A Pius Stand by Declan Finn - This is War!

If you want peace, work for justice."--Pope Paul VI

Weaver cursed. "Tell me again why President Barry didn't
veto this? Oh, that's right, because we were being 'sued' by
the ACLU--Barry's good friends giving him something to
hang his hat on. Damn it."
The Deputy Director for Intelligence, Patrick Cochran,
shook his head. "A veto may not have worked, sir."
Weaver glared. "And why not?"
"Because, Director," DDO Grant answered, "even if we
vetoed it, it would go to the General Assembly. You know
what they'd say. It's the same reason they passed the
Resolution equating Zionism with racism, 242."

Charles Weaver, the Director of Central Intelligence, was a big man. As a former Navy SEAL, that had come in handy. At the moment, he looked incredulously at his Deputy Director of Operations. "The bastards are doing what, exactly?"

DDO David Grant sighed. "They're mobilizing troops. We're seeing movements of a few hundred people in the Sudan, as well as Russia and China. North Korea doesn't seem to want to move just yet, although you can bet they'll be at it next."

...Weaver rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, why are we being held hostage by petty dictators who like to play dress up? How many people in that assembly room would like to see real human rights, coming soon to a theater near you?"

Cochran sighed. "Less than half. Maybe. In Africa, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt on occasion. In the Middle East, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates. The others? Consider, sharia is still popular with some of them."

"Remind me to have some of the Saudi royal family assassinated," Weaver muttered to himself.

DDO David Grant made a note. "In any event, what do we want to do?"

Cochran shrugged. "I don't see what we can do. Unless you want to nuke Turtle Bay, then I'd say we're in a stalemate. We can't move, but they can. And it's not like President Barry is going to do anything against the UN."

Weaver ran a hand over his scalp as if through hair. "What are the chances the Vatican will hold out?

DDO Grant looked down and sighed. "They're mainly priests and nuns, and only a hundred or so Swiss Guards. I wouldn't give you two changes for their survival. They have mostly nonlethal weapons, a few lethal ones, but that's it. As for the attacking forces...If North Korea decides to send as many as the French can airlift, the enemy could easily escalate to the ten-thousand mark. Thankfully, these guys have no force projection, or it'd move faster.

Weaver nodded, mostly to himself. "True. North Korea can have a million-man army, but it isn't worth a damn if they can't move it anywhere. Korea and China have worthless navies, and their armies can't really go anywhere without one."

Grant pulled out the projections and handed out copies. "Unfortunately, this is the Vatican. Tanks and bombers and navies aren't required; all they'd need are a lot of guys with guns who are having a bad day. They don't even need assault rifles; just bring in handguns, you're covered, game over. Throw in a few shotguns if you want heavy artillery."

Weaver grimaced. "War on the cheap."

A Pius Stand:

A Global Thriller

By Declan

This final book, for me, was a life-altering experience... I am old enough to have lived through the time that prayer was removed from school. I didn't understand it then, as a child who remembered the early school openings with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance... When I started to work, we were required to sign a "loyalty oath" which was later eliminated...Then, of course, separation of church and state took effect and my job at that time was involved in scheduling and use of State facilities for activities. I was constantly making decisions about if and how an event could be scheduled on campus. Many of them bothered me...a lot...to say yes to one and no to another based upon religion...

When a child is raised in a Christian home environment, it is hard to understand how it became bad to be a Christian...For surely, that was the only reason for these changes... ??? Since then, I have seen the U.S. go into war after war on behalf of a nation, who no longer considered God as part of it, it seemed... Anybody who reads my blog knows that I abhor war...and any form of violence... I also hate prejudice of any kind, for any reason... So, no, I'm not a Catholic, nor do I feel that every religion is wrong if it is not mine... Don't ask me how I came to believe as I do--I don't know how or why...

Until I read Declan Finn's A Pius Stand... I would never have supported going to war...again...

Now I would join the army... I could, you know, answer phones and keep the evil people from harassing His Holiness, at least...LOL

"You failed us," the Sudanese ambassador barked. "You let the
Pope escape!"
"Indeed," the rep from North Korea added. "Our Glorious Leader
is--"
"A schizophrenic moron!" Ioseph Andrevich Mikhailov barked,
not even turning around. "You ingrates have tried to turn my
successes into failures since I began. You will either allow me
to run this operation, or you'll all pay." He turned to face them.
..."When the Vatican first repulsed us, they did it with a show of
pyrotechnics. A shootout in the Vatican, on the Spanish Steps,
even in Da Vinci airport. Then, after 'slaughtering' a whole team
of French commandos, they tracked down and broke the Pope
out of jail."
...The Korean glared, unafraid of the Russian mercenary. "Yes,
you allowed them to take the Pope right out from under you--"
"Yes, I did," Ioseph barked..."Now the Vatican looks like it can
take on a fully-armed force. Instead of merely 'arresting' the
Pope, we have to invade, and arrest everyone for
'harboring a fugitive'..."
~~~

Seriously, Would you defend a church? Would you defend the right to worship? Often I have felt that there is now prejudice against Christians. Yes, there are historical reasons for that, I agree. But I also believe that those actions were born out of a desire for power or money by those who were inherently evil.

But I believe even more that there are more good people that those who are evil. We just have never learned to speak out in a way that would ensure action...At some point, Love is not enough, Prayer is not enough... War is required...

This man has been accused, arrested, put on trial... The United States has refused to get involved... Now that's almost unbelievable since past presidents have placed our soldiers directly into the front lines... But, there is no other way to say it, President Barry has proved to be a wimp, a man with no principles, who allows personal hate to affect his professional decisions. Other presidents have moved America into war... This time, NO from the White House...

Who needed him anyway?

While Sean Ryan seems to be the main character--you might call him the General leading the events--he certainly does not play the main role in this last book, except that he put together the total defense plan for...the Vatican...

Everyone was going to die in the first "legally" sanctioned case of mass murder.

After all, when the United Nations had already declared the Catholic Church an outlaw entity guilt of war crimes--against women, Islam, gays, pick your poison--and had declared all their properties forfeit, any action in support of that was going to be legal in the eyes of the "International community."

While everybody within the Vatican, including the Pope, were thinking about what should or could be done, Sean was already beginning his planning...

"Don't forget power," Kovach told her. "No annoying Pope to say 'bad Sudan, no genocide for you.' No more 'bad Korea, feed your population.' Or telling the Chinese 'look up a civil right every few years, you godless pricks.' Or going after US politicians like Nancy Pelosi, who claims Catholicism, but practices demonology, if what she says is any indication?"
...Indeed," came a soft voice from a corner of the room. No one had seen him enter, but Father Francis Williams stood off to the side of the door. "The priest seemed small and unimposing, even more than Kovach, since Fr. Williams was shorter. His silver hair made him look older than he was, even though he wasn't out of his thirties yet. All that hid the fact that he was a former Special Forces soldier...
"Hey, Frank," Goldberg said. "You're not with XO or the Pope?"
...You must realize that my input would be useless to Bishop O'Brien and His Holiness...
McGrail cocked her head. "Och? And what did it all boil down to?"
Fr. Frank flashed a quick grin. "You have to know when to hold 'em. Know when to walk away, and when to run."
Goldberg laughed. "You're running, right?"
Fr. Frank spread his hands, as though it were up to anyone but him, and he wouldn't know what happened even if they decided.
"Really? That's your best answer?"
"What else can I say?" he said softly. "We have no army. If we send out a call for assistance, would that help our cause if people arrived, or hurt us? If no one came, would that support our cause? Honestly? We haven't called for a crusade in over 1000 years. We haven't had a warlord-Pope in centuries. We keep the peace. We're always for the peace. Always. And what would peace entail here? Surrender? Holding the line? Retreat? I can't imagine. Can you?"
Kovach leaned back in the chair. "Oh, I can imagine what surrender looks like."

~~~

The Pope looked out at them as though gazing at something in the distance. "I am not certain. Matthew 10:23 states that when you are persecuted in one place, flee to another...I still have trouble believing they're coming to kill us. Can they honestly think they can go through with it?" He sighed. "But then again, why not? What's going to stop them? Us?

"Yes. Us."

~~~

And when the Pope finally got around to openly ask the question of who could stop them from coming, Sean Ryan was right there to say, "Yes. Us." And the rest, as they say, is history...

The majority of the final book has to be the single, best, holy war, that was ever fought! The Pope declared that the only overriding goal would be to prevent as much bloodshed as possible. Sean's answer was to use rubber bullets, and all the training in martial arts that had been ongoing, plus a lot of the tricks of his trades... It's fun to read, hilarious to watch and visualize the action, fake or not... Just imagine being in a fight and stopping to think, "How can I do this without killing the guy?!!!" (Wouldn't that be a wonderful thought to hold?!)

But most of all, the cast of characters will absolutely blow your mind! Well, maybe not, none of them surprised me, but I loved the reaction of those reps from countries who were sending thousands of troops and how even the troops going into battle were picked. It may be a fantasy war but it was absolutely fantastic in exciting thrills, surprises, and good ole fashion "fun stuff." This thriller trilogy gets away with satire just because it's soooooo good!

 

Loved It!

GABixlerReviews

And guess who "got the girl?"

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

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

A Pius Man by Declan Finn Fantastic Thriller Also Clarifies History! One of Top 5 Favorites for 2013!

"Goldberg nodded. "Ah, sorry, it didn't process for a moment. Then again, there's been so much fuss made in the U.S. over 'Pius XIII'...ever since he took the name, lord..." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "The news coverage...depending on who you believe, the last pope to take the name either did nothing about the Holocaust, said nothing about the Holocaust, or was actively responsible for the Holocaust...

"...All of the historians were just as enraged that, not only had Joshua Kutjok picked the name Pius, but the Sudanese Archbishop had given two reasons for picking the name: "Like my predecessor, I, too, have a mission to save lives from a mechanism of death, which seeks to 'purify' a country through murder. Like Pope Pius XII, I will put all of my energies toward ending the murder and slavery in Sudan--North and South--as he did to save the Jews of Europe during the dark years of the Nazi infestation. To commemorate this mission, I will start the proceedings to canonize Pope Pius Xii..."

"Like some of his predecessors, Pius XIII was on a mission from God..."

~~~

A Pius Man:
 A Holy Thriller

By Declan Finn

Wow! If I hadn't already read this book, I'd think it was a story with a group of super-heroes! Don't think I've seen another book other than comics that had such great and talented characters all working for good! When I saw "a holy thriller" I thought of the old Fr.Dowling mysteries, which both I and the author faithfully enjoyed. But Finn's thriller is not just two main characters solving the crime! The Pope's desire to not only take the name Pius XIII, but to canonize Pius XII, had become a major issue and everybody's interested... Interpol, Mossad, the BND (German Foreign Intelligence), the U.S., Egypt, and many more are all involved in this novel which, for me, must be placed in my top 5 favorites for 2013...

Many years ago, once in awhile, I would read small brochures from a preacher in our family about the atrocities in the Catholic Church. We were told to never date a catholic boy, of course...  Sometime later, probably through something I read, I learned that during Hitler's reign, the Pope forbid getting involved to save the Jewish people... which was unbelievable for me...

I applaud the author for helping ensure that this disinformation is corrected.. In his foreword, his author's notes at the end and via supplemental references on his blog.. Finn takes us into the Vatican where this is all taking place. The Pope has already assumed his duties and readers are met by Giovanni Figlia, head of security...

This week, history was made as the Roman Catholic church's conclave ended with the election of the first African Pope.
Long criticized as an organization of old white men, the move was heralded by some as “inspired by the recent election of Barack Obama,” the first black President of the United States.
“We thought nothing of the kind,” one Irish Cardinal, James McFee, said. “He was simply the best qualified for the position, considering all of his policies and his history. The other possibilities were good choices, but at the end of the day, the two-thirds vote was relatively easy.”
Cardinal-Archbishop Kutjok has long been a floating Cardinal. Due to his speeches against genocide in the Sudan city of Darfur, he had been long exiled in Uganda, Sudan's next door neighbor.  (APiusMan.blogspot.com for this and other info.)

Wilhemina Goldberg, NSA, had come to provide a security audit for the Church, but when Figlia picked her up and was returning, they got stopped in traffic just as a body was landing. The location was on Figlia's car! I enjoyed that he immediately claimed the murder as being under his jurisdiction, later admitting that a good murder case broke the routine quite nicely. The case also included the death of the man who had murdered car-destroyer, apparently bombed while he was on the phone, by his boss???

But Figlia didn't realize what he was getting into...

By the time he was back, trying to get settled in, they learned that the deceased was David Gerrity, and he had just visited the Vatican's records! 

Outside, on the streets, Manana Shushurin and Scott Murphy were spys trying to gather information. Shushurin represented Germany while Murphy represented Mossad, interestingly as a group of individuals from other countries who wanted to support the efforts there...Murphy was from Ireland...Shushurin was a beautiful woman who had been trained since early childhood, while Murphy had few fighting skills. Yet they turned out to create a partnership that became a focal point in the case!

Now our main character, if there is one, is Sean Ryan. Among other things, Sean is a mercenary and has a world-wide reputation for his security activities. The Pope had hired him to come and do some basic training in arms use for all non-guard employees, so that, in case of a crisis, everybody could work to protect themselves and hopefully others. Of course, as soon as it was known that visitors to the Vatican's records were being targeted--other murders occurred, including the Vatican librarian, who had worked there for most of his life--Sean became one of the group that was investigating. Yet, when they identified one of the researchers as Ashid Yousef, whose brother had in the past made plans for killing Pope John Paul II, they realized that this might also be an assassination attempt for the new Pope!

One of the murders had taken place elsewhere, but when they learned he was on his way to the Vatican, Interpol sent a charming but deadly operative who used her body as her weapons... Whew, you'll enjoy the moves she makes! 

"I want to show you off. Meet Hashim Abasi,
Egyptian police, and Ville Goldberg, U.S.
Secret Service."
"The shorter man nodded and shook hands
with each. "Charmed. Sean Ryan...
Wilhelmina...cocked her head and closed
one eye, studying him a moment before it
occurred to her. "Oh, crap."
"Sean Aloysius Patricus Ryan chuckled.
"Yup, you've heard of me. Normally, I
would say don't believe anything you hear,
but one of my employees is ex-Secret
Service, so in your case, I would think you
can pretty well believe everything..."
"Hollywood stuntman." Goldberg's hazel
eyes almost popped out of her head. Sean
Ryan laughed. "Now, you know why they
got me--I was trained how to hurt people
without really hurting them, something the
Fathers and Sisters need to learn..."
~~~

Another official, Hashim Abasi, there on a routine visit was an Egyptian cop, who also immediately became part of the investigation team. One other individual must be mentioned--

Father Frank Williams was under suspicion by the others most of the time. For one thing, they'd seen him fight and knew he was more than a priest. He also seemed to be everywhere, just at the time something was happening...and he was seen talking to someone on the phone while making sure he could not be heard by the others. Even after the end of the book, I still was unsure exactly what his job was...LOL... but perhaps the Vatican wanted it that way...

In any event, in addition to having received threats on the life of the new pope because of his background, he was also moving ahead immediately to present his "Pius" predecessor, Pope Pius XII, for canonization. It was fairly easy to prove or assume that all of the deaths were related to this latter goal since the researchers  had followed the works of Pius during the war...But who would be so concerned about whether or not the Pope had helped Jews escape from Hitler's hatred and danger?

Then there was Yusef...the Pope was the target???

Now, in addition to a lot of historical data to help confirm what was really the activities of Pope Pius XII in relation to Hitler's position on the Jewish people, readers are going to see more action with more players than you will see in many action adventure novels or movies, including car chases through the city--ah, notice if you will, there's a jeep coming down those steps, driven by Sean, fights 

"In Sudan...since the 1980s, the Arab, Islamic north has
killed or enslavaed any black African Christians they can
get. In 1983, they instituted sharia law--theft punished by
amputation, armed crimes were capital offenses, and
adultery punishable by stoning. What did the great and
powerful United Nations do? They put Sudan onto the
Human Rights Commission!"
"Goldberg saw how the Pope seemed to change color as the
intensity of the delivery increased. "I'm sorry to say this,
sir...but even "white" slavery has been ignored, and they
sell sex slaves to Saudi Arabia and Japan. What makes
sharia any different?...
~~~

within the Vatican, including the guards and just about everybody else that worked there! And, when it gets hot and heavy, literally, even the Pope gets into the fight in defense of himself and others. The white robes of the Pope were created from the same Kevlar material... "White bulletproof vestments..." How cool is that?!

Action so fast-paced you can barely keep track, information that may allow you to rethink your own personal knowledge of the role that the Catholic Church once played to save as many Jewish people as possible...

And most of all, the merge of representatives of many organizations from different countries, to fight evil!

Historical fiction lovers...a must-read for you. And thriller lovers, if you don't mind being bogged down a little in research, you'll find these characters know more about fighting, security, and ways to ferret out the truth and ensure everybody knows it, than most characters you've met in your action favorites.

I loved this story, mainly for the characters, but for also clearing up a misconception I'd learned from my past reading... Really, check this out! Soon!

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 the sequel to "A Pius Man."

Related articles

• Today's Birthday: POPE PIUS VII (1742)
• Pius XII - santo presto?
• New: "Pius XII: Under the Roman Sky"
• Fischer sparks row over Pope Pius XII
• Pope Francis may fast-track canonization cause of Pius XII, Vatican source says