A novel of melancholy set in RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
Ten Great Thrillers set in ROME
5th October 2024
Rome, with its ancient ruins, labyrinthine streets, and vibrant culture, provides a captivating backdrop for thrilling narratives. The city’s rich history, political intrigue, and religious undercurrents offer a fertile ground for suspenseful tales.
Thrillers set in Rome often explore themes of corruption, power, and the dark side of the city’s glamorous facade. The Vatican City, with its intricate politics and religious secrets, is a frequent setting for such stories. The Colosseum, a symbol of Rome’s ancient power, can be a haunting backdrop for modern-day crimes.
Here are ten of our favourite thrillers set in the city.
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
When the Nazis take Rome, thousands go into hiding.
One priest will risk everything to save them.
September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war’s outcome is far from certain.
An Irish priest, Hugh O’Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy.
But Hauptmann’s net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.
Based on an extraordinary true story, My Father’s House is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O’Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances.
Birthright by Charles Lambert
A sublime psychological thriller from Polari Prize-shortlisted Charles Lambert.
Sixteen-year-old Fiona inhabits a privileged world of English affluence, though her relationship with her widowed mother is strained. When she discovers an old newspaper clipping of a woman and her daughter – the little girl a mirror image of her own younger self – she becomes convinced she has a true family elsewhere. Four years later, with the help of charming fraudster Patrick, Fiona drops everything to seek out her doppelgänger in Italy.
Fiona arrives in Rome to find Maddy living hand to mouth with her alcoholic mother. Spooked by the appearance of this strange girl wearing her face and stalking her every move, Maddy wants nothing to do with her. Caught in a surreal push-and-pull, the two are both fascinated and repulsed by the oddly familiar other, each coveting a different life. But they aren’t the only ones trying to control their fate, and the two women will soon learn that people aren’t always what they seem – though blood may still prove thicker than water.
Birthright is a dark, gripping literary thriller for fans of Ian McEwan, Rupert Thomson and Edward St Aubyn.
The Magdalene Mystery by Christine Sunderland
Ten years ago a gunman opened fire in a parking lot, killing her parents. No one ever found out why. But a trip to Rome might reveal the truth. Thirty-year-old Kelly Roberts receives a mysterious envelope from her late godfather, director of a news service dedicated to exposing media lies, summoning her to Rome for a promising legacy. After losing her job, Kelly, a single parent, fears for herself and her five-year-old son. She could sure use the money implied in her godfather’s letter, but she can’t afford to go to Rome, she can’t leave Matt, and she can’t take him with her. Even stranger, the note says to contact Daniel Weaver, a professor familiar with Rome. To receive the legacy, Kelly must first locate her godfather’s hidden research on Mary Magdalene. Accompanied by thirty-five-year-old Daniel, Kelly embarks on the journey of a lifetime, finding clues in Rome basilicas, the Apostles’ Creed, and her godfather’s letters. But she is shadowed by another professor who preys on the young, both online and on campus. Desperate to find the manuscript that could expose him as an academic fraud, he is willing to do anything to keep that from happening…even murder. Unlock the Magdalene mystery…and the power of historical truth.
The Villa of Mysteries by David Hewson
When a young woman turns up dead in a peat bog near the banks of the River Tiber, Teresa Lupo, a maverick pathologist, believes she has the victim of an ancient Roman ritual on her hands. She’s wrong. Leo Falcone, the chief inspector, knows this case is recent history and the horror is still very much alive.
So begins an investigation that will take Nic Costa and his team deep into the dark underworld of modern day Rome’s most disturbing and sinister secrets. As they proceed with their enquiries, it soon becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to kill Teresa Lupo. And now another beautiful young woman has gone missing.
The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi
A young girl has mysteriously disappeared in Rome. As rain lashes the ancient streets, two men, Clemente and Marcus, sit in a café near the Piazza Navona and pore over the details of the case. They are members of the ancient Penitenzeri – a unique Italian team, linked to the Vatican, and trained in the detection of true evil.
But they are not alone. Sandra – a brilliant forensics expert with a tragic past – is also working on the case. When her path crosses theirs, not only do they make headway in the case of the missing girl, but they also uncover a terrible secret world, hidden in the dark recesses of Rome. A world that is as perfect as it is evil…
A spellbinding literary thriller from the author of The Whisperer, this novel offers a window onto the hidden secrets of Rome. Beautifully capturing the atmosphere of the city, it blends a page-turning plot with fascinating historical fact.
The Rome Prophecy by John Trace
A woman has been arrested on the streets of Rome. She’s young. She’s beautiful. She’s covered in blood. And she claims to be on the run from a mighty power that centuries ago brought the eternal city to its knees.
Ex-priest Tom Shaman teams up with a headstrong policewoman to unravel the mystery. But within Rome’s churches and corridors of power, stealthy enemies are conspiring against them. And someone is re-enacting sinister legends from the city’s bloody past…
Loaded with action that rockets from gothic plazas through majestic cathedrals and into the vast catacombs lurking beneath the city, this electrifying thriller will dazzle fans of Dan Brown and Chris Kuzneski.
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to find proof that the legendary secret society, the Illuminati–dedicated since the time of Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the blind faith of Catholicism–is alive, well, and murderously active. Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, his eyes plucked out and the society’s ancient symbol branded upon his chest. His final discovery, anti-matter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source known to man, has disappeared–only to be hidden somewhere beneath Vatican City on the eve of the election of a new pope. Langdon and Vittoria, Vetra’s daughter and colleague, embark on a frantic hunt through the streets, churches and catacombs of Rome, following a 400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the incineration of civilisation.
North from Rome by Helen Macinnes
Fictional American playwright, William Lammiter, travels to Rome to come to terms with his broken engagement with Eleanor Halley. He discovers, however, that she is now the fiancee of Count Luigi Pirotta. Whilst there he has a chance encounter with a fascinating Italian girl, Rosana Di Feo, and he starts to get caught up in a hazardous game of international intrigue and at the heart is Pirotta…..
Conclave by Robert Harris
The Pope is dead.
Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election.
They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals.
Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.
The Last Hour by Harry Sidebottom
A lone figure stands silhouetted atop the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Behind him, the sun is setting over the centre of the known world. Far below, the river is in full flood. The City of Rome lies spread out before him on the far bank.
Footsteps pound up the stairs. He’s been set up. An enemy is closing in; he is cornered. He jumps.
Bruised and battered, he crawls out of the raging river. He is alone and unarmed, without money or friends, trapped in a deadly conspiracy at the heart of the Empire. The City Watch has orders to take him alive; other, more sinister, forces want him dead. As the day dies, he realises he has only 24 hours to expose the conspirators, and save the leader of the world. If the Emperor dies, chaos and violence will ensue. If the Emperor dies, every single person he loves will die.
He must run, bluff, hide and fight his way across the Seven Hills.
He must reach the Colosseum, and the Emperor.
He must make it to The Last Hour.
Enjoy your thrillers set in Rome. If we’ve missed any of your favourites, please add them in the Comments below!
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