The Sacred Blood

February 2, 2009
Jesus Christ's mortal remains turned up in a secret crypt below Jerusalem's Temple Mount in Byrnes's 2007 debut, The Sacred Bones
. Now DNA extracted from those remains cures geneticist Charlotte Hennessy of cancer in this equally outlandish sequel. Assassins track Hennessy to Phoenix, Ariz., where they kill her boss and significant other, Evan Aldrich. Hennessy and her ally, Fr. Patrick Donovan, struggle to survive as they attempt to foil the schemes of a motley assortment of villains in search of the now missing Jesus relics, notably American-born Rabbi Aaron Cohen. Another duo, Israeli archeologist Amit Mizrachi and his romantic interest, Egyptologist Julie LeRoux, also attract Cohen's unwelcome attention. A formulaic plot, which includes abduction and the threat of sexual violence, builds to a denouement that will be familiar to viewers of the first Indiana Jones movie.