Pope Arrested! A Pius Legacy by Declan Finn - You'll be Sorry if you Miss This Trilogy!

One of my 2013 favorites was
the first book in this
trilogy. I was thrilled to get
the opportunity to read the 
final two. Here's the trailer 
for the first book and check
 out My Review too!

I am amazed that the books
could get even better, but
OMG, they did!

Truly an unbelievable,
incredible thriller trilogy
that is hard to beat!

"Mr. Ryan holds himself like you,"
Pius said. "He once told me that
he needed years of training to be
like that...so you are one of his
co-called 'super-soldiers'...
~~~
Pius XIII, born Joshua Kutjok,
cleared his throat. "I grew up in
Uganda. We had war, we had
genocide. We have terrorists, and
pirate gangs, slave traders, and
a cannibal who ran the country 
for years--one had to be able to
fight, or to hide. I was able to hide
and fight when necessary.
Fighting is not much of an option
in my chosen profession."
~~~

Undisclosed Location. 3:00 AM
Pope Pius XIII knew he was awake, and knew he was alive--if he were dead, it wouldn't ache so much. He slowly opened one eye. It didn't help much, since he was still in the dark.
He rolled onto his side, feeling the wooden bench he had been laid out on. Unpleasant, but nothing worse than a day at a monastery.
"You are awake," came the smooth, cultured voice. "Welcome, Your Holiness."
The Pope propped himself up on one arm, focusing on the man leaning on the door. He was of a build on the husky side of medium, with broad shoulders and graying hair, slowly changing from black. There was a mustache that looked like it was going to be a handlebar, and suddenly changed its mind halfway. And despite his build, he held himself casually and gracefully, and almost like someone else the Pope knew...
{The Captor} smiled, giving a low chuckle. "You have me there."
Pius smiled, sitting up. "It would appear that, in fact, sir, you have me." He waved around the room. "Where exactly am I?"
...He raised a brow. "You do not ask why?"
Pius shook his head with a small smile. "I saw the news. I am now the United Nations' number one human rights abuser, apparently. Hence I am to be put on trial...

~~~

A Pius Legacy:

A Political Thriller

"Enjoy the story. The point of these arguments is less a matter of what you believe or what I believe, but that we are all free to believe differently, or not at all And that is a freedom worth dying for" --Declan Finn

By Declan Finn

This historical writer has a very important addition to his thrillers, in my opinion... He includes ending information about what is historically accurate in his books. At least that holds true for the second in his Pius Trilogy, A Pius Legacy. Declan Finn is a lover of history and has used it in creating truly unbelievable story lines...except you tend to realize that they might be talking "alternative history/future" because there's an underlying historical thread that could easily be sewn into today's reality... Scary Good, if you know what I mean!

Take for instance all of the exciting news activities directly from Headlines coming out of the Vatican right now...What if...

He smiled, imaging his wife going through the
penjakt silat motions in the middle of their living
room, her long red hair down her back like a line
of fire, her sparkling eyes glowing with amusement
At 5'8", Moira McShane Kovach could, and had,
taken down attackers three times her size, usually
three at a time...and that was when they had first
met in high school. He didn't want to think about
how many more she could deal with now.

!!!

The day that Matthew Kovach was slated to die had started out so well. Matthew's medium blue eyes scanned the landscape through silver wire-frame glasses as he wondered how he wound up here, for God's sake. Then again, God is pretty much the point.

Matthew Kovach was known as a thriller writer. His books were actually True Crime, but his publishers refused to believe that they were, actually, true... Interesting, don't you think, that reality for Kovach was actually living... fiction... according to his publishers and readers.

Kovach had come to Rome and found that Sean was there as well--his agent was Inna Petraro who has involved with Sean Ryan, the main character in the books...

Actually they were in Rome at the same time and soon to be at the same place. Sean was busy training at the Vatican...Kovach wanted to research papers there...He was working on his next book, covering Pope Pius XII. 

And, just like his other books, Kovach was about to be in the middle of his latest thriller--the arrest of Pope Pius XIII... Now, before I leave Kovach, I should mention that his wife is an expert, and has taught him much about her skills...so don't be surprised what he gets into! In fact, be prepared for many men and women who will use various forms of martial arts in these books...

To fill in a little background, Pope Pius XII was involved during WWII. He had now been recommended for canonization. There were two opinions of his involvement.. Many had already researched his activities, some, at least two, were now dead... Kovach had probably seen the man who'd kill the last one as he, too, had been visiting the archives when it happened.

They had also already tried to kill Kovach... And that's when he started to meet the rather strange group that had already been there visiting at the Vatican... They were all warning him to keep his head down....

"Be grateful the man didn't spot you otherwise you would also no longer be here."
Matthew gave him a smile that could only be categorized as evil. "Don't be so certain of that Father. Now, I have to ask something--what abject psycho on God's green Earth would go around killing academics over a 70-year-old historical debate?"

Actually, there were a number of countries plus the ACLU who had been and were now involved in moving against the Catholic Church for their "acts against human rights" as defined by, of course, just about anybody else. The amazing thing, though, was that the UN both heard, and accepted the accusations... Then acted upon them by arresting Pope Pius XIII.

First I should highlight that the U.S. President was not as expected and had declared the U.S. would stay out of the fiasco that erupted. It seemed everybody knew that the end result would be the acquisition of all the riches of the church! And it didn't take long for every criminal considering an easy "steal" to make moves...across the world, as well as the Vatican...

First of all, I said I was in love with just what I saw
of you, and most of that was not an act. You saved
Sean Ryan even when it was in your best interest
him to die--and he was about a second away from
killing you himself. You saved everyone on the
Spanish Steps when it was near-suicide, especially
considering that you had to shoot at the bastards
you were working for, at gunpoint." He shook his
head. "You're a hero...
~~~

Interesting love relationships in the novels are beautifully done, coming forth out of the closeness of those that participated in keeping the Pope and Vatican safe. In addition to the Pope being taken by known mercenaries who were acting on behalf of several countries, Sean and Manana, one of those falling in love, were captured by the same group with the plan to murder both of them...

I think, for me, aside from the action and participants from both side, the most exciting part was the assistance from two American hackers, along with Kovach who was already living and writing his novel and sending it off to ensure it was ultimately published, but was assisting in the Pope's defense activities because, yes, the Pope was put on trial!
New York City, NY, The United Nations
The Itlian Ambassador to the United Nations straightened his silk Armani tie as he stood at the podium before the General Assembly. His frown was pronounced and his brow was deeply furrowed.
He looked around the assembly as they finally settled in. He nodded to himself slowly as he took hold of the podium. With one final glare, he began to speak. "The administration of the new Pope, Pius XIII, has irritated the People's republic of China, the People's Republic of North Korea, and the people of the Sudan, all of whom have lodged protests in this very assembly.  When they could not win through words, they decided to win through assassination and subterfuge. The Pope has declared them violators of human rights. Through old Soviet connections, they hired a team of mercenaries to reactivate this plan...
In support of this program, murder has already been committed. Dr. David Gerrity, an American research in Rome, was murdered. He was simply interested in the truth regarding the actions of Pius XII during World War II. Ashid Raqman Yousef, a member of the terrorist organization al-Taeda, also discovered it--but he was not accepted into this plan. Before he could make an announcement to al-Jazeera, we was also killed. He came to Rome Believing the Papacy hated Jews as much as he did. He was wrong, and died...
He glared at the Assembly. "And now, I charge all of you, in this Assembly, to make this right...

..."A resolution, drafted by myself and my fellow members of the Human Rights Commission, declaring the Roman Catholic Church an inhumane organization that abuses the human rights of its members, and the nations of the world in which it operates..."

~~~

Got to say that this Trilogy, with not only a historical bag of facts, merged with today's "possibilities" is just about the most imaginative thriller that I've read. It does not surprise me, unfortunately, that sometime, somewhere governments would not strike out against churches, of any religion. The world is already fighting good versus evil... But Finn has given us a specific example of what it would be like if and when...it happened... Look for my review of the final book in this Trilogy next! This superb second novel picks up from the first and then is concluded in A Pius Stand. This 3-b00k story is magnificent in scope and represents all that is wrong with this world when religion becomes the basis for man against man...

I recommend you plan reading them one right after the other for the full effect!

GABixlerReviews

Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who's Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University's PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know? He is currently hard at work on a vampire novel called "Honor At Stake." His political ramblings can be found at the-american-journal.com, while his rantings on writing can be found at apiusman.blogspot.com