Bangkok of the West
- Published: 18/06/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Realtime
The Venice Conspiracy
by Jon Trace 473 pp, 2010
Sphere paperback.
Available at Asia Books and leading book
stores, 350 baht
Are you ready for yet another novel about the Bangkok of the West - that's what it was known as in these parts in the 19th and 20th centuries - by a non-Italian? It has Conspiracy in the title because publishers are convinced that words like "Secret" and "Code" sell. Even more so when the book features a conflict with Holy Mother Church.
The author of The Venice Conspiracy is Jon Trace - a pseudonym, the title page tells us, of Michael Morley. Alternating chapters between present day California, Venice in 1777 and Venice today, the themes are murder and Satanism. Priests weave through the 473 pages, lots of murders, no exorcists.
The protagonist is Tom Shaman, who got fed up being a priest in a Los Angeles ghetto and gave up the cloth. Deciding on a change of scenery, an ordinary guy, he opts for Venice. Mayhaps he'll lose his virtue. Like everybody who doesn't live there, he thinks it a romantic place without the mayhem LA tends to display.
In the event, Tom is partially right. Tina Ricci, an attractive newswoman, falls into his arms. Sex is everything he thought it would be. But her assignments keep her moving in and out of his life. To his surprise, crime is endemic to the canalled city. The local carabinieri, impressed by his having worked among hoodlums, enlists his support.
Teamed with no-nonsense Valentina Morassi, they investigate a series of murders whose pattern is their connection with the church in some way. They mainly die in explosions and fires, seemingly accidental. Tom proceeds to study the history of Venice, founded in Etruscan times, finding that cults, some engaging in human sacrifice, have existed for millennia. The leader of the bloodiest is an old acquaintance of Tom's.
Captured, tried and convicted, Lars Bale currently resides in San Quentin's penitentiary. Due to be executed, Lars reveals that he set three bombs in different countries. They will go off when the fiendish killer is given his lethal injection. Enormous fatalities are promised. Can Tom and Valentina locate them and warn the respective authorities in time?
The author drops historical tidbits about Venice in this crime thriller. The best of those is a detailed description of the annual Carnevale. When people wear masks and lose their inhibitions, without the participants identifying their partners. We may well wonder how many had sexually transmitted diseases or became pregnant.
As Venice is the flavour of the day, expect many more works of fiction about it in the coming years - until, at least, it is replaced by another literary flavour. It might be Bangkok, whose red shirt-induced chaos didn't escape the notice of global authors.
About the author
- Writer: Bernard Trink
- Position: Freelance Writer
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