and faith, and how our culture has turned technology into a kind of 21st century deity. I've always wondered about the source of scientific inspiration, the roots of genius which drove -- and continue to drive -- our greatest technological inventors, from Da Vinci to Ben Franklin to Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. This book sheds light on this, and made me look at technology and the role it plays in our culture in a whole new way. As well-researched and historically fascinating as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, as relentless and fast-paced as James Rollins's Doomsday Key, and as well-written as Paul Sussman's The Last Secret of the Temple, The God Machine has it all!

J Sandom is a born story-teller. In THE GOD MACHINE, from page one, the reader is eager to further rev up and accelerate into a time-traveling thriller whose chapters criss-cross many centuries, each one conjuring up medieval and early modern European history, arcana of freemasonry, religious fanaticism and a bit of engineering magic -- all animated by great contemporary characters from a laconic, double-dealing Scotland Yard detective to grand historical figures such as Ben Franklin. This is a well-oiled and humming mystery, whose pages fly by in a flurry of action and suspense. David Lincoln Ross Highly recommended. David L. Ross

J.G. Sandom's "The God Machine," a contemporary thriller that pinballs between the present and episodes in the lives of historical figures including Leonardo Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Edison, is as relentless in its pace as it is rigorous in its plotting and satisfying in its payoff. J.G. Sandom has never been one to shy away from big themes or from flaunting his equally outsized ambitions. In "Gospel Truths" he created the template for the "theo-thriller" that Dan Brown would ride to success with the "Da Vinci Code" a decade later. In "The Hunting Club," the story of a bachelor party gone horribly awry, Sandom merged the whodunit with bad-boy lit to form a probing dark tale that tackled two mysteries: Who committed a heinous crime, and who is guilty for a generation's ennui and moral decrepitude? Now in "The God Machine" Sandom has reached up to the heavens and into the past to create a bold, even audacious adventure that takes off from where "Gospel Truths" left off. The mathematical whiz Joseph Koster is back, set on the trail of a fabled religious text last believed to be in the possession of Benjamin Franklin. But unknown to Koster, the object of his search holds secrets that are far more valuable than any religious screed. Propelled by a gallery of unforgettable supporting characters drawn not so much from imagination as from a twisted parallel universe (a homicidal nun, drug-crazed televangelist and a ruthlessly amoral Vice President of the United States among them), in no time Sandom has set readers on a galloping trans-Atlantic quest. As clues to the secret of this long lost Gospel of Judas are revealed, Sandom also uses his considerable knowledge of theology, metaphysics, microchips and the lives of historical figures to solve a larger, true life mystery: What is the nature and source of the power of religious dogma, and why is organized religion so rattled by questions of the legitimacy of the metaphorical legends that form its foundations? Yet these bigger themes aren't enough to stop the relentless pace as Koster and his newfound helpmate, a beautiful, Indian born high-tech mogul, draw closer to solving the many angles of the mystery as the powers that seek to stop them close in from all sides. Meanwhile, plot twists more tightly woven than a length of braided hemp keep readers off balance. In lesser hands the God Machine of the novel's title might be little more than a McGuffin whose only function is to serve as the ignition system for a goose chase (albeit a golden goose). But Sandom has managed to make both the machine and his story as real, palpable, and alternately beautiful and terrifying as what we expect to find at the heart of the eternal battle between good and evil.