The Persistence of Vapor by Ralph Clementi

Thomas Marcelli, lead archaeologist at an excavation outside a small town in Jordan, is astonished when his assistant informs him that the local newspaper has just printed a sensationalistic account of their recent find. The article claims that the coprolite that was uncovered the previous day is a holy relic of Jesus. Over the next two days the site becomes overrun by hundreds of curious spectators. Chaos ensues and the coprolite gets stolen. The artifact quickly enters the dark underworld of stolen art and antiquities. Eventually, through a string of murders and deceptions, it is acquired by Michael Steadman, a major dealer of stolen art in the United States. He multiplies his profits substantially by selling counterfeits of "the holy relic of Jesus" that he crudely carved from locally collected rocks. In the meantime the news of the discovery and theft of the coprolite unleashes a flood of conspiracy theories. This misinformation continues to spread despite repeated assertions by the archaeologists that there is no evidence of a connection between the coprolite and Jesus. Then matters worsen. Fraudulent enterprises appear that advertise nonexistent tours to the site where the "the holy relic of Jesus" was found. Religious leaders, deeply troubled by these scams, try to intercede to protect their congregants from being cheated. However, their efforts backfire when the religious leaders become the targets of new conspiracy theories. Set in the U.S. and the Middle East, the novel traces the impact that the coprolite has on the people it touches. The story is part adventure and part intellectual journey and rides on a universal theme that underlies so much of human behavior: facts and logic often take a back seat to a blind hunger for the satisfaction of emotional needs.

Adult • Literary Fiction • Crime Fiction • Contemporary Fiction