I received a free copy through Goodreads.
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I have to point out that this type of genre (religion and current affairs) is not part of my usual reads. However, I found this book to be rather fascinating and intriguing for the most part.

I admit the majority of the theologies and what not went over my head. The rest of the information that was written was very convincing and persuasive in presenting Pope Benedict XVI as a tyrant and bully to some extent. For a large chunk of the book, I was so convinced that Benedict seems to be serving himself and his ideas and was constantly 'attacking' everyone else with a remote thread of credibility in the Catholic Church or theology.

I do question the epilogue and the chapter before that where Benedict is portrayed as an old man who stood on trial for all that he had a hand in. It felt like a complete turn around from the pursuit of the author to persuade the audience that Benedict is a very controversial and tyrannical pope (to a certain extent).

The path to the papal throne is an interesting one for Benedict. Although, near the end it felt like he was being pushed to stand as a scapegoat of sorts, not that he is innocent of certain dealings nor was he as devious as he is made out to be. After all it takes a lot of people to make things happen the way it did (i.e., cover ups, etc).

I don't really have a strong liking towards the Catholic Church, but after reading this book and hearing all the stories of sexual abuse and what not makes me not a fan of the church even more. Also I do wonder how the Vatican is able to end up with so much power (becoming independent state, sitting in at the UN, etc).

Overall, a very interesting read. ( )