A Pius Press Release

Yup. This is my new press release. How do you all like it?

DATE: 26 July 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Declan Finn. #***-***-****

A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller – History, Theology, and Bullets.

Giovanni Figlia's job is straightforward: protect a new, African Pope who courts controversy every other day. His latest project: make "Hitler's Pope,” Pius XII, a saint. But when people who have gone into the Vatican archives start dying, a whole new world of problems emerge. And each time someone dies, a priest has been in the background; a priest close to the Pope. It's a mystery with too many suspects: the American mercenary working for the Vatican? The Egyptian cop coordinating for the Pope's trip to Cairo? Or the priest who's mysteriously well trained in combat? Also, since one of the dead researchers was an Al Qaeda asset, Mossad and German intelligence arrive in Rome. Soon, they must all join forces to unravel the mystery around the Vatican, as even the man Giovanni is supposed to protect looks like a suspect. To get out of this alive, they must discover the mystery of Hitler's Pope to find out whether or not he was a Nazi collaborator, or a pious Man.

In the past twenty years, there have been numerous thrillers and books about the Catholic Church. The Church has been portrayed as right wing sociopaths, malevolent Nazis, and fanatically anti-technology. For each of these accusations, there have been a dozen historical books released to counter them, but no novels.

A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller is Declan Finn's way to change that. A Pius Man answers most popular cliches about the church, both in fiction and in popular "history": the image of Jesuits and the Opus Dei as the vile henchmen of a backwards church is almost parodied. The view of a technophobic church is contrasted with one that utilizes the latest in nonlethal weapons (NLW); that the church that persecuted Galileo actually prosecuted him for teaching a theory as fact without sufficient evidence, and the Church itself has it's own observatory. There are also one or two offhand comments poking fun at Templar conspiracy theories along the way.

Every historical reference can be footnoted (literally, the first draft had footnotes in it). Almost every reference is either directly related to the plot, or related to a vital element. Every time history is brought up, it is kept as concise as possible, without a trace of being pedantic or lecturing to the audience. Instead, it's treated as other tales told within the context of the novel—as much as any character's back story would be.

At the end of the day, despite the history-heavy elements of the story, A Pius Man reads like the usual political techno-thriller, with history slipped in between gunfire.


A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller
ISBN 1482553899

For review copies, appearances or interviews with the author, contact ***-***-****, or DeclanFinnInc@aol.com.