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Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | CASE, J. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In a remote Italian town, a renowned scientist enters the confessional and pours out the secret that has consumed his life--a story so alarming that the priest who hears it refuses to absolve the scientist and rushes to alert the Vatican....
In a suburb of Washington, D.C., Joe Lassiter learns that his only sister and her young son have been killed in a fire that destroyed their house. The police believe it was arson; soon they will discover that mother and child were brutally murdered before the blaze was set....
As the authorities abandon the case, Lassiter picks up the trail. Others may die if he cannot uncover the elusive connection that links the innocent victims together....
Envisioning a world where sacred belief and modern science collide with shocking repercussions, John F. Case gives us an electrifying reading experience with all the hallmarks of bestselling fiction: lightning-fast pacing, white-knuckle suspense, and a secret that readers will be so eager to discover they will not put down THE UNBEGOTTEN until the last satisfying page is turned.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
YAThe action in this suspenseful novel shifts from a picturesque hill town in Italy, to the streets of Rome, to a suburb of Washington, DC, and finally to its climax on a remote island in Maine. Joe Lassiter takes a leave of absence from his high-tech investigation agency to search for the murderer of his only sister and her son. He soon finds himself analyzing a string of other unsolved murders of mothers and their young sons, all of whom stayed at a fertility clinic in Italy. A physician renowned for his success at artificial insemination, a rural priest with a terrible secret revealed in confession, and the charismatic leader of a conservative Catholic organization all provide clues that lead Joe to the one person who can help him solve the mystery. This fast-paced thriller will draw YAs into some interesting questions concerning the use of DNA material and the ethics of genetic engineering, and will provide them with fascinating insights into the uses of modern investigative techniques.Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
After hearing the confession of a renowned scientist who is now dying, the pastor of a remote parish in the Umbrian region of Italy rushes to Rome to alert the Vatican powers of an unspeakable sin. Within months, Joe Lassiter, a D.C.-area detective, learns of the brutal deaths of his sister, Kathy, and her toddler son, Brandon, in a mysterious fire in their home in suburban Burke, Va., in which an unknown Italian arsonist was also horribly burned. While Joe and the D.C. police keep watch on the burn victim, Brandon's body is dug from its grave and set afire again. After this horror, Joe discovers that Kathy and Brandon were only two of 34 victims worldwide, all mothers and toddler boys, killed in their beds and then burned beyond recognition. They were all connected through an Umbrian fertility clinic run by a scientist and theologian who, not unexpectedly, is himself now dead, his clinic a pile of ashes. At the center of this international carnage looms Umbra Domini, Shadow of the Lord, an ultra-secret Roman Catholic fraternity. At great risk, Joe sets out to save the one woman and child who have so far escaped Umbra's reach and in doing so discovers the staggering truth about these slaughtered innocents. Case, an investigative reporter, writes with intelligence and flair. He has built a first-rate thriller with an astonishingly timely revelation that's well worth staying up late for. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
On the track of child killers with global reach, a dogged investigator uncovers a plot that gives new meaning to ecclesiastic militancy, in a chillingly effective debut by the pseudonymous Case. Joe Lassiter, the head of a transnational security firm, is devastated by the inexplicable murders of his sister Kathy and her young son Brandon. When the only suspect in the crime, a closemouthed Italian, escapes from a Virginia hospital's prison ward, he assigns himself to the case. Lassiter follows a winding trail that leads him around Europe to Naples (home of Umbra Domini, an ultraconservative Roman Catholic order committed to the church's old, preVatican II ways) and subsequently to a mountain village in Umbria. In this remote hamlet, he learns that a world-class geneticist named Ignazio Baresgi (since deceased) ran a clinic (now burned to the ground), which provided artificial-insemination services to a clientele that at one time included Kathy. Lassiter also learns that, before Baresi went into medicine, he was a respected theologian whose specialty was relics. Although the sinister Umbra Domini, headed by a charismatic priest named Silvio della Torre, and its legions of lay adherents on both sides of the Atlantic make several attempts to eliminate him, Lassiter persists in his inquiry. At length, he traces Dr. Baresi's only surviving patient--reclusive film star Callista Bates, who quit Hollywood cold at the height of her fame--to an island off the coast of Maine, where she lives quietly with her son, Jesse. Using Bates as a sounding board, Lassiter soon confirms his own suspicions that Baresi was using the remains of ancient holy men in ways that (thanks to a breach in confessional secrecy) sent Umbra Domini after him with a vengeance. Before the unarmed pair can act on their insights, however, they must deal with the deranged della Torre and his homicidal minions. A first-rate biotech thriller with an intriguing, if ungodly, religious twist.
Library Journal Review
Joe Lassiter is devastated when his sister Kathy and her young son Brandon are brutally murdered and the killer escapes from a guarded hospital room. Joe, who owns a transnational investigative firm, takes on the case himself. The trail leads him to a conservative Roman Catholic order, a genetics researcher turned medical doctor, a fertility clinic, and a priest in an Italian mountain village before he discovers the reason for the deaths of Kathy, Brandon, and others. After repeated attempts on his life, Joe finds a reclusive former actress with whom he will face the final showdown. An intriguing premise, diverse European locales, and lots of nail-biting action make this a compelling thriller. Dick Hill's narration is emotionally expressive and well paced; he handles a variety of European accents with ease. Listeners will find it hard to turn off this production. Recommended for all fiction collections.Melody A. Moxley, Rowan P.L., Salisbury, N.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.