Death of a Pope
 

Dominion
Book I: Seed

Windswept House
A Vatican Novel

Piers Paul Read
 

Malachi Martin

Juan Uriarte, a handsome and outspoken Spanish ex-priest, seems to be the model of nonviolence and compassion for the poor and downtrodden. So why is he on trial, accused of terrorist activities? His worldwide Catholic charitable outreach program is suspected of being a front for radicals. The trial is covered by Kate Ramsay, a young British reporter, who sets out to uncover the truth about Uriarte and his work. She travels with him to Africa to see his work first hand but soon finds herself attracted to him.

Meanwhile an international conspiracy is growing, one that reaches into the Vatican itself. When the death of Pope John Paul II brings about the conclave that will elect Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, a terrorist plot involving blackmail, subterfuge, and mass murder begins to fall into place . . . a plot that could spell disaster for the Catholic Church and the world.
 

A great monument of the Islamic faith crumbles to the ground in a freak earthquake, setting the stage for mankind’s entry into the next age; an apocalyptic time where right and wrong, love and indifference, and black and white fade into alternating shades of gray.

Fraternal twins, Jesse and Tobias, are born to a deeply troubled Marisha Chardin under the diabolical oversight of a man, known only as Luther, who possesses a darkened presence. Though seeing the fulfillment of his own desires in young Jesse, Luther eventually orchestrates the demise of each child as a world now devoid of hope moves on.

Out of the remote depths of Africa, enter into the arena a mysterious soul, Jimi T. Expo – musician, philosopher, and spiritual leader. Seemingly in a matter of weeks, this man (reverently dubbed the Mystic King) injects the world with a ray of hope – a needed dose of light. Utilizing the power of song, Jimi T. offers his message of peace, liberation, and a true heaven right here on earth to a global audience, all in preparation for our final stage of existence – the full assimilation of mankind into the Collective Soul of the universe.

With the rapid decay of organized religion, and a germane response manifested in The Way of Mystic Realism (a belief system based on relative spiritualism and social truths) the world is left to ponder the question: Is this man the Christ – the promised Messiah who has come to set humanity right? Or might he indeed have a darker purpose? One man, Nathan Page, steps into center stage; facing the maelstrom through the eyes of an agnostic, but with a heart perhaps somewhere else.

The scene has been set in an all-too-familiar, frighteningly contemporary time period. In the final analysis, will mankind choose good over evil? Or perhaps even worse, will he even be able to tell the difference?

To whom… or what… will dominion be granted?

The Cold War has ended. With a scope and daring not possible until now, an unlikely international alliance of top-level political, financial, and religious interests sees the way clear at last to its ultimate goal: the establishment of a single global society. Utopia.

These are men with nothing in common but immense power and a towering ambition for still more. With world unity and prosperity as their slogan--and with betrayal, scandal, and murder as their ready weapons--they have the means and the will to capture as their own the perfect global machinery for their plans: the oldest, wiliest, and most stable political chancery in the world--the Vatican.

At the vortex of this lethal struggle stands the embattled Pope, a geopolitical genius whose elimination is the short-term solution to a long-term goal, and two American brothers, Paul and Christian Gladstone, one a lawyer and the other a priest, who appear to be the perfect pawns. One falls prey to the sharp teeth of greed for power. The other will become one of the Slavic Pontiff's closest allies...and will discover the darkest secrets at the very heart of papal Rome.

From America to Europe to Russia, in broad landscapes and clandestine corridors, a rich and varied cast--presidents and politicos, simple saints and savvy sinners, popes and pope-makers--clash with one another amid dramatic and sometimes bloody events that will affect the destiny of every person alive today.

From Publisher web page Random House

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Dominion I: Seed

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