A strange find at an archaeological dig site in Isreal may change our view on human history and religion. When science fiction author Peter Eisenhardt is called by the multimillionaire John Kaun to help at the site, he does not understand why. At first. Once he finds out that the team in Israel has found a manual of a modern video camera in an ancient tomb, he begins to see why Kaun asked for him. Due to his research, Eisenhardt is an expert on fictional time travel and many of its theories. If this manual is not a joke and is actually 2000 years old, Eisenhardt may help answer two simple questions. Where is the camera? And what could be on it?

I bought ‘The Jesus-Video’ to sample some German Science Fiction. In my view, not enough German Science Fiction is translated into English, so my choice was limited. I picked a novel by. Andreas Eshbach, who has published sixteen novels for adults, only four of which have been translated into English. I picked ‘The Jesus-Video’ because I liked the premise and because it was available as an audiobook (albeit an all-cast audiobook).

Unfortunately, the all-cast version was really a dramatisation that took an OK thriller and turned it into something so melodramatic it was almost a comedy. I think I was supposed to like the American lead, but I thought he was a jerk. The characterisation of the Catholic Church as more ruthless than the Mafia seemed implausible to me (I was raised a Catholic. It didn’t take, but it did give me a feel for the modern Catholic Church, and this characterisation was a stretch)

I wish the text had been available in English in a digital format. I’m sure it must have had more going for it than this dramatised version offered. 

Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample. of the dramatisation.