Title: God’s Spy

Author: Juan Gomez-Jurado

Publisher: Orion Books 2007

ISBN: 978-0-75287-569-9

It is April 2005 and Pope John Paul II has died. Catholic Cardinals from across the world travel to the Vatican City for his funeral and to elect his successor. When someone brutally murders two of these cardinals Police in the Vatican are forced to seek help from Italian Police (who have no official jurisdiction inside the Vatican) with the proviso that no word of the murders leaks out to the media or the pilgrims who have flocked to Rome for the Pope’s funeral. Consequently only a handful of people are allowed to be involved in the investigation so there’s no huge team of forensic experts to back up the detectives.

We know virtually from the beginning who the killer is but, unusually, this doesn’t detract from the suspense. The novel is fast paced, full of twists and held my attention right to the end. The narrative is intertwined with excerpts from psychologist’s interviews with the killer which, combined with the placement of fictional events in a real setting, adds an air of authenticity to the story. Although even with that you still have to suspend your disbelief at the door.

The characters are a bit clichéd and service the plot rather than driving it. A priest/psychologist/CIA agent stretches the bounds of credibility to breaking point and the book never provides a convincing reason why an FBI-trained profiler (who is of course young, attractive and once slept with her boss) was chosen as the sole investigator for a case where the culprit is already known.

The book is certainly not for the feint-hearted as it involves the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church and contains pretty graphic descriptions of the gruesome murders.

I admit my inner conspiracy theorist makes me a bit of a sucker for this kind of religion-soaked thriller so I might be a bit more generous than other readers.

My rating 3.5/5