Thriller Fiction Review

The Reincarnationist
by M.J. Rose
ISBN-10: 0778324206
Review by Heather Froeschl



Ancient secrets are uncovered and little by little the truth is revealed. If you have ever had a moment of wonder about reincarnation, about seeming to instantly know someone you’ve just met, I give you my highest recommendation for M.J. Rose’s book, “The Reincarnationist.” It will call to you to read its pages until you’ve frantically gotten to the last.

Josh Ryder survives a bomb’s explosion only to become haunted by flashes of someone else’s life. These flashes hit him as vividly as memories but seduce him with a desperate need for knowledge, a need to know just who lived these memories. After exhausting every medical approach to his turmoil, Josh discovers the Phoenix Foundation – a research facility that scientifically documents cases of past life experiences in children. Josh becomes an understudy and soon understands that the flashes he goes through are experiences from his own past lives. Desperate to understand the feelings of despair and urgency he feels regarding those in his previous lives, he ends up in Rome, at the heart of his memories’ settings. There he meets Professor Gabriella Chase who has just made a remarkable archaeological discovery – the tomb of a Vestal Virgin, buried alive in approximately the year 390 A.D. So how does Josh know that the tomb is the resting place of a woman named Sabina, and that she was put to death for breaking her vow of celibacy? His sense of urgency to understand grows stronger and more intense with every clue he uncovers. There is something much greater at risk than his sanity though. In her death, Sabina held tight to a treasure that is said to unlock the mysteries of reincarnation, and it was stolen. Ironically, the cost of the treasure is valued in human lives.

“The Reincarnationist” is superbly written. It is fresh and compelling, creative and intellectual. This novel is a delightful mix of psychological thriller, suspense, and paranormal, and the writing is mesmerizing in its own right. With a plot that flows around the world and through a millennium of time, the excitement doesn’t stop until the book is reluctantly closed and completed. With sophistication and class, M.J. Rose offers a novel to be remembered.