CONCLAVE - the book - so entertaining but plausible throughout

I SPOIL THE WHOLE THING IN THIS SPOILER ALERT!!!

An outstandingly good read, so full of humanity and one of the most Christian books I have read.  Quotations from the Bible are appropriate but not overdone, as top Cardinals desperate for the top job, speak and pray.

Cardinal Lomeli as Dean of the Chapter, is in charge of the whole Conclave procedure.  He is genuine, so true to life and a real figure in being tempted and then being appalled at his thoughts about his fellow cardinals - such a lovely character in being so human and appealing.  He even stages a break-in of the last Pope's bedroom in a bid to find the evidence he is sure exists somewhere.  He asks for forgiveness for some of his most unworthy thoughts.  He is so genuinely not wanting and never expecting to be elected Pope.  To his astonishment, after different Cardinals are found wanting in different and devious ways and are ruled out, it is Jacopo Lomeli who comes a poor second out of only three left on the final eighth ballot.  Only in one ballot did he vote for himself and that was so out of character that the Good Lord made it coincide with explosions in Rome as an ISIS attack was launched that shattered glass where the voting was taking place!

Throughout, Lomeli confides much about the senior Cardinals being voted on and you are treated to his own preferences and why.  At the close of the book there is a surprising twist where the winning Cardinal seems the most unsuitable, is nearly never included in the ballot and then turns out to have been up for gender reassignment in a Swiss clinic if the Pope, in the dying days of his papacy, had not selected him for promotion from Archbishop of Baghdad to Cardinal.  But it is this Filipino who not only wins over the affections of the 117 Cardinals but the reader, too.  And hero Lomeli is so delighted, too!

Not a single Catholic could be offended - even by the impressive array of misdeeds and interesting incidents that are unveiled to move things along so excitingly.

What sheer brilliance from top novelist Robert Harris who shows his careful and diligent research to unveil yet another gripping tale.  This is my fourth of his - so far!