Sofia

by Paul Byrne

Jeff Dodd, a 42-year-old suburban Dallas business executive, and Erasmus, his estranged son, stumble upon a Internet photogtraph of an ancient document that not only questions the very authority of the Roman Catholic Church, but threatens thousands of other lives, including their own.

After picking Erasmus up from police custody, getting fired, and discovering that the teenager is enamoured with Nunzia - a teen orphan from Rome - Jeff takes his son to Italy on an ill-advised mission to rescue Nunzia from a Vatican jail. Their quest takes the father-son duo through the ancient underground passages of Italy's capital, puts them in conflict with the Vatican and the corrupt Mayor of Rome, and strains their fragile, nascent reconciliation. Unfortunately, they don't have the slightest idea they are in danger.

From her dungeon jail cell in the Vatican, Nunzia pieces together the plot that threatens the Americans and frantically works to bring together a cadre of urban explorers, civil authorities and her clergy jailers to effect a rescue and thwart the plot... before the bombs explode.

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2013

Reviews

[Carrie Martone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good was wanting a little bit more at the end