Dear Editors - I'd like to thank you for your mention of J R Lankford's The Jesus Thief in Logan Hill's wonderful April 5 column, "The Boys from Bethlehem." I'm writing as the publisher, Great Reads Books, a new company with owners in Canada, Scotland and the USA. We joined to launch J R Lankford's mesmerizing novel as our first title. Since much of the novel is set in New York, we're delighted by your magazine's reaction to it. The article mentioned that The Jesus Thief, a Christ-clone story optioned by Hollywood, might be charged by some with anti-Semitism because its "mad Manhattan scientist, born Jewish but raised Catholic, becomes convinced that the Jews did kill Christ--and that by resurrecting Jesus in his lab he can end anti-Semitism forever." I'd like to clarify that. Felix Rossi, the scientist, doesn't himself believe "the Jews killed Christ" but is motivated to disarm those who do. He learns what his parents suffered in the holocaust and resolves to end such persecutions. Ultimately he is reunited with the remains of his Jewish-Italian family. Lankford modeled him, broadly, on a Catholic priest in Poland who learned his parents were Jews. As a Jew, I can assure your readers that it would be hard to find a less anti-Semitic thriller than Lankford's compassionate The Jesus Thief. Sincerely, Chuck Schwager Sudbury, MA Co-owner Great Reads Books LLC Home