The Unholy Trinity

Artfully crafted and intricately layered, this thriller by a veteran British journalist/crime novelist moves back and forth between 1944 and 1945 and the present to imagine a complex web of modern neo-Fascist Italian extremism entwined with corrupt Vatican politics, all nicely set against an affecting love affair between a highly unlikely pair of still young--however prematurely disenchanted--professional adversaries. In a prologue set during April 1945, Mussolini's veteran aide de camp steals away from the convoy accompanying Il Duce in his futile attempt to escape and strikes out alone for the Swiss border, driving a truck carrying 10 heavy wooden boxes. The action then switches to present-day Rome, where 30-ish magistrate Elena Fiorini and British journalist Andy Chapman meet at the scene of the murder of a rebellious Catholic priest. Chapman's Italian journalist friend Enzo breaks a story linking the murder to neo-Fascists, and Chapman tapes a young street urchin who claims that a member of Parliament visited the priest just before his murder. When Chapman takes the tape to Elena, the chemistry between them leads to bed. During a rendezvous with Enzo to meet an informer who wants to talk, Chapman barely escapes with his life as he and the informer are ambushed. The trail leads to secret Vatican archives containing evidence of papal collusion with the high crimes of Mussolini and a modern-day revival of the Fascist Blackshirt movement reaching into high places. Unraveling a fascinating tapestry of pious deceit, Adams explores carnal frailty, broken vows and religious genocide as he adroitly connects the present-day action to Mussolini's fall from power. (May)