Book 195: The Abduction by Jonathan Holt
Book 195: The Abduction (Carnivia Trilogy #2). .
Author: Jonathan Holt, 2014.
Genre: Conspiracy Thriller. Police procedural.
Other Details: ebook. 469 pages.
The teenage daughter of a US soldier disappeared in Venice last night. Now clues are appearing on anonymous website Carnivia.com - and the police are always one step behind.Kat Tapo of the Venice Carabinieri and US intelligence analyst Holly Boland are working together to find the girl. The deeper they dig, the darker the case becomes. Daniele Barbo, creator of Carnivia, never allows access to his servers. But then secrets are unearthed from Italy's dark wartime past. Secrets that could put them all in danger... - synopsis from UK publisher's website.
The second in this series proved as exiting as The Abomination ( 2013 Book 185) and was a real page-turner. I would caution that there are a number of scenes of torture that are deeply disturbing, more so by the fact these are sanctioned methods of questioning and classified as 'Not Torture'.
While it does work as a stand-alone, it is better to read The Abomination first to.understand the relationships between the main characters including Kat's troubled relationship with Aldo Piola, who is missing from the official synopsis but is an important part of the Venice Carabinieri investigation into the kidnapping.
The historical basis of the novel are explained by the author in his final notes and while he uses dramatic license in terms of the novel's central conspiracy it is clear that he drew upon real life conspiracies that occurred during WWII and the Cold War as well as practices such as rendition and enhanced interrogation techniques that continue to raise political controversy.
I can hardly wait for the third in the trilogy out next May.
Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge.