Conclave

Book 37 of my 2017 Reading Challenge
read from June 28 - July 4

Conclave by Robert Harris

Summary (via Goodreads)
The pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world's most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals. Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on Earth.

My Opinion
Nothing to do with the story but I borrowed this book from the library and it smells like smoke whenever I flip the pages.  Gross, I hate that.

The pages turn very quickly and I thought about what was going to happen when I wasn't reading it.  I also continued thinking about the book and the ending when I was finished.  This was a very high 4 star read for me but while the ending was definitely unexpected, it was a little too implausible for me.

A Few Quotes from the Book
" 'I take it then you don't believe our friend is sincere when he says he doesn't want to be Pope.'
  'Oh, he's perfectly sincere - that's one of the reasons I support him. The men who are dangerous - the men who must be stopped - are the ones that actively desire it.' "

"Later, when the experts who were paid to analyze the Conclave tried to breach the wall of secrecy and piece together exactly what had happened, their sources were all agreed on this: that the divisions started the moment Mandorff closed the doors."