Vatican City, the dawn of a new century: a lone priest trudges up the winding stairs to the top of St. Peter's Basilica, only to be helped to a sudden and permanent route down. With this death, an ever-more complex chain of events is set in motion in a new kind of thriller: a story of Vatican politics and obsessional revenge, of violence both spiritual and physical, of two men shaped and scarred by a common stormy past. One is the new Pope, nicknamed Tredi, the first from Latin America, a young, audacious risk-taker ready to shake up the old guard, even if it means making dangerous enemies. The other is Brother Paul, a former Miami homicide cop, still recovering from the horrific deaths of his family and brought to Rome as an informal investigator for the Pope, a Vatican Mr. Fixit drifting unsteadily in the shadows of the giant church. When the priest dies in the Basilica, it is Paul who is asked to find out what it means, and soon his days are torn between new alliances and old enmities, as the threats multiply, the ghosts of the past stalking the ancient streets of Rome, circling in upon both Paul and Tredi. In a multilayered surprising thriller, filled with mystery both religious and corporeal, they find that it is not so easy to change an institution, just as it is not so easy to change a life. Though a life is easy to lose... "An action novel wrapped around a murderous intrigue, with a revolutionary Pope, a wayward monk and an insane killer sharing the heart of the story. There's a combination of human warmth and sheer terror that makes Basilica impossible to put down."-- John Sandford"Sexy...cunningly imagined... shrewdly calculated to enthrall until the final mea culpa."-- Publishers Weekly"The absolute best...a literally thrilling achievement."-- Pete Hamill"Going where few thrillers have dared to tread, Basilica has color, action, and smarts to spare."-- Detroit News"A terrific trip into two very different underworlds."-- Carl Hiaasen"Superb."-- Newsday"Chilling."--Los Angeles Times"Wildly Entertaining."-- Chicago Tribune