God's Spy [Paperback]

It takes literary guts for a first-time novelist to set his tale of bloody murder against the backdrop of the death of as beloved a pope as John Paul II, but that is exactly what young Juan Gomez-Jurado has done. You certainly can't argue with the book's success, either, as it has already attained bestseller status in Europe and Latin America. I believe something has been lost in James Graham's English translation of the original Spanish novel, but God's Spy is still a riveting, unorthodox thriller that holds nothing back in its account of a maniacal priest targeting prominent cardinals for obscene torture and murder - and one Italian investigator's torturous, continually restricted mission to stop him.

Murder just doesn't happen in Vatican City, yet Detective Paola Dicanti can't deny the obvious as she gazes down on what is left of a body found murdered upon the altar of the Church of Santa Maria. I won't go into details, but I will tell you they are grisly, enough to make Jack the Ripper glance away. Things only get worse when she discovers the dead man is a prominent cardinal, one of the men who would soon be choosing a new pope to replace the just-deceased John Paul II. In one way, it's just the kind of case Paola has been longing for, one that finally gives her a chance to put her FBI profiling training to use. In every other way, though, it's a nightmare. While nominally in charge, she is compelled to work with Vatican authorities whose determination to keep everything secret makes them a hindrance as much of a help. As the best example of this, Paola is furious to discover that another murder preceded this one - with all evidence, including the body of the dead cardinal, destroyed by the Vatican. On top of all this, the investigative team grows a third head with the arrival of an American priest and former Army intelligence officer. Father Fowler does come with critical information, at least - namely, the identity of the killer. Already, you can see how God's Spy differs from your conventional murder mystery thriller. Paola doesn't have the resources or stature to go Dirty Harry on anybody, the murderer's identity is established early on, and the investigative process consists of a great deal of internal bickering between parties with their own separate interests.

With the killer targeting important cardinals of the impending papal conclave, he must be stopped at all costs - but without the knowledge of the cardinals or, heaven forbid, the tens of thousands of mourners descending upon the city to pay their respects to John Paul II. Those kinds of conditions put Paola in an extremely difficult position. As for the killer, he is one wily devil, that's for sure, as he manages to kill and kill again before slipping away into thin air. On numerous occasions, though, the working relationships of the investigators take on even more interest than the investigation itself, especially when it comes to the uncomfortable working dynamics between the Vatican ecclesiastical authorities, the Vatican police, the Italian police, and whoever Father Fowler actually works for. The murderer isn't the only character keeping secrets over the course of this grisly saga.

God's Spy remains at all times an intriguing, surprisingly in-your-face mystery thriller, featuring a steady dose of adrenaline-packed action and a surprising amount of gore courtesy of the sadistic killer. Knowing the identity of the killer takes nothing away from the mystery, as unanswered questions dot the landscape of the investigation and Gomez-Jurado delivers a number of fairly significant surprises in the book's final pages. As I mentioned earlier, though, I do feel something was lost in the translation from Spanish to English. Some of the sentences read rather awkwardly, and I can't help but wonder if some of the language used by certain characters is accurate or just a product of the translation. If you are fluent in Spanish, I would definitely recommend you pick up a copy of the book in its original form. I also had some trouble telling some of the minor characters apart, largely because their Italian names made it difficult for me to tie names and characters together. Clearly, that little problem is entirely on me, but I would be remiss not to mention it.

Certainly, however, I would recommend this novel to all mystery lovers. In terms of authorial audacity alone, it's worth a look, but the amazing thing is that the author totally delivers the goods. God's Spy is an extremely impressive debut from an author poised to completely skip the ranks of the up-and-coming to claim a seat among the well-established writers of the genre.

Juan Gómez-Jurado is a young writer form Spain who jumps into the circle of fine international novelists with this his first book, GOD'S SPY. Previously published in Spanish as ESPIA DE DIOS in 2005 and a best seller in thirty five countries, it now is introduced to the American audiences in a translation by James Graham. GOD'S SPY is a fascinating, intellectually challenging, informative dark gothic work about the inner workings of the Vatican: it also is one of the finest suspense mystery thrillers to be published in the last decade.

Setting the story in Rome in April of 2005 at the time of the death of Pope John Paul II, a time when the entire world focused on the mourning of a the passing of the enormously popular Polish pope, Gómez-Jurado sets the stage for the gathering of the 115 cardinals from around the globe on whose shoulders rests the selection of the next pope in an insidiously terrifying manner: there seems to be a brutally necrophiliac serial killer at large whose apparent role is to kill the candidates for the papacy. Assigned to investigate the initial brutal torture and loathsome dismemberment of the first cardinal is a cadre of investigators: Paola Dicanti is an inspector and psychiatrist with Italian police accompanied by detectives Troi and Pontiero and a forensic sculptor Biffi; the Vatican police force `Corpo Vigilanza' represented by Cirin and Dante; and Anthony Fowler, a priest with a background as a former officer in the US Air Force Intelligence who has a mysterious past.

Gómez-Jurado wisely allows the reader to know the identity of the serial killer practically from the first page and it is this technique that serves to make the interplay of the cardinals, priests, Vatican forces, police and journalists more engrossing. The manner in which the characters - with heavy emphasis on Fowler and Dicanti - unravel the clues found at the site of each gruesome murder, each incident unveiling personal backgrounds and demons of each of the people involved, makes for suspenseful reading of the highest order. In the short span between the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI we are taken on a series of events from April 2 - 20, 2005 that make for intoxicating reading!

Though many will draw the inevitable comparison with `The Da Vinci Code' there is far more information contained in this novel, far superior writing, and the secret workings of the Vatican are both illuminating and fascinating to read. Gómez-Jurado is a powerful writer not only in developing an irresistibly engrossing storyline, but also in creating a large cast of characters each of whom is carefully constructed so that we can see and feel them: the proof of the pudding lies in the fact that there are no extraneous characters created - each person we meet is integral to the story.

This is a novel that is satisfying on every level and one that pleads to be transformed into cinematic form. With GOD'S SPY Juan Gómez-Jurado leaps onto the stage as a fully develop and very gifted writer. He is an artist to watch. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

A fast-paced thriller in which the action and blood never stop, this strong debut by Spanish author Juan Gomez-Jurado is set in Vatican City during the conclave to elect a new pope following the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005. When two cardinals participating in the conclave die grisly deaths, their bodies tortured and mutilated almost beyond recognition, the authorities recognize the MO as that of a serial killer, Victor Karosky, a fellow priest.

As Rome fills with the cardinals returning for the conclave, pilgrims wishing to view the Pope's body, and heads of state arriving for the funeral, the various security forces are frantic to find the killer and prevent additional killings. The Vatican police force is officially in charge and controls the investigation. Needing the manpower and technical savvy of the Italian police in Rome, however, they accept the help of Paola Dicanti, a psychiatrist/inspector with FBI training, who heads the Italian Police Laboratory for Behavioral Analysis. Her specialty is creating profiles of serial killers to provide clues so they can catch killers before they kill again.

Joining Paola in the investigation is Father Anthony Fowler, a former officer in the U.S. Air Force, sent by John Negroponte, the newly installed Director of U.S. Intelligence. Fowler has worked at the St. Matthew Institute in Maryland, a facility for sexually deviant priests, where he had contact with Father Karosky, who escaped. Fowler is the only one of the investigators who has ever seen Karosky, but Karosky, a master of disguise, continues to strike, forcing more cardinals to die slow, bloody deaths.

The sex abuse scandal of the Catholic church and the policy of reassigning priests to other parishes is a major subplot here, as is the lack of success of the St. Matthew Institute in "retraining" pedophile priests. The conflict between church conservatives and liberals regarding sexual abuse, its treatment, and its penalties has theological implications here, as Karosky believes that he is acting appropriately within his own theology. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is monitoring the conclave, believing that certain cardinals being considered for pope have contributed to the abuse.

The explosive conclusion may satisfy many readers, but it also appears to come out of the blue and is not successfully integrated into the plot. In the last fifty pages, information is revealed through static conversations, and the novel becomes "talky," as the author provides information necessary to make his conclusion make sense. Ultimately, the dialogue becomes cliché-ridden and trite. Some of the motivation seems to be a "stretch," and a key "fictional" character, an obvious parallel to a real cardinal, may anger some readers. The novel is exciting and fun to read, however, and it screams to be made into a film, suggesting a long career ahead for this young novelist. Mary Whipple