Detroit ex-cop August Snow puts his life on the line to protect a friend from modern-day Templars sworn to protect the name of the Catholic church at all costs.
Father Michael Grabowski, a Franciscan priest who has tended to the spiritual needs of Detroit’s Mexicantown for forty years, has suddenly retired. August Snow, who has known the priest his whole life, finds the circumstances troubling—especially in light of the recent suspicious suicide of another local priest. What dark history is Father Grabowski hiding?
The situation takes a turn for the deadly with the appearance at the Detroit diocese of a mysterious priest and combat vet calling himself Francis Dominioni Petra. The man comes from the Vatican, and as his armored guard circles closer and closer to Father Grabowski and his friends, August wants to know why. A terrible crime has been committed in the name of faith—but who is seeking justice, and who is trying to bury the truth and any of its witnesses? August grapples with his own ideas about his faith and his chosen family in this action-packed fourth installment in the Hammett Prize-winning series.
Review on Amazon:
August Snow is a tough guy. He has to be, growing up as a biracial boy in the Mexican section of Detroit. He joined the Marines and did two tours in Afghanistan, becoming very good at killing. He came home unscathed, and then became a detective in the Detroit Police Department. He uncovered rampant corruption in the city government and was fired for his efforts. Winning a big payout in his wrongful termination suit, he was set for life and could do whatever he wanted to. He now lends his talents to police departments who need his special skills. The latest is in Oslo, where he visits twice a year to be with his love, college professor Tatina Stadtmueller. He has just apprehended a vicious serial killer when he gets a call from home that he’s needed.
Snow has a softer side, looking after his elderly neighbors, Sylvia and Carmela. Sylvia has had a heart attack and he makes sure she gets the best of care. He’s made a family with them, his godfather Tomas, Lucy, a world-class hacker who’s gone – mostly – straight, and Jimmy, who he took from a life of crime and helped him become a property mogul. He’s known Father Grabowski since the day he was baptized, and now the old man is in big trouble.
Deux X is a powerful mix of violence, religious history and Church accountability, retribution, and the bonds of family and friendship.
