REVIEW: Iscariot by Tosca Lee

Title: Iscariot
Series: none
Author: Tosca Lee
Published Date: February 5, 2013
Publisher: Howard Books
Format: hardback
Pages: 336
ISBN: 1451683766
Copy provided by: library
Genre: religious fiction
Add to: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Synopsis: In Jesus, Judas believes he has found the One—a miracle-worker. The promised Messiah and future king of the Jews, destined to overthrow Roman rule. Galvanized, Judas joins the Nazarene’s followers, ready to enact the change he has waited for all his life.
But Judas’ vision of a nation free from Roman rule is crushed by the inexplicable actions of the Nazarene himself, who will not bow to social or religious convention—who seems in the end to even turn against his own people. At last, Judas must confront the fact that the master he loves is not the liberator he hoped for, but a man bent on a drastically different agenda.
Iscariot is the story of Judas—from his tumultuous childhood and tenuous entry into a career and family life as a devout Jew, to a man known to the world as the betrayer of Jesus. But even more, it is a singular and surprising view into the life of Jesus himself that forces us all to reexamine everything we thought we knew about the most famous—and infamous—religious icons in history.

My Review: Ever since eighth grade, I've wanted to know about Judas Iscariot. I can attribute this fascination with a certain harsh punishment the entire Catholic school was given for embarrassing the principle for not answering the priest's question about who Judas Iscariot was. At the tender age of 13, I found out there really wasn't five full pages of information about the little known Judas Iscariot, before the Internet was around.
When I saw this book pop up on someone else's review blog, I knew I had to read it. I had to delve into the possible motives behind a man who would feel compelled to betray someone he obviously adored, someone that trusted him, someone he spent years with day in and day out.
This book was a pretty good delving into the mind of one of the most well-known traitors, one whose name has become synonymous with betrayal the world over. Americans know Benedict Arnold, but every Christian knows the name Judas, even if you don't know his last name.
While this was a good book to read, there were times when it seemed very long and drawn out, and that really made it feel kinda sludgy. It was a good book to get an insight into Judas' mind, but it could have been a little more action-packed.