Book Review: The Reincarnationist

I was looking forward to reading the The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose as part of the MotherTalk book tour. (Click here to read a synopsis of the book and the back story.) It had many of the things I love in books - murder, romance, foreign settings, historical fiction (I was reading A Booke of Days: A Novel of the Crusades when it was delivered) and religion.

I was hoping for something along the lines of The Da Vinci Code, but was disappointed. Why? Because while I can entertain the idea of reincarnation, using it as a major plot vehicle was too convenient.

In The Reincarnationist coincidence and reincarnation - not the hero or the murder mystery - is the focal point. The realization that reincarnation exits spreads among people like a virus. In fact, it seems to be breaking out all over. (Quick doctor, a vaccine!) Little kids matter-of-factly talk about their past personas. Our protagonist, Josh, runs into people and places from his past lives every time he steps out the door. And everyone is dizzy from constantly having flashbacks of past times.

As far as I know unless people are undergoing past life regression, they don't have flash back to their past lives. Yet many of the characters The Reincarnationist experience constant, unwanted and disruptive flashbacks. I wonder how they manage not to crash a car or fall down the stairs.

Bottom line is that the use of reincarnation flash backs as a plot device in The Reincarnationist is too over the top, too unbelieveable, and gets in the way of a good read.

Could Have Been Better

Still, you may be able to suspend your disbelief enough to enjoy the parts of the book that dealt with the historical past. The ancient Roman characters seemed more alive and interesting than the 21st century ones - especially since the present day characters spend too much time figuring out their love lives, and being neurotic.

Several things were left unanswered in the The Reincarnationist, too. (Do I see a sequel here?) Did the stones work? Was the Catholic Church involved with the cover up? What were the societal implications of reincarnation? Wouldn't there be mass hysteria? It was unsettling and confusing.

All in all The Reincarnationist was interesting and a somewhat entertaining read. But its plot and characters need to be tightened up by a good editor before I could seriously recommend it.