Assassini
Assassini ( English original title The Assassini ) is a detective novel by the American author Thomas Gifford , which was first published in 1990 and is set in the milieu of the Catholic Church and the Vatican .
action
October 1982: The popular nun Valentine Driskill is murdered, whereupon her brother Ben, a former Jesuit and current lawyer, starts an investigation. A mysterious photo from 1943 shows four unknown men. In search of them - and the fifth person who took the picture - Ben and sister Elizabeth Cochran, a close friend of the murdered Valentine, discover a conspiracy between the Catholic Church and the National Socialists to trade in art Vatican are involved. Driskill also finds out that Pope Pius XII. during the Second World War the so-called Assassini had reactivated. They organized the art trade with the Nazis and also carried out contract killings. The leader of the Assassini , Simon Verginius, apparently commissioned the murder of Valentine Driskill and others who were on the trail of the mystery.
Furthermore, Pope Calixt IV is dying, and a haughty and unscrupulous elite of cardinals are ready to walk over dead bodies in the race to succeed him. The two papabili are the progressive Giacomo D'Ambrizzi and the conservative Manfredi Indelicato. Ben Driskill discovers that Cardinal D'Ambrizzi is Simon Verginius, the former leader of the Assassini , and consequently accuses him of being the mastermind behind the killings. After the Cardinal Driskill and Sister Elizabeth ordered to the Vatican, the two learned the whole truth: D'Ambrizzi alias Simon wanted to end the cooperation with the Nazis and an assassination attempt on Pius XII with his Assassini . to perpetrate. Since the conspiracy to murder Pius XII. is betrayed by one of the Assassini , a man named Archduke , the Pope learns of the attempted assassination. He instructs the young clergyman Manfredi Indelicato to track down D'Ambrizzi. It was also Indelicato who led the former assassin August Horstmann to believe that he was Simon. Horstmann then murdered Valentine Driskill. Shortly thereafter, Indelicato is called to talk to Calixt IV and murdered by him. The dying Pope, also one of the Assassini , acted on behalf of D'Ambrizzi. He "finds" the dead Indelicato with Driskill, steals the murder weapon and officially announces that he had died of a serious heart attack.
Ben Driskill eventually returns to the United States to visit his ailing father, Hugh, an influential lawyer. It turns out that Driskill's father is Archduke and the conspiracy against Pius XII. had betrayed. Driskill Sr. also knew that Indelicato commissioned the murder of his daughter Valentine to cover up his involvement in the Church-Nazi deal. When Ben confronts his father, August Horstmann, who found out that he had fallen for a ruse by Indelicato, appears and shoots Hugh Driskill. He himself is then shot dead by Ben Driskill.
At the end of the plot, Pope Calixt IV dies, who had fallen into a coma after the murder of Cardinal Indelicato. Who will be his successor remains open.
background
Gifford researched his greatest single work for nearly a decade before it was published in 1990. The book was a great economic success. Like Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" later, it was criticized by church representatives for its strong criticism of the Vatican.
style
The book tells the Driskill-related chapters of the story in the first person , but switches to the third person for the storylines that involve other characters.
The plot is peppered with numerous references and background information as well as anecdotes that illuminate the history of the Catholic Church from Gifford's point of view. The author sees a function of various Vatican organs that has grown over centuries as a powerful international secret service with unimaginable secular - especially financial - power. He also claims the informational power of the Vatican's Secret Archives.
expenditure
- Thomas Gifford: Assassini. Bergisch Gladbach, Lübbe 1991 ISBN 3-7857-0609-X and 3-404-13509-1 (paperback)
- Abridged audio book version (7 CDs): Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2004, ISBN 3-7857-1416-5