I've been pretty desperate lately to find a good book. I've been in the mood for something different than what I usually read. So, I combed the library's aisles and came across Madman: A Novel by Tracy Groot. The description read:

If there is a way into madness, logic says there is a way out. Logic says. Tallis, a philosopher’s servant, is sent to a Greek academy in Palestine only to discover that it has silently, ominously, disappeared. No one will tell him what happened, but he learns what has become of four of its scholars. One was murdered. One committed suicide. One worships in the temple of Dionysus. And one … one is a madman.

Well, I thought that sounded interesting. I didn't really pay too much attention to the fact that Groot writes religious books and I'm actually hesitant to say it because for people who don't read religious novels, myself being one, it can be off-putting. This book, however, didn't read like a religious book, or what I think of when I think of religious novels.

Quite the contrary, I don't think that I would have even thought it was religious until very close to the end. I mean, yes, there is a lot of philosophical discussion about good and evil but you're so enthralled with the story, that it doesn't feel preachy whatsoever.

I just really liked the way Groot wrote. It was a story unlike anything I've read in the past. I was hooked right from the start and the rest did not disappoint. I'd highly recommend it.

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