The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet

 
Ken Follet writes spy novels.  The introduction to the book speaks of some nervousness on the part of his publishers that a book by Follet about a cathedral would be too far out of genre and wouldn't sell.  Follet needn't have worried.  The Pillars of the Earth, nominally a book about the building of a great cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England, has little to do with architecture.  Instead it is a thriller, a classic plot driven novel that twists and turns according to the author's master plan.

Had the book been half its size, I probably would have enjoyed it.  Toward the end, Follet began summing up the action from the beginning of the book in the form of reflections on the part of the main characters.  This is always a sign that a heavier hand is needed in the editing process.  Furthermore, for all the action in the novel, nothing really happened.  The cathedral, after much delay and frustration, was finally built (no spoiler there, I'm sure).

The minor characters lived quiet lives of unimportance, fading in and out of the action by way of barely believable plot devices.  The major characters were remarkably one-dimensional - the villain of the piece so incredibly evil that his machinations became comical rather than infuriating.  The heroine was rewarded, after a life of patient if not especially pious sacrifice, with everything she had ever wanted.  Ditto the hero.

Bottom line: props to Follet for writing it - from the introduction, I gather that this was his dream book. Unless you're going to be stuck on an airplane, a hospital waiting room, or somewhere else you're in need of reading material that doesn't require any thought to process, I'd skip this one.