The Seville Communion
A Novel
-
-
3.7 • 7 Ratings
-
-
- $1.99
-
- $1.99
Publisher Description
An “intricate literary mystery [of] wrenching effect” by the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author of The Club Dumas (The New Yorker).
Someone has hacked into the pope’s personal computer—not to spy on the Vatican or to spread a virus, but to send an urgent plea for help: SAVE OUR LADY OF THE TEARS. The crumbling Baroque church in the heart of Seville is slated for demolition—and two of its defenders have suddenly died. Accidents? Or murders? And was the church itself somehow involved?
The Vatican promptly dispatches Father Lorenzo Quart, their worldly and enormously attractive emissary, to investigate the situation, track down the hacker—known only as “Vespers”—and stay alive. Thus begins a sophisticated and utterly suspenseful page-turner that has taken its readers by storm.
“An elegant thriller that is as much about the elusive quest for happiness as it is about solving the murders.” —The Denver Post
“An indelible tale of love, faith, and greed.” —People, Page-Turner of the Week
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mysterious, deadly conflicts between history and modernity drive Spanish author Perez-Reverte's latest literate thriller (after The Club Dumas, 1997), an engaging tale of love, greed, faith, betrayal and murder set in contemporary Seville. When a computer hacker penetrates Vatican security to send an urgent, anonymous plea to the pope, Father Lorenzo Quart of the church's Institute of External Affairs--a sort of Vatican CIA--is dispatched to investigate. The hacker's message concerns a troubled 17th-century church in Seville, Our Lady of the Tears. Apparently, the dilapidated church "kills to defend itself." It stands in the way of a huge real estate deal, and two people have died there--in apparent accidents--as they brought pressure to condemn it. A handsome dandy who wears expensive black suits instead of a cassock and knows how to conduct himself in a fistfight, Quart prides himself on his discipline but soon finds it heavily taxed as he's embroiled with a bellicose, elderly parish priest, a blue-jeaned American nun and a stunning Andalusian duchess intent on saving the church from the businessmen (including her husband) who threaten it. Despite some unconvincing plotting and a few heavy-handed moments, Perez-Reverte's characters capture the imagination, and his dramatic Seville seduces his protagonist and readers alike. 75,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; film rights to Canal Plus and Iberoamericana. FYI: The Seville Communion is appearing simultaneously with Vintage's paperback issue of The Club Dumas.
