Anyone who has ever read a few Anne Rice novels will be familiar with the set-up of this book: A first-person narrative, violent events shaping the pace of events while serving as a catalyst for the development of the main character, the protagonist’s wonder at things both material and spiritual, hard realities and often harder supernatural occurrences. Similarities in Rice’s literary form are numerous between this book and her past novels. Really even her themes are similar: A first-person narrative told by a person with immense supernatural powers. In the past these narrators have been the vampires and witches of her successful series of books, which includes “Interview with a Vampire.” Now, the narrator is Jesus as a young boy coming to grips with the turbulent nature of Israel under the heels of Roman occupation and the Herod line’s despotic rule, his otherworldly gifts and developing wisdom, and unraveling the story of his birth and its consequences which have been kept from him. The difference, which may surprise both fans and critics of Rice’s previous novels, is the reverence with which she handles her new protagonist. Again, readers stunned that the writer who gave the world the Vampire Lestat would turn to the Lord, shouldn’t be. The book reads remarkably similar to her past works in style. But the tone is decidedly different. In her vampire and witch books, Rice often scoffed at religion and the source of religion. Here, she is reverential to Christ and his mission. Rice bases this novel of his childhood on vigorous study of biblical and extra-biblical works as well as a study of what life was like at the time of his life. Yet, anyone who comes to this novel having read Rice’s vampire series can’t help but recall this is the same writer who created a very different Jesus for her novel, “Memnoch the Devil.” Rice provides an author’s note in this volume describing her conversion. It is an abbreviated version of her own spiritual journey told in a fashion similar to the narrative of her characters. She was raised as a Catholic; she lost her religion upon marrying her husband who was an atheist; she discovered her religion again upon his death a few years ago. For fans who didn’t so much care about Rice’s religious beliefs but did enjoy her vampire tales, this book will come as a surprise. Not so much that her characters have gone from one extreme to the other but they will be surprised at how much this volume remains an Anne Rice book.