"Dominus"

New from Quercus: Dominus by Tom Fox.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Vatican Cathedral is packed to the rafters as Pope Gregory XVII leads the congregation in mass. A cloaked stranger steps suddenly and fearlessly towards the altar and commands the wheelchair-bound Pope to stand. He does. The miracle, if that's what it is, stops the world in its tracks. Who is this stranger?

More inexplicable events follow: blind children see for the first time, cancers are cured, and a popular young starlet killed in a surfing accident inexplicably regains consciousness. There is widespread awe at each new demonstration of healing, but the Vatican retreats from the public eye, closing its doors to the world. What the public doesn't see is that someone is threatening various Church officials-as well as the stranger the world is branding a miracle-worker.

Skeptical investigative journalist Alexander Trecchio, seeking a source who could discredit the growing religious mania, instead discovers a gruesome killing. Soon Alexander and police officer Gabriella Fierro are working together to find the killer and get to the bottom of the mysterious events that have sent the world into a frenzy and the Catholic Church into retreat.

The question on everyone's lips is, what is the true nature of the mysterious events unfolding in Rome? Amid talk of miracles and even the Second Coming, Alexander and Fierro uncover evidence of powerful earthly forces at play. Can those forces be stopped before more lives are lost-and one of the most ancient institutions in the world is destroyed?

--Marshal Zeringue