Given my disdain for organized religion, and my general attitude of avoidance, it's a little bit ironic that two of the last three books I've read have been centered on bits of history that — if true — would deeply question the foundations of Christian faith. In the first of these novels, The Da Vinci Code, that piece of intrigue was the McGuffin that drove a page-turner suspense plot. In Requiem, it's more of a red herring in a psychological thriller.

I found Requiem after reading a review written by Glen Engel-Cox . It was through Glen's blog that I was introduced to Jonathan Carroll (whose novels I've enjoyed tremendously), and Glen explicitly mentions Carroll in his review, so I was sufficiently intrigued to acquire this book. Like Carroll, Joyce blends reality and fantasy in interesting ways. Unlike Carroll's fantasy, which often defies rational explanation, Joyce's deviations from reality could be explained as delusion or hallucination. There's definitely a more psychological bent to Joyce's writing, though the line between dementia and supernatural is a little unclear. The bottom line is that Requiem is a satisfying dark literary fantasy.