The Absolution: A Novel (Carnivia Trilogy) - Softcover

Holt, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062267086 ISBN 13: 9780062267085

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks, 2016

Synopsis

In this mesmerizing finale to the revolutionary Carnivia Trilogy—following The Abomination and The Abduction—Venetian police captain Kat Tapo and U.S. Army intelligence analyst Holly Boland embark on their most dangerous and disturbing journey yet.

On Venice’s popular Lido beach, a man is found lying on the shore, his throat slit and his tongue viciously torn out, and his face covered by an unusual antique mask.

Superiors inside the Venice Carabinieri have finally given Captain Kat Tapo permission to run her first murder case. But when she learns that the mask is a Masonic “hoodwink”—and that the circumstances of the man’s death are eerily similar to the Masonic punishment for betrayal—she suspects that her appointment has darker implications. As a woman, she cannot penetrate the closed world of Italian freemasonry.

The dead man is identified as a senior partner in a small Catholic bank currently engaged in negotiations with one of Italy’s richest men. Yet Kat knows that, when it comes to Venice’s most powerful and influential, money isn’t the only motive for murder.

While she focuses on her investigation, American intelligence analyst Holly Boland finds a document among her father’s possessions that offers evidence of a shocking Cold War cover-up. The deeper the second lieutenant digs into what her father knew, the more she begins to wonder: Was her father silenced before he could expose the truth?

Reclusive genius Daniele Barbo, creator of the anonymous virtual world Carnivia.com, makes a chilling discovery of his own: his website has been contaminated by a malevolent virus that will cripple Italy unless he can break his own encryption and prevent catastrophe.

As the three cases merge, the trio of allies uncover a conspiracy involving the security services, the Church, and the CIA—a devastating plot stretching back decades that could destroy all three of them . . . but not without a fight.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

On Venice’s crowded Lido beach a senior partner at a small Catholic bank—a bank engaged in negotiations with one of Italy’s richest men—is found gruesomely murdered. Kat Tapo of the Venetian Carabinieri is called to run the investigation. But when the circumstances of his death echo an unsettling Masonic punishment for betrayal, she begins to think that money may not be the only motive. Working alongside her American colleague, US Army lieutenant Holly Boland, Kat soon realizes that she will need to look beyond the crowded streets of Venice for answers.

From the United States to North Africa to the virtual world of Carnivia, created by notorious hacker Daniele Barbo, Kat is locked in a deadly race against time to unlock the secrets of Italy’s past—before Venice itself starts to burn. . . . 

In this mesmerizing finale to the Carnivia Trilogy, Jonathan Holt weaves the past and present, the real and the virtual into his most twisting, suspenseful plot yet. 

About the Author:

When Jonathan Holt first traveled to Venice, he found it shrouded in thick fog and flooded with high water. This experience inspired him to write the Carnivia Trilogy, a series of thrillers based on Italy’s hidden past. The Abomination and The Absolution, the first two books, have now become international bestsellers published in sixteen countries. The second novel in the trilogy was longlisted for a Crime Writers’ Association Steel Dagger Award.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0062267086
• ISBN 13: 9780062267085
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432