Publisher Description
Detroit ex-cop August Snow puts his life on the line to protect a friend from modern-day Templars sworn to protect the name of the Catholic church at all costs.
Father Michael Grabowski, a Franciscan priest who has tended the spiritual needs of Detroit’s Mexicantown for forty years, has suddenly retired. August Snow, who has known the priest his whole life, finds the circumstances troubling—especially in light of the recent suspicious suicide of another local priest. What dark history is Father Grabowski hiding?
The situation takes a turn for the deadly with the appearance at the Detroit diocese of a mysterious priest and combat vet calling himself Francis Dominioni Petra. The man comes from the Vatican, and as his armored guard circles closer and closer to Father Grabowski and his friends, August wants to know why. A terrible crime has been committed in the name of faith—but who is seeking justice, and who is trying to bury the truth and any of its witnesses? August grapples with his own ideas about his faith and his chosen family in this action-packed fourth installment in the Hammett Prize–winning series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jones's ripping fourth August Snow thriller (after 2021's Dead of Winter) sees the former Detroit detective facing off against a shadow organization intent on burying the secrets of the Catholic church. Shortly after taking out a target in Norway, Snow receives a call from an old friend that sends him racing home to Detroit's Mexicantown. There, he finds one priest dead of an apparent suicide, and Father Michael Grabowski, whom Snow has known all his life, suspiciously retired from the church he's served for 40 years. Snow learns that Grabowski has been compelled to quit by Father Dominioni Petra, who was sent to Detroit by the Vatican and a mysterious group known as Deus X. After some digging, Snow discovers that Deus X targeted Father Grabowski because, while serving in Mexico, he helped a cartel leader kill sexually abusive priests. To save his friend, Snow must untangle a well-funded conspiracy to protect Catholic bad actors. Jones never lets his foot off the gas, and he brings Snow's Detroit to vivid life, populating the city with memorable characters and wringing atmosphere from its crime-steeped history. This one's a blast for newcomers and series fans alike.
