cover image The Vatican Connection

The Vatican Connection

James Brant. Onyx Books, $6.99 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-451-41110-5

""I'm a priest. And promises of eternal life can do wonders,"" says a sinister padre in Brant's bewilderingly complex spy tale. Retired CIA agent Dave Chasen is forced to investigate the murder of a technology entrepreneur whose body is found on the beach. Missing from the dead man's effects are a laptop computer containing details about an incredibly powerful weapon that can remotely vaporize buildings and a 2,000-year-old document that supposedly contains Saint Peter's denial of Jesus Christ. Three different agencies-the CIA, England's MI6 and the Vatican's surreptitious cannoncciale-want the items, and in their pursuit, they each have tight dealings with an enormous Spanish crime family connected to the murdered man. Because the narrative is littered with so many characters, most of them never evolve beyond their ""good guy"" or ""bad guy"" labels. The most fascinating aspect of the tale is the cannoncciale, an intriguing but nebulous shadow group made up of church officials who traffic in stolen art and a priest who dispatches his victims with a corkscrew. The pages featuring this story line are the high points of the book. Unfortunately, Brant doesn't delve deep enough into the group or his characters to make this convoluted tale worthwhile. (Oct.)