The Reincarnationist

By M.J. Rose

Josh Ryder has flashbacks, flashbacks to previous lives, one as a pagan priest in old Rome and one as a young man in 19th century New York. These flashbacks are disrupting his life and to get some control, he hooks up with the Phoenix Foundation that investigates past life memories in children. Although Josh is not a child, his flashbacks are so compelling that the Foundation takes on his case and gives him a job as their official photographer.
The Foundation sends Josh to Rome to check out an archaeological dig of an old tomb because they hope the tomb contains an ancient artifact, the memory stones. These stones are supposedly the key to unlocking past life memories and the Foundation and Josh are eager to get access to the stones. But it all goes terribly wrong when a security guard enters the tomb and steals the stones, fatally shooting the archaeologist in the process. Josh, who was nearby, saw the killer but was not able to prevent the theft or assault.
Being in Rome is a trying experience for Josh because it brings on his flashbacks of his life as a pagan priest. He fades in and out of reality as he remembers bits and pieces of his previous life and especially his intense love affair with a Vestal virgin, Sabine. It is her tomb that the archaeologist were excavating. Staying in Rome, Josh experiences again the terrifying events that lead to Sabine being buried alive as punishment for breaking her vow of chastity and bearing Josh's baby.
Another archaeologist on the tomb dig, Gabriella Chase, finds herself a target of whoever stole the stones. Her apartment is burgled and some of her papers on the dig are stolen. Gabriella becomes the focus of a ruthless person who will stop at nothing to gain and understand the memory stones, even to kidnapping Gabriella's baby daughter to force Gabriella to translate the ancient symbols etched on the stones. With Josh's help, she will uncover the secret that allows the user to access their past life memories and force the shadowy killer to reveal himself and save her baby in the process.

This novel just didn't do it for me. I found it to be pretty tedious. The flashbacks to old Rome were often gruesome and didn't really add much to the story beyond the idea that Josh loved this woman and she was buried alive. It took forever for them to finally get her in the ground. I never developed an interest in the characters, except for Rachel, who was Josh's sister in a past life. Josh is supposed to become Gabriella's love interest but they don't get together until nearly the end and it is not surprising that it takes so long because Josh is more interested in his dead lover, Sabine, than in living, breathing women. Also the kidnapping of the baby was easy to see coming as the baby is merely there in the story to be kidnapped. I got so bored with the whole story that towards the end I was just skimming the pages wanting it to be over. Also, the ending stinks, as we are left hanging when one of the main characters is shot and we are not told what happens next. I just didn't care for this book.

New Words

Loculi: plural form of loculus, which is a place for the deposit of valuables, especially a chamber in the podium of a temple; or a niche in a tomb or catacomb in which a sarcophagus was placed.'"You weren't ... supposed to come back," Drago said, dragging every syllable out as if it was stuck in his throat. "I sent him ... to look in the loculi ... for the treasures."'

Flamen: a name given to a priest assigned to a state-supported god or goddess in Roman religion. 'The danger to every priest, every cult, everyone who held fast to the old ways, increased daily. The priest he'd seen in the gutter that morning was yet another warning to the rest of the flamen.'

Peyos: the long, uncut sideburns worn by male members of most Hasidic groups. 'His long black coat, baggy black pants and white shirt were wrinkled and smelled stale. Being unkempt displeased him, and the way people stared at his clothes, beard and peyos was annoying to him.'

Iconoclast: a destroyer of images used in religious worship; someone who attacks cherished ideas or traditional institutions. 'She was certainly happy in Rome, and she had always been an iconoclast.'

Koans: a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning. '"You are a fucking living encyclopedia of reincarnation theory, but you sit there like some Buddha, not saying a word, offering cryptic koans about letting the water reveal its secrets in time."'