What I'm reading: Dark deeds at the Vatican

Daniel Silva: THE ORDER

We’ve met Pope Paul VII before: Daniel Silva’s fictional successor to John Paul II, he has survived several assaults on the Vatican, all thwarted by Israeli master-spy Gabriel Allon. Holidaying in Venice when His Holiness dies of a supposed stroke, Gabriel is invited to investigate the possibility that the pontiff was murdered by enemies within the Church who are plotting to manipulate the conclave that will elect his successor. A secret gospel has been discovered in the archives which could undermine Catholicism’s foundations.

There are brief excursions to Florence, Zurich and Hitler’s old “roost” in Berchtesgaden, but most of the action takes place in Rome where a right-wing coup threatens not just the papacy, but the governments of Italy and other EU states. “The backbiting bureaucrats of the Curia” are disturbingly credible. Silva reminds us that the Vatican has a dismal history with the Jewish nation, dating all the way back to the crucifixion of Christ. Let’s not forget that Pius XII cosied up to Mussolini and Hitler and avoided harsh condemnation of the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Pope John Paul I: was he murdered?

Alternative gospels and dark doings in the Holy See have provided fodder for historians and many other writers of fiction (including Dan Brown – twice!). There was much speculation that John Paul I, Pope for only 33 days in 1978, was murdered by rogue cardinals; this theory provided part of the plot of Francis Ford Coppola’s third Godfather movie.

Outlandish as it ought to be, The Order has the ring of believability; it’s almost as pacy as a Bond film. This is the most enthralling thriller I’ve read since Gabriel Allon’s previous misadventure and is unlikely to be equalled until his next one.

LILLIAN : 4-star review on Amazon!

4.0 out of 5 stars An elegantly-written guide to Italy and the past

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2021

There’s a long and honourable tradition in literature of chilly Englishwomen finding themselves abroad and this is in many ways a fine addition to that canon. It’s very well-written, perfectly paced and finely plotted. It takes the reader through what in other hands would be a series of melodramatic events with a restraint and an elegance reflective of the main character herself.

David Gee says in his afterword that he began writing the novel in the 1970s, and it has clearly benefited from its long gestation. The characters and their attitudes are convincingly of their time and remind us that the 1960s were not just the Swinging Sixties but a period in which many adults had been shaped by living through the Depression and two world wars.

Gee does a good job of depicting his main characters’ disapproval of homosexuality without endorsing it, as he does with similar lightness of touch when it comes to other characters’ approval of violence and murder. It is unfortunate though that the resolutions of some of the characters’ stories could be seen as confirming some of the prejudices depicted in the novel.

Despite its twentieth-century setting, Lillian and the Italians is essentially a historical novel, at its best when reflecting on the workings of a society that is not our own. Gee shows himself a sure guide here to both Italy and the past.

4.0 out of 5 stars.