I was so looking forward to reading this, after ejoying HEwson's Lucifer's shadow, but it turned out to be a crime thriller, set in Italy, but without tantalizing tidbits of food and wine that so many books include. The plot was not too bad-- a bit lame in some places, but there was a final twist I didn't expect.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In Rome's crowded Campo dei Fiori, a woman rushes up to two carabinieri lounging in their sunglasses and uniforms, insisting that her sixteen-year-old daughter has just been abducted. Detective Nic Costa sees the scene unfold and intervenes. Because Costa knows what the two officers don't: that in the morgue at Rome's police headquarters, a forensic pathologist is examining the strange, mummified corpse of another girl, whose disappearance and death bear haunting similarities." "Police pathologist Teresa Lupo is Nic's colleague, friend, and his only equal when it comes to breaking the rules to get results, whatever the cost. Now, after years of living with the dead, Teresa insists that her superiors move quickly to save a life. Poring over the body of the girl in the morgue, she has found too many similarities between the girls, including a unique, leering tattoo. Lupo is sure that the vanished girl is headed for a bizarre ancient Bacchanalia involving virgins and sacrificial murder - a ritual that is only days away." As Nic and Teresa claw at the case from two sides - and as Nic finds himself at once puzzled and beguiled by the missing girl's seductive mother - a chilling picture is beginning to emerge .. of secret relationships and sexual depravity, organized crime and unimaginable corruption. With the clock ticking down on a young girl's life, Nic and Teresa are about to make the most horrifying discovery of all - in a pit of human darkness, where an age-old malevolence still endures, evil has consumed innocence ... and a very modern vengeance has begun.

RELEASE NOTES:

Taking with me to today's gathering. See you there!

To the finder of this book:
Hello and congratulations! You have not only found yourself a good book, but a whole community of booklovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world at large. I hope you'll stick around a bit and get to know bookcrossing --maybe even make a journal entry on this book. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (its free!) And if you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me, bookczuk, as your referring member. Feel free to read and keep this book, or to pass it on to a friend or even set it out "in the wild" for someone else to find like you did. If you do choose to join and journal, then you can watch the book as it travels- You'll be alerted by email each time someone makes another journal entry. It's all confidential (you're known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Happy reading!

I stumbled on to this book in a coffee shop in Charleston called Muddy Waters. I was intrigued by the concept of a 'traveling book' and decided to read it and see what the deal was.

I was surprised to find that it was an interesting, if sometimes confusing (due to the author's puncutation and method of dialogue). The characters were only slightly developed and the plot could have used some work, but the ending was twisted and made the book if not worthwhile, at least slightly enjoyable. I'm not sure if i would read the preceding book of the series or the one after, but its not out of the question. Mostly I am glad to have read a book outside my normal realm of genre and to have been exposed to bookcrossing.com

Several of my friends are intrigued by this book and I plan to send it their way and have them return it to the wild when they are through with it.