Sign of the Cross

Payne & Jones, Book 2

By: Chris Kuzneski

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

On a Danish shore, a Vatican priest is found - hanging on a cross. Within days, the same crime is repeated...this time in Asia and Africa.

Meanwhile, deep in the legendary Catacombs under Orvieto, Italy, an archaeologist unearths a scroll dating back two thousand years, revealing secrets that could rock the foundations of Christianity. Its discovery makes him the most wanted criminal in all of Europe. But his most dangerous enemies operate outside the law of man...

©2009 Chris Kuzneski (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Thrilling, intriguing

I admire the research Mr. Kuzneski puts into his novels. They sound almost like a collaboration between Dan Brown, Indiana Jones, and Clive Cussler! "Sign of the Cross" involves a conspiracy (of course) at the heart of the Catholic church, and archeological discoveries which threaten to unearth it. Probably, devout Catholics don't want to listen to this book, but archeology buffs surely will enjoy it. As always, I didn't like Dick Hill's narration too much, but didn't dislike it enough to dock a star from this audiobook.

Terrible!

An absolute horror! The story dull but the reading twice as bad! The main character sounded like a poor imitation of an old gangster film. His side kick an African American sounded like a a ghetto high school drop out but the worst were the the Italians who sounded like an old Mario brothers game. Do not waste your time or money. If it were possible to give it no stars.

GREAT STORY!!!

This story is right up there with a James Rollins or Dan Brown novel, taking a significant event in history and weaving an alternate reality around it. I was holding my breathe until the very end because the story is so plausible it makes you really wonder. The characters of Payne and Jones become alive as Dick Hill narrates. If you like adventure or historical fiction, you have to give this book a try.

A Good listen!

I found the Sign of the Cross to be both entertaining and thought provoking! I enjoyed the characters and the narrator who brought them to life. I also feel the negative reviews are far to critical! I would recommend this book to my friends!

Another Winner

Mr. Kuzneski's second book is as good as his first. I like that he has used Paign (sp?) and Jones again. Dick Hill's narration is not as good in this book. He does better with southern accents, but not irritating or monotonous like some narrators. The subject material is thought provoking and obviously well researched. I have really enjoyed Mr. Kuzneski's first two books and look forward to the third.

Gory

I returned it

Too gory and creepy for me z. Z z s z s s s sns s. Z z z z z z z z z z

It's as bad as I thought

After listening to the plantation which was ridiculous I thought I would give book 2 a second chance. I was being generous in my thoughts. Who would publish this kind of dribble?

A good listen

The book is good enough that you want to keep listening to the story. I hope that the story itself and the characters are developed more in future books.

One of the stupidest books I’ve listened to

Couldn’t finish it, even though I love listening to Dick Hill. Pretty much every character is a bafoon, and the whole premise of what would happen if the secrets were discovered is over the top drama.

More of a text book than a novel

The writer divided his time between telling the story and giving a history lesson. Way too much of the book (60% in my opinion) was spent on educating the reader on various aspects of Christianity and the history of more buildings and locations than I care to know about... especially when you consider this is a work of fiction and the facts offered are nothing more than figments of the writer's imagination. When you try to pass those 'historical observations' off as confirmed history, you get a little full of yourself. When he kept on the novel-telling track, the book was fine. Problem was he kept jumping tracks more often than the New York City subway system. Dick Hill, as usual, makes even the mundane interesting, but I'm guessing even he wanted to take a break from reciting a lesson plan and go back to reading a novel. Why some reviewers here have criticized his performance is beyond me. He's one the best of the best. He is Jack Reacher in all of Lee Child's novels and has done hundreds more. His name on the book cover is the reason I look at a new author's work. But I digress. A good editor could have reduced the book to half its size and still have kept the story line. Hell, a BAD editor could have done that. After the first 4 chapters, I fast forwarded through about ten only to discover I was still listening to the characters drone on about the history of one painting or museum or some made-up event from Christ's 'alleged' life. It's too bad. The premise was quite good, but this 15 hour audio book could have been reduced to 5 and you would not have lost a single element of the plot. In the end, I read about 1/3 of the chapters and when I finished, all I had missed was the wasting of another 7 hours of my life. The historical embellishments distracted from the main plot line. I asked for the time. He told me how to make a watch.