God’s Dog

Billed as Marani’s first detective novel and the opening of a trilogy, this thoughtful book—set in the near future, in an Italian Catholic Republic ruled by a conservative, doctrinaire papacy—is less mystery than dystopian thriller. Domingo Salazar, Roman Catholic police officer, has spent years in Amsterdam proselytizing, laundering church money, and forging a heretical alliance with Muslims. When he’s summoned to Rome, he believes he’ll investigate a euthanasia ring, but realizes too late that someone wants him dead. His only hope for survival is an alliance with a terrorist cell planning to assassinate the pope. The plot builds slowly, with numerous philosophical discussions about faith, syncretism, language, and theocracy. The villains—church leaders obsessed with ideological purity—are one-dimensional, but Marani (The Last of the Vostyachs) offers no easy heroes either. The fanatical Salazar has destroyed lives for his church. Readers troubled by subjects such as theocracy, propaganda, and the debate between science and faith should find plenty to contemplate. (Mar.)