The Venice Conspiracy
Suspend your disbelief, and immerse yourself in Venetian history, secret societies, Satanism, symbolism, art, and the Etruscans. Since this purports to be a thriller, there are also lots of gruesome ritualistic killings as well as plenty of short chapters. The main protagonist is a former priest, Tom Shaman, whose very name is a symbol. After accidentally killing a man while defending a woman’s honor, Tom feels the need to get away and goes to Venice. There he finds the body of a young woman who was ritualistically murdered, and the local police want his priestly help in solving the case. Despite the fact that Tom speaks no Italian, and the Italian cop he spends the most time with freely admits that her English is subpar, they communicate beautifully. The story constantly jumps back and forth in time from the symbolically important 666 BCE to the late eighteenth century to the present day, with the dramatic ending neatly tying up all the loose ends. Fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry will be enamored. --Stacy Alesi