A ';fast-paced [and] stylishly punchy' thriller about an assassin targeting the pope, by the New York Times-bestselling author of Snow in August (The New York Times).The man in priest's garb gets out of the elevator at the top floor, leaving the gate ajar. He pulls out the loaded rifle he had hidden, and steps to the edge of the roof. St. Peters Square is spread out before him like a great, colorful lake. There are more people than he has ever seen before.Now the target arrives. The man on top of the building sights down the rifle at the small figure below. His finger is ready on the trigger, ready to gun down His Holiness, the Vicar of Christ...The first novel by the prize-winning journalist and acclaimed author of A Drinking Life, Tabloid City, and other bestsellers, this tale of danger and espionage is ';steeped in noir sensibility....a tense, page-turning thriller that is as pertinent today as it was when it was first published' (Shelf Awareness).Includes a new introduction by the author
