TURNING TO STONE (Book #4)
Alabaster Black aka Bianca Nerini returns as an investigation into a public official’s assassination pits Bianca and her friends against a backdrop of financial speculation, female assassins on motorcycles, and the Camorra—the most ruthless of Italian organized crime gangs—in Gabriel Valjan’s TURNING TO STONE, the fourth book of the highly praised Roma series (Winter Goose Publishing; June 2015; softcover $15.99; Kindle / Nook, $5.99).
En route to a secret meeting, Aldo Giurlani—the regional commissioner of Lombardy in northern Italy and a specialist on organized crime—is assassinated in the middle of a public square.
More mysterious is the package sent to Giurlani’s hand-picked team of five top investigators within the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the Italian law enforcement agency that investigates illegal financial transactions, from money laundering to drug trafficking. Within the package are five copies of a book entitled Man of Smoke written by Aldo Palazzeschi.
Then there is Bianca’s tenuous online contact with a mysterious online contact known as Loki, who delivers a cryptic message to her, takes on a new twist with the appearance of a brilliant young obsessive-compulsive man who joins her team.
Complicating matters even further, old enemies and, more problematically, Alabaster’s former employer—Rendition, a murky covert U.S. government agency that does more than just investigate financial crimes—still have grudges to bear against her.
As new mysteries unfold, Bianca’s group quickly discovers that Naples might just be the most dangerous city in Italy.
En route to a secret meeting, Aldo Giurlani—the regional commissioner of Lombardy in northern Italy and a specialist on organized crime—is assassinated in the middle of a public square.
More mysterious is the package sent to Giurlani’s hand-picked team of five top investigators within the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the Italian law enforcement agency that investigates illegal financial transactions, from money laundering to drug trafficking. Within the package are five copies of a book entitled Man of Smoke written by Aldo Palazzeschi.
Then there is Bianca’s tenuous online contact with a mysterious online contact known as Loki, who delivers a cryptic message to her, takes on a new twist with the appearance of a brilliant young obsessive-compulsive man who joins her team.
Complicating matters even further, old enemies and, more problematically, Alabaster’s former employer—Rendition, a murky covert U.S. government agency that does more than just investigate financial crimes—still have grudges to bear against her.
As new mysteries unfold, Bianca’s group quickly discovers that Naples might just be the most dangerous city in Italy.
Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print.
Turning to Stone is the fourth book in the Roma Underground series. We are in Naples and the story involves the Mafia. Enter a new member of the group, a young man, an intern who is very knowledgeable about the Mafia and come to find out that he knew Charlie Brooks, the young man who was killed in the previous book. Along with Bianca, Ferrugia, Dante, Gennaro, Allesandro and Silvio the story continues with Ferrugia going undercover as a member of the Camorra. The rest of the team investigates the death of a of a man, Aldo Giurlani killed in a car bomb that was thrown by people on motorcycles. A book is delivered to the team and it is up to them to figure out what this means.
This book seems to be more indepth than the previous three or it is just that the plot is getting more intense. We also get another gastronomical treat with more food descriptions, more about Loki, Bianca's online friend. This part of the story kind of confuses me and I am anxious to find out who Loki is. This series is complicated but the author does a great job with the characters depictions and this tour of Italy is interesting indeed with each book getting more complex than the previous. I look forward to reading the last book in the series.
This review is done voluntarily.
Prizes:
5 winners get a paperback copy of CC
5 winners get an ebook copy of CC
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in paperback (signed)
1 winner gets whole set of Roma series in ebook format
12 winners total
Print copies open to USA and ebooks open international
Giveaway ends Dec 17
Book 4 was the most challenging for me to write. I hope that you find your answers in Book 5. Thank you for reading.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteIt was probably my most challenging to read! Each book gets more suspenseful! Thank you for a great series!