The Diabolist

Two inexplicable deaths on the same night catch Interpol's attention in Green's latest detective novel featuring Dominic Grey, the relentless former Diplomatic Security agent turned private investigator, and his absinthe-loving partner, religious phenomenologist Viktor Radek. The high priest of a Satanic cult in San Francisco erupts in flame during a worship service while another leader in Paris mysteriously asphyxiates alone in his apartment after both leaders receive distinctive wax-sealed envelopes threatening death by "the one true God." As more envelopes are delivered to the world's religious leaders, Grey and Radek must delve into occult circles filled with human sacrifice, pentagram tattoos, and ritualistic orgy as each follow the trail of the egomaniacal killer. Jujitsu expert Grey prefers the groundwork as the investigation winds from seedy East London to the Parisian catacombs while intellectual Radek is most at home gathering evidence from rare bookstores, cathedral libraries and even his own painful past with black magic. Borrowing from mysticism and philosophy, the thriller will appeal to Dan Brown fans interested in an intricate plot with a historical basis and a whiff of the supernatural. As full congregations follow nefarious leaders who commit grisly acts, Green asks his readers to consider that evil is just a "state of mind." (June)