What Joseph Knew

In the shadow of ancient Jerusalem, Joseph of Arimathea, the man who buried Jesus, risks his life and reputation when he testifies in court about what really happened after the crucifixion. In the modern Vatican, Pope Francis II is confronted with Joseph’s testimony and finds himself staring into the depths of a truth too dangerous to reveal and too profound to ignore.

There are a lot of ways to describe the content of What Joseph Knew. Fans of Dan Brown or Steve Berry would like the term ‘religious conspiracy thriller’ but this term is not apt for What Joseph Knew. What Joseph Knew is based on an scientific reconstruction of the condemnation, crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Click here for the free pdf in which I have explained this. What Joseph Knew tells the real, at least the most likely, story about the mentioned events, in the form of a dual timeline thriller (one timeline is in the first century BC, the other in the modern Vatican). So it is a thriller about the early Church and also a Vatican thriller. Others would call it a secret manuscript novel. The categories below come closer to a good category description:

• “books like Dan Brown but more historical”
•  “dual timeline historical fiction thrillers”
• “thriller books set in early Christianity”
• “books about Joseph of Arimathea fiction”
• “religious historical mystery novels”

Here a short description of the stories and the characters. 

Mario is a deeply religious Roman Catholic priest who is very susceptible to feminine charms. He harbors a deeply buried fear that his faith is too good to be true and that he will one day lose it.

When he is elected pope, and takes the name Francis II, he sets himself the ambition to lead the Roman Catholic Church out of the greatest crisis since its inception – global child abuse. The Church must, he says, rise from the dead, just as Jesus did two thousand years ago. However, his radical plans, including the abolition of celibacy, bring him into conflict with the conservative wing of the Church, led by the charismatic Cardinal Govani. Francis receives anonymous letters threatening to reveal a crime from his past if he does not resign within a few days.

Parallel to this, another storyline unfolds: that of Joseph of Arimathea, the man who, according to all the Gospels, buried Jesus. Joseph lives in Antioch, the capital of Syria, a province of the Roman Empire. There, as a member of the Jewish community, he faces increasing aggression from the rapidly growing Christian community. In the marketplace of Antioch, Joseph’s son, Daniel, insults Bishop Ignatius and his followers by claiming that Jesus’ disciples are swindlers who removed Jesus’ body from the tomb and then spread the myth that Jesus rose from the dead. This insult sets in motion a series of catastrophic reactions that lead Joseph to reveal what he calls the shocking truth about Jesus’ resurrection and death in a court case.

As this truth unfolds piece by piece in Joseph’s account, Pope Francis is increasingly confronted with his deeply buried fear that his faith is too good to be true. Francis becomes increasingly unbalanced and longs to see Alexandra again, the only woman he has ever loved.

The two intertwined storylines of Joseph of Arimathea and Francis  both reach a tragic and surprising conclusion.

What exactly happened after Jesus’ death on the cross? Will Francis lose his battle to renew the church? Will he see his former love again? These questions keep the reader in suspense throughout this breathtaking thriller.