This book is exactly as I expected. I have read Wangerin's "Book Of GOD" and thought it was an excellent use of imagination on the details behind the stories of the Bible. I was looking forward to this novel as well,and again I see it is an excellent use of the writer's Bible based "imaginings" on the life of Jesus, as told from the perspective of His mother and His most trusted disciple, Peter.If you are student of the Bible I suggest both of these novels.