Lead Review (The Passion of the Cross)
- Book: The Passion of the Cross
- Location: Florence, Portofino, Rome
- Author: Tony Lee Moral
Mario is in Rome with his girlfriend Catriona. She has been promised a financial reward for discovering a Caravaggio in New York and they are to claim it from Mario’s Uncle, Giovanni Montefiore, curator at the Borghese Gallery. They take the opportunity to meet up with him at an exhibition and press briefing, where he announces that the true cross at the heart of the museum – the cross on which Jesus is believed to have been crucified – is actually a medieval replica. He not only announces this extremely disappointing news but also informs the couple that the monetary reward will not be forthcoming.
We already know from the Prologue that Giovanni Montefiore has been killed at the opera, and as Catriona tends to him in his dying moments, he indicates they should travel to Florence to track down the whereabouts of the true cross and maybe discover the identity of his murderer.
“Rome had its thousands of years of history, but Florence had the enduing beauty of having been the centre for European art and the birthplace of the Renaissance .”
This is an enjoyable romp across Italy, with dramatic staging and a few comedy interludes – but then the quest becomes serious,There is a touch more editing to be done – for example, we are told on p10 that the restaurant Piccolo Budapest overlooks the Trevi Fountain and then again 100 or so pages later there is mention of the very same restaurant “which was near the Trevi Fountain”. A couple of little issues such as these mean the novel isn’t quite as polished as it could be.
This is very much a Dan Brown type chase across Italy, characters even leaping onto a moving train, evading pursuers and countering the growing dangers.
A nice read to transport the reader to Italy.
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