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Overview
In the days following the Pope’s death, a cardinal is found brutally murdered in a chapel in Rome, his eyes gouged and his hands cut off. Called in for the grisly case, police inspector Paola Dicanti learns that another cardinal was recently found dead; he had also been tortured. Desperate to find the killer before another victim dies, Paola’s investigation is soon joined by Father Anthony Fowler - an American priestand former Army intelligence officer examining sexual abuse in the Church, who knows far more about the killer than Paola could possibly imagine.As Paola and Father Anthony struggle through a maze of tantalizing clues, they begin to question whether someone in the Vatican is aiding their cause or abetting a murderer. And when evidence leads them to powerful figures within the Church hierarchy, their own pursuit of the truth may make them the next pawns to be sacrificed in a terrifying and deadly game.
A dazzling, impossible-to-put-down thriller, Juan Gomez-Jurado’s God’s Spy marks the arrival of a major new talent to the contemporary suspense fiction scene.
Synopsis
An instant bestseller in Spain, with rights sold in twenty-eight countries and counting, God's Spy is a spectacular contemporary thriller set in the Vatican where, after Pope John Paul II's death, the hunt for a serial killer reveals a chilling conspiracy.
Allison Block - Booklist
The action unfolds against the backdrop of Vatican City, where countless pilgrims have gathered, wholly unaware of the heinous crimes taking place. Some rough spots in the translation distract from this otherwise first-rate thriller. Thomas Harris meets Dan Brown.
Editorials
Booklist
The action unfolds against the backdrop of Vatican City, where countless pilgrims have gathered, wholly unaware of the heinous crimes taking place. Some rough spots in the translation distract from this otherwise first-rate thriller. Thomas Harris meets Dan Brown.—Allison Block
Bookreporter.com
Electrifying. . . . A wild, compelling ride.Que Leer (Spain)
Juan Gómez-Jurado is the new pope of Vatican intrigue.Publishers Weekly
A routine plot doesn't do justice to the intriguing premise of this debut thriller, a bestseller in Spain, about a serial killer stalking the cardinals poised to vote on Pope John Paul II's successor. Young, attractive Paola Dicanti, an inspector in an Italian violent crime unit and an FBI-trained profiler, is summoned to a church in Vatican City where a cardinal's mutilated corpse has been discovered. To her outrage, Dicanti learns that the victim is the second in a series, and that the identity of the killer—a pedophilic priest with a history of violence, Victor Karosky—is known to a new and mysterious ally, Anthony Fowler, a former priest and American intelligence operative. The cat-and-mouse game between the police and Karosky is nothing new, while Gómez-Jurado's use of the sex scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic church is sensational rather than sensitive. American readers may be amused that Bush administration figure John Negroponte plays the part of shadowy backstage conspirator. (Apr.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
Madrid journalist Gómez-Jurado hopes to replicate the instant success he enjoyed in Spain with this English translation of his first novel, set during the 2005 Conclave to elect a new pope. Paola Dicanti, Italy's only Quantico-trained certified profiler, is chasing a serial killer targeting cardinals. The arrival of American priest Padre Fowler, who identifies the suspect, provides many layers of intrigue. Fowler is a psychologist, former CIA operative, and persona non grata with the Curia. His deep insight into the case stems from time served as a therapist at a rehab facility for Catholic priests with a history of sexual abuse—another layer of intrigue. Dicanti must learn to trust him if she wants to catch the killer before he strikes again. The Vatican secret police have their own agenda, and Dicanti finds the sovereign nation makes her job nearly impossible. A grisly story in the tradition of Thomas Harris, Gómez-Jurado's richly detailed thriller will appeal more to fans of TV's Criminal Mindsthan to those of CSI. Recommended for most popular fiction collections.—Laura A.B. Cifelli