in the city of saints
Author : Donato Carrisi
Title : The Lost Girls of Rome
Published : 17/01/2013
Pages : 496
Genre : Crime Thriller
Publisher : Abacus
A young girl has mysteriously disappeared in Rome. As rain lashes the ancient streets, two men, Clemente and Marcus, sit in a café near the Piazza Navona and pore over the details of the case. They are members of the ancient Penitenzeri - a unique Italian team, linked to the Vatican, and trained in the detection of true evil. But they are not alone. Sandra - a brilliant forensics expert with a tragic past - is also working on the case. When her path crosses theirs, not only do they make headway in the case of the missing girl, but they also uncover a terrible secret world, hidden in the dark recesses of Rome. A world that is as perfect as it is evil...
When it comes to this book as shallow as it sounds I picked it for where it was set. Having just come back from Rome I want to read something set there, It's kind of like the book version of a holiday hangover. It helped that it sound like a very complex read and I was looking for something with a bit of meat on the bone. When I had finished reading the synopsis I knew this was the book for me.
This time I figured I would start with the first book in the series rather than my usual trick of coming in part through. the main lead in the book is a guy named Marcus who works for a semi-secret department in the Vatican. The deal in confessions that priest deemed too big to absolved on their own. An archive of sins dating way back to the start of the church. A group I later learned is a real thing. The help out the police in a roundabout way where they can. Being a man of faith he is a true believer, not only in god but in his chosen path within the church. So as a man with strong conviction you can believe he will move heaven and earth to find the culprit in his most recent assignment.
In a parallel story, we meet Sandra women looking for the killer of her husband. Equally as driven in her pursuit of just she bring along a background in forensics. It's nice one more to get a strong an intelligent women who can use her background and knowledge to think her way through a case. Together they a carefully crafted and well thought out characters and throughout the book, the author allows them space to breathe and develop from who the started out as. It is not every day a writer gives so much in the course of one book.
This is defiantly one hefty tome to sink your teeth into. The author also doesn't just deliver two storylines for the main lead but instead gives you multiple strands to follow stretching out across the globe like a giant spiders web. There where a couple of times I had to go back and check certain parts just to get my head straight as to where I was going. This is by no means a bad thing the author writes a book for the more intelligent reader and amuses that you will find a way to keep up with him. It is definitely a workout for the mind. But no space is wasted in this book and with every twist in the plot key points start to come into focus. In a more down to earth way it also asks a bigger question as to the nature of what evil is and how it comes to be born into this world. With a book dealing so much with the Catholic church, this could have taken on a much more spiritual version of the question than it did. And for me, I think this was the right choice to make. What he gave me was the story of to broken people both in there own way searching for redemption and justice. A pair who's worlds are upside down and gives them a way to try and make the find peace at last.
Having finished the book I was left with a profound respect for this author. He delivered a complex and compelling story. I'm sure I will return to him in the future.
When it comes to this book as shallow as it sounds I picked it for where it was set. Having just come back from Rome I want to read something set there, It's kind of like the book version of a holiday hangover. It helped that it sound like a very complex read and I was looking for something with a bit of meat on the bone. When I had finished reading the synopsis I knew this was the book for me.
This time I figured I would start with the first book in the series rather than my usual trick of coming in part through. the main lead in the book is a guy named Marcus who works for a semi-secret department in the Vatican. The deal in confessions that priest deemed too big to absolved on their own. An archive of sins dating way back to the start of the church. A group I later learned is a real thing. The help out the police in a roundabout way where they can. Being a man of faith he is a true believer, not only in god but in his chosen path within the church. So as a man with strong conviction you can believe he will move heaven and earth to find the culprit in his most recent assignment.
In a parallel story, we meet Sandra women looking for the killer of her husband. Equally as driven in her pursuit of just she bring along a background in forensics. It's nice one more to get a strong an intelligent women who can use her background and knowledge to think her way through a case. Together they a carefully crafted and well thought out characters and throughout the book, the author allows them space to breathe and develop from who the started out as. It is not every day a writer gives so much in the course of one book.
This is defiantly one hefty tome to sink your teeth into. The author also doesn't just deliver two storylines for the main lead but instead gives you multiple strands to follow stretching out across the globe like a giant spiders web. There where a couple of times I had to go back and check certain parts just to get my head straight as to where I was going. This is by no means a bad thing the author writes a book for the more intelligent reader and amuses that you will find a way to keep up with him. It is definitely a workout for the mind. But no space is wasted in this book and with every twist in the plot key points start to come into focus. In a more down to earth way it also asks a bigger question as to the nature of what evil is and how it comes to be born into this world. With a book dealing so much with the Catholic church, this could have taken on a much more spiritual version of the question than it did. And for me, I think this was the right choice to make. What he gave me was the story of to broken people both in there own way searching for redemption and justice. A pair who's worlds are upside down and gives them a way to try and make the find peace at last.
Having finished the book I was left with a profound respect for this author. He delivered a complex and compelling story. I'm sure I will return to him in the future.
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