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Nov 20, 2020wcbind421 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This Gabriel Allon thriller returns to his old friends at the Vatican. But this time, the Pope dies and Allon is asked to investigate the mysterious circumstances by the late Pope's private secretary. Add to the mix the hunt for the last remaining copy of a secret New Testament Gospel with radical content that the dead Pope intended Allon to have, and a secretive right wing religious order with ties to Neo-Nazis trying to take over the Papacy. So the plot is preposterous but told with Silva's usual careful plotting and attention to detail. The narrative is propulsive, with short chapters hop-scotching across numerous locations in Italy, Germany and Switzerland. It's an enjoyable, quick read. There are, however, short digressions into the rise of anti-Semitism throughout western Europe and reminders of the papacy's moral failures during the Holocaust that are disturbing reminders of the real world we live in.