The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church, by Malachi Martin (Putnam, 309 pp., $14.95) Malachi Martin is one of the more sprightly of contemporary Catholic writers, and I can honestly say about this book that I did find it hard to put down. Each chapter is constructed with dramatic skill, to the point where the reader is compelled to keep going to see how the story turns out.
But that is also precisely the trouble, for Martin has never been able to decide what he is trying to do—write serious history, offer commentary based on information he supposedly possesses through Vatican contacts, or give free rein to his obviously fertile imagination. In this as in his previous books he does all three, which in the end leaves the reader stimulated but confused: How much does Martin really know, and how much does he make up?
Comments