This is yet another one of those "Catholic secret society terrorizes whistleblowers" book in the wake of "The DiVinci Code", and like that book it's exciting if not believable. The plot reveals itself pretty quickly but the details will keep you interested if you are in the mood.

This is the fourth volume in Jones' August Snow series about the Detroit ex-cop. It's a riveting story that takes Snow from his girlfriend's family and home in Norway back to his beloved Detroit neighborhood to solve the mystery of a priest's presumed suicide and subsequent danger to others. It's a very good addition to the series and I hope that there are more to come.

DEUX X is the fourth book of the August Snow series by Stephen Mack Jones. If this terrific series is new to you, August Snow is a former Detroit cop, who got pushed out of his job because of police corruption. He sued for wrongful dismissal and walked away with $12 million.

The book opens with August in Oslo. While visiting his partner Tatina, he ends up assisting the police with capturing a psychopath serial killer. When he receives a call from Detroit that his neighbor and friend, Sylvia had a heart attack, August rushes home.

August's return to Detroit feels like the true beginning of the book. His character is so closely aligned with Detroit and the people there, that the first couple of chapters felt superfluous to the main plot line. Once his plane lands in Detroit, you will become fully engaged.

The plot is centered around Father Grabowski, a Franciscan priest. August has known him all his life, so he is surprised to learn that Father Grabowski has retired unexpectedly. Even more surprising is that a mysterious Vatican priest appears to be investigating Father Grabowski.

This action packed plot has been influenced by headline news, such as the horrific number of Indigenous children that have been found in unmarked graves by residential schools in Canada or the vast number of sexual assaults committed by members of the clergy.

Shining a light on some of the horrible things done in the name of God, grounds the book. There is truth in Lucy’s reaction to the headlines and some genuine moments between the characters. There is more to August Snow than his clever comebacks or fighting skills.

August Snow is living in Oslo with his girlfriend Tatina and her family. Even though he is no longer a Detroit detective, he can’t help but get involved when a family friend is threatened by individuals claiming to protect the Catholic church. Father Michael Grabowski, a Franciscan priest has known August his entire life. There has never been a hint of impropriety. And yet, someone has accused Grabowski of a terrible crime. With a mysterious priest asking about August’s priestly friend, August wants to why before something deadly happens.

This is the first novel by Stephen Mack Jones, but it is the fourth in his August Snow series. I do not feel like this is a stand-alone novel. There were some references to his past, nothing that disturbed the story, but it made me feel like I was only hearing part of the conversation.

The characters are fully fleshed out. I started to compare August to James Patterson’s Alex Cross, but there are limited similarities. August might be more like Alex’s friend Sampson. There is quite a bit of cussing, but I actually related to it. In the heat of the moment or at highly emotional states, certain swear words feel necessary. Tomas and Lucy are my favorite characters, however, and I am wondering if the previous books have more on them.

As far as the mystery, I had a feeling I knew what it was about right off the bat. There have been many novels that have used this technique. It doesn’t take away from the novel. Instead, it made reading go faster because I wanted to see what August and company would do in the finale.

Overall, I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

As Deus X: An August Snow Novel by Stephen Mack Jones begins, the former police officer August Snow is in Oslow, Norway, and far from his Detroit home. But, you do what your girlfriend asks of you and that includes helping Captain Edus “Eddie” Gofu and the Oslo Police Department with a case. Snow’s everything, Tatina Stadtmueller, and her family have connections and the good Captain is one of those connections. He is less than thrilled with Snow and his history with the Detroit PD, but accepted his help because her mother asked him to do so. Snow likes Captain Eddie and understands where the man is coming from and why.

His good deed is done and he is spending time with Tatina and her family when he gets a call from home. Sylvia, one half of his elderly neighbor tag team that includes Carmela, has had a significant heart attack and is in ICU at the hospital. She is in bad shape and he needs to get home. He does so and leaves Tatina behind.

Once back in Detroit and home amongst his people, he soon discovers Slyvia isn’t the only old friend in trouble. So too is Father Grabowski. The Franciscan priest recently retired is not doing at all well. For all intents and purposes, he is somewhat homeless and moving between rooms with various friends. He is also suddenly drinking heavily. Something strange is going on and far beyond the fact that he no longer has a job.

There is also another priest, a man named Father Petra, who seems to be around contacting various people. There seems to be no local record of him and Snow soon learns that he does not have much of a history that can be found online either. Nobody knows what is going on though his presence could be connected to Father Grabowski.

As always, August thinks of family as far more than blood ties. In his world, people he cares deeply about are family. That is Lucy, Slyvia, Carmella, and others. He can’t do much to help Sylvia other than be around as her situation is up to medical folks.

But, Father Grabowski is a far different matter. Activeky trying to help him soon leads into an often-violent case with, among other things, links to events decades ago and modern-day hitmen working on behalf of the Vatican. It is all so complicated and all so good of a read.

Deus X: An August Snow Novel is the fourth book in the August Snow series that began fittingly enough with August Snow. The gang is all here in this solidly good read. So too is Snow’s love of Detroit, cooking, and good friends. Like the other books on the series, this one is also part mystery and part thriller. Strongly recommended as is the entire series.


My digital reading copy came from Soho press by way of NetGalley.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Stephen Mack Jones, creator of August Snow – Detroit’s Mexican-African American knight in shining armor – wants to ponder, in his fourth novel, the cost of doing what’s morally right, no matter what. As the book opens, August is visiting his girlfriend’s family in Sweden but while there, he seems to have tracked down and caught a serial killer. That’s just the first chapter. He gets an urgent call from his sometime housemate, Lucy Three Rivers, that her adoptive mothers are in crisis. One of them is in the hospital with a heart problem.

Lucy is a young woman August basically scraped off the streets, and she’s a techno whiz. She’s using her tech talent at the moment to help her “mom” even though she now has a “straight” job. She’s also willing to go off reservation for August. Lucy sees no wrong in what she’s doing, for her, it’s the right thing, no matter the consequence. Her right and wrong boundaries are squishy.

While visiting the hospital, August overhears a heated conversation (or part of one) between his family priest, Father Grabowski, and a remarkably sinister looking man. While he’s not sure exactly what’s up, his concern intensifies when he finds the good father passed out drunk when he stops by one morning. He sobers him up and gets him to talk.

I don’t want to give away too much of this complicated and twisty plot, but Father Grabowski also has things he’s done in the past “for the right reason” that he now regrets. The Father’s moral boundaries, as a Catholic cleric, are not so squishy as Lucy’s. August has two tasks in this book: figuring out what the Father did, and protecting him from harm as there seem to be some very lethal folks looking for him. Just protecting him proves difficult enough.

August, meanwhile, pretty much daily grapples with the amount of violence that he must use to accomplish his ends – often “doing what’s right,” but it still feels wrong. All of these conundrums -from Lucy’s to Grabowski’s to August’s daily battle with the dark side of the world – are a matter of degree, but all are ultimately the same question. For August it’s begun to impact his relationship with his girlfriend, Tatina. They are not married but shared a “commitment” ceremony in the last novel (Dead of Winter, 2021).

This book of course is not a polemic. Jones is a very quotable and funny writer, and he’s great with sidebar characters, of whom there are many. He’s a bit like Robert B. Parker’s Spenser – on steroids. Even Spenser took a chill pill every now and then. August shares Spenser’s love of the finer things in fashion as well as the finer things in food, chowing down everything from chili tacos to donuts to swigging down a good amount of bourbon. These books are nothing if not a great cultural food tour of Detroit.

If these books were any different in tone, I’d almost categorize them as cozy, with August’s circle of supportive friends and neighbors and the food tours. However, the level of violence and intrigue puts them into a darker place. I love August, even though he sometimes veers toward the super-human. I’m glad he’s around though, and I enjoyed this trip through the darker recesses of the Catholic church. This was a fast and fun read.

Review of eBook

Ex-Detective August Snow, “committed” to his heart’s true love, Tatia Stadtmueller, is in Norway to spend time with Tatia and her family. He finds himself assisting the Oslo police in apprehending a serial killer.

But when August’s neighbor, Sylvia Zychek, suffers a heart attack, he rushes home to Detroit. August considers Sylvia and her friend, Carmela, part of his extended family.

But his return to Detroit puts August against modern-day Knights Templar who are on a mission of vengeance involving the Catholic church. Together with Lucy Three Rivers, Jimmy Radmon, and his godfather Tomás, August is determined to protect Father Michael Grabowski, the Franciscan priest who’d baptized him, and, at the same time, keep the folks of Mexicantown safe.

But who has targeted Father Grabowski . . . and why?

=========

Fourth in the author’s August Snow series, this book contains sufficient backstory for readers new to the series or to be read as a standalone. All of the expected characters are in place, well-defined and believable. Former Marine, ex-detective August Snow is tough, but he’s gentle and caring with his elderly neighbors . . . tough when he needs to be but a man who cares about others who loves to cook, and who is dedicated to keeping those around him in his hometown safe.

Action-packed, the story grabs readers from the outset. But it’s in the relationships between the characters that the narrative shines. The storyline with the Vatican and the Knights Templar is both intriguing and informative; the history is fascinating.

Readers should know that, although the dialogue feels authentic and real, there’s considerable use of an offensive expletive [and this lowers the rating for the book]. Those who enjoy action-packed thrillers with a heartwarming protagonist and a touch of history will find much to appreciate here.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from Soho Press, Soho Crime and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#DeusX #NetGalley

August Snow is a tough guy. He has to be, growing up as a biracial boy in the Mexican section of Detroit. He joined the Marines and did two tours in Afghanistan, becoming very good at killing. He came home unscathed, then became a detective in the Detroit Police Department. He uncovered rampant corruption in the city government and was fired for his efforts. Winning a big payout in his wrongful termination suit, he was set for life and could do whatever he wanted too. He now lends his talents to police departments who need his special skills. The latest is in Oslo, where he visits twice a year to be with his love, college professor Tatina Stadtmueller. He has just apprehended a vicious serial killer when he gets a call from home that he’s needed.
Snow has a softer side, looking after his elderly neighbors, Sylvia and Carmela. Sylvia has had a heart attack and he makes sure she gets the best of care. He’s made a family with them, his godfather Tomas, Lucy, a world class hacker who’s gone – mostly – straight, and Jimmy, who he took from a life of crime and helped him become a property mogul. He’s known Father Grabowski since the day he was baptized, and now the old man is in big trouble. The Church is accusing him of being the one thing he would never be: a child molester. Snow believes the father is being set up, and he dives head first into a morass of intrigue, treachery, and danger that reaches the Vatican.
Deux X is a powerful mix of violence, religious history and Church accountability, retribution, and the bonds of family and friendship. Recommended.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Soho Press, Soho Crime for an advance copy of this thriller that looks at the failures in systems, trust, relationships, and in the morals of many of things people used to rely on, and how easily corrupted these institutions have become, and will continue to be.

Many things that were once venerated have become almost relics of the past, based on the fact that the trust people once had for these institutions has deteriorated. Many could come back. Hopefully government will, bringing back good people, not grifters or traitors. Trust in Doctors is at an all time low, due more again to grifters and insurance companies, but again that could come back. The Catholic Church, well that is a hard one. Once so powerful it decided who could get buried in cemeteries, who could marry what faith, what movies to watch and richer than the richest man in Babylon, the Church has taken a lot of hits, scandals dealing with child abuse the worst. Churches are closing, dioceses are folding into each other, and doing what they can. In a section of Detroit though, something is stirring, something the church might not want to admit too, but something that is putting people at risk. Deus X by poet, playwright and author Stephen Mack Jones is the fourth book in the August Snow series, and places our hero right in the sights of a group who seek to return the Church to its dark past and go medieval on some of Snow's friends.

August Snow is enjoying a quiet rest in Norway, spending time with his love and her family, all while assisting the local police in capturing a elite member of society who enjoys killing people. Snow is called back home to Mexicantown, a part of the southwest end of Detroit to help some friend who have has some difficult times. Snow is an ex-policeman, but these are things that Snow can't threaten or hit, so he feels out of his element. However Snow does take an interest in a local fixture, Father Michael Grabowski who has left the priesthood after almost three decades, and seems to be wasting away. Rumors are swirling around the Father, that he knows more about the hanging death of a young priest, or other darker rumors. Another priest Father Dominioni Petra, has come to town, accompanied by a man that Snow doesn't know, but knows the type. A killer. Snow begins to investigate and finds a dark little group of fanatics who would like to remake the Church in their own image, no matter how many souls it might take.

This is my first encounter with August Snow, and my first reading of Stephen Mack Jones, and I really enjoyed it. Snow has a real feel, a person who while comfortable doing some work in Norway, really needs the streets, the smells, the feel, and the people that he knows around him. Snow if very well developed, and I enjoyed the little things, especially the food references, all of which sound really good. The cast around Snow are also interesting, especially the older characters. I don't know why but they had a realness to them, a purpose that sometimes is lacking in characters in series books. Jones has a real gift for dialogue and setting scenes, a richness of description that can tell the smells of a kitchen, or about a man tied to a chair in Norway. The story is quite good too, one that builds upon itself, and most of all makes sense. A very good thriller, and one I will be quick to recommend.

Being the fourth book, there is a little figuring of relationships, but Jones does a good job of keeping that clear and easy to follow. A very good story, and a series that I will have to hop on and follow.

I read Stephen Mack Jones’ fourth August Snow mystery, Deus X, twice. It was just as good the second time around. Jones manages to tell an engrossing story dealing with organized religion while also handling found family in a violent, sometimes humorous account. Add in that beautiful writing, and Snow’s cooking, and there’s so much appeal to this book.

Snow is in Norway with his girlfriend, Tatina, when he’s called home to Detroit’s Mexicantown. Snow’s elderly neighbor, Sylvia, had a heart attack. Her roommates, Carmela and Lucy, are not handling that well. Lucy, a young hacker, needs a shoulder to cry on. There’s nothing Snow can do except be there for the women. But, he can do something for another friend.

Snow has known and loved Father Micheal Grabowski for his entire life. But, he doesn’t know all of Father Grabowski’s secrets. Rumors say that Father Grabowski’s retirement came after he heard about the hanging death of a priest in a Detroit suburb. Now, Father Grabowski appears to be wasting away, but he won’t tell Snow why he doesn’t want to talk about a visiting priest at the hospital, Father Dominioni Petra. But, when Snow hears Father Grabowski arguing on the phone, he’s pushy enough to ask questions. And, he has a couple friends who can dig around for him, including another priest and Lucy, who can find anything on the Internet.

It seems Father Petra really does represent the Vatican. But, why the sudden interest in Father Grabowski, a retired Franciscan? Although Snow’s late mother always had faith in the Catholic Church, Snow doesn’t have time to sort out the good and the bad. Someone is targeting his retired friend, and Snow doesn’t care how high they are in the religious hierarchy. Then, there’s that mysterious group calling itself Deus X, with links to the past. Someone is determined to ruin Father Grabowski, but Snow isn’t going to let that happen.

Stephen Mack Jones tackles difficult subjects in Deus X. Religious fanaticism has a long history, and it’s rearing its ugly head again in modern times. August Snow takes it on headfirst in an attempt to save a friend. Yes, there’s violence and gun battles in this book. But, it’s worth every bit of it for the humor and love of found family. Check out the book, or start with the Hammett and Nero Award-winning first book, August Snow.

This is Stephen Mack Jones' fourth book in the August Snow series, which are all set in Detroit. I have seen this author at local book festivals and have been a fan ever since the first book. I always feel like an insider picking out the metropolitan Detroit locales. This book is quite a page-turner, focusing on mysterious circumstances within Catholic church. Needless to say, August gets involved to right the wrongs brought upon innocent people. We have many of the wonderful characters from the previous books, plus some new ones. I highly recommend this book (and the other three books in the August Snow series) -- great fast-paced adventure! I received this book as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and appreciate the opportunity to read it prior to it's November 7, 2023 publication date.

August Snow is in Norway, hanging out with his main squeeze, Tatiana. She is a professor at the University of Oslo. Her mother is a high society do-gooder, who supports the Somali community in Norway. August is working with the Oslo police to bring down a serial killer, but he receives a call from Detroit and he has to return. Things have gone really bad in his absence. His dear friend and nextdoor neighbor has had a heart attack and Father Grabowski is suffering from pancreatic cancer. However, a modern day Knights Templar group is hunting the Franciscan priest, who has been set-up by the bishop in Detroit. August must defend himself and protect Father Grabowski. Another great adrenaline ride from Stephen Mack Jones. Recommended.

Loved it! Loved it! I read this latest August Octavio Snow book in one sitting. Author Stephen Mack Jones brings Detroit and its people to life. Highly recommended.

Deus X is the latest thriller from Stephen Mack Jones's acclaimed August Snow series, and with this one he lets both barrels fly. The plot centers on child abuse coverups within the Catholic Church and leads Snow to question the past of his longtime friend Father Michael Grabowski, a Franciscan priest who has unaccountably retired. When mysterious, and dangerous, agents from the Vatican show up in Detroit, the tale kicks into high gear as the body count rises. With an intriguing cadre of allies supporting August Snow, Jones once again shows his mastery of noir, Detroit style. I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this forthcoming novel. Highly recommended.