Shadow Ritual (Antione Marcas Freemason Thrillers Book 1) by Eric Giacometti and Jacques Ravenne

270 Pages
Publisher: Le French Book
Release Date: March 25, 2015

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Mystery, Thriller, Nazis, Freemasons, Vatican, Rome, Paris

During World War II, the Nazis wanted to end the three Abrahamic religions. The Thule Gesellschaft was a high-level shadow organization. Although the war is long over, the thoughts and beliefs of the organization are still alive.

Antoine Marcas, a French homicide detective is on vacation in Rome. His friend, Alexis Jaigu, a former military officer and now an intelligence operative invited Marcas to a party at the French embassy in Rome. A commotion leads the police to the mutilated body of a young woman, Sophie Dawes. Alexis asks Marcas to give his opinion on the death.

Special Agent Jade Zewiniski is assigned to the case. She is not happy to see Marcas at her crime scene. The body is immediately sent back to France to control the investigation. At the same time of Sophie’s murder, Professor Marek is murdered in Jerusalem and the Tebah stone stolen. He was attacked the same way as Sophie which links the two deaths together. Jade finds herself relying on Marcas and his knowledge of the Freemasons since Sophie was a member and was killed in a manner related to the organization.

The book has a fast pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. This reminded me very much of Dan Brown’s books. If you like mysteries with a conspiracy theory twist, you will enjoy reading this book.

There are many novels that relate to forms of mysticism linked to Nazism, whether they predate it or inspired it in some way. That something is true is historically documented, but it is not the historical documentation that this thriller is concerned with. In fact, it is a decidedly action-packed thriller that forces two detectives to become reluctant partners in the investigation of murders that occurred in rather strange ways, specifically one that took place in Rome and another that occurred simultaneously in Jerusalem. The writing is fast-paced, the twists and turns are not lacking and the reading is enjoyable. The only real flaw is having wanted at all costs to insert a certain attraction between the two investigators, which in my opinion is completely unnecessary.

I received this book so long ago. I never was given any information from the publisher as to how these loans worked. I never had the chance to read this book before it disappeared from my library. I'm sorry that I didn't understand back then that there was a time limit on how long I could keep the book and that a review was required. I've learned a lot since then, but I wish the publisher had been more specific at the time.. I'm sure this is a fine book.