The Assassini

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Story!
Review: This book has several mysteries spinning in it.One scenario
has the pope dying and several church members plotting to take his place.Another mystery has the question of a woman doing her
own investigation concerning a suicide during World War II.There
is also a prominant businessman whose sister,a nun is murdered.
The businessman starts his own investigation and discovers a
secret society that kills enemies of the church.He eventually
encounters another woman who is checking out the same situation
in the church.The investigation leads him all over the world
in search for answers.This is a very interesting book that will
keep you reading.Buy it.

Rating:
Summary: First rate
Review: Do you want a book that hooks you from the start?
Do you want a book you cannot put down?
Do you want a book that satisfies & leaves you wanting more?
This it it. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: more truths in it ... than fiction!
Review: Fantastic! The storyline opens your eyes to the possible verses the probable. Well written and researched. Makes me wish I had done the research along side the author! This work made such an impression on me that I have suggested it to several folks over the past decade. Gifford's 'Assassini' was lent to me over ten years ago and it had such an impact, that I am here looking up a copy for my own.

Rating:
Summary: more truths in it ... than fiction!
Review: I believe that like Malachi Martin's books; there is more truth in this book ASSASSINI than the vatican would like the "peasants" to know ...
For instance in the "secret archives" in vatican city is proof that st.catherine (wife of Jesus ... boy he has a lot of wives for a saviour) is really lucrezia borgia a Popes illigitimate daughter! Just some more of "Romes" twisting murderers and false gods ... to sainthood to fill the coffers!
And that this is a good one ... the Vatican hid stolen treasures of the Jewish Holocost victims ... to finance the nazi's and their escapes from justice!! Thank you Rome!
That they refuse to open their archives ..lots of bones in it I guess!
Ughly stuff! But with the pedophile scandals still continuing;
Who knows how much blood they have really spilled in their quest for power ?
Any church that has catherine of sienna's decapitated head enshrined will do anything for money! (found that on my search for catherine and lucrezia and secret vatican libraies!)
This book is good reading, fast paced and very informative. :)

Rating:
Summary: Misleading - in many ways
Review: I picked up this book having heard a lot about the Da Vinci Code and because I saw "The Da Vinci Code" referrenced on the cover and spine of this novel. Okay, I admit I should have read the quote properly and realised I wasn't buying a book by the same author but who would want to sell a book so slyly?!
Anyway, on to the book; what a potentially great story and how tedious it became to read it! The editor should have hacked about another 100 - 200 pages off the length of this book and it would only have benefitted! I agree with the reviewer above/below's annoyance about the amount of false endings. It became a real test of will to get the book finished.
And on a personal note: Mr. Gifford - it seemed you spent a long time researching everything in this book except for Ireland as a place and as a religious country, and this causes me offence. We are not the land of the bloody leprechauns, we do not say things like "Faith and begorrah", if your character, who noticed and described everything, was going to come to Ireland; a better description comes to mind than the one that describes the remote mess of weather with a road that goes to Dublin (where the airport is) from Donegal. Neither, in 1982 especially - considering the still popular at the time IRA's activities would you ever have got through the airport with a gun! How about other details? Like your character found it awkward driving on the left hand side of the road? In a manual instead of automatic car? etc... I was in Arizona a few years ago and someone asked me in all honesty did we have Pepsi in Ireland!!!! I reckon your book has just helped foster that lazy attitude towards international relations amongst thousands more of your readers.
But I digress. The Catholic guilt in the book was well written. There was a suitably chlaustraphobic atmosphere which the author did well to maintain - but which caused a lot of repitition (were there 2 parts where something was explained to a character only for them to find it out again in total surprise a few chapters later? Forgive me if that's not so but I got lost in a lot of the repitition).
I have always found that whenever I lend a favourite book to a girlfriend, the relationship turns sour and she departs with my much favoured book..such is my superstition in life at this point. I will be lending this book to any future girlfriends!

Rating:
Summary: Started off good, but kind of fizzled...
Review: I was pleasantly surprised when I started listening to this book. Quite frankly, the story was better than I had expected. There was good action, the hint of romance (that never came to fruition -- which was okay), and suspense. However, after awhile, the story seemed to get bogged down in historical details and lost some of its momentum. By the time I reached the ending, which by the way was pretty good, I'd lost some of my interest in the book. But overall, I'd say the book was a cut above average, but it could have been better. (Abridged audiobook version)

Rating:
Summary: The best vatican thriller I ever read!!!!
Review: It is a masterpiece! A great story in the fascinating world of the Vatican. Full of history and politics. Suspenseful and very sophisticated. And contraversial!
In times where the pope is about to die Assassini is even a more interesting book.

Rating:
Summary: Superbly plotted but based on an absurd historical pretense
Review: The mosaic of the plot is skillfully put in place. Gifford's style is very refined and certainly entertaining. However, the book is full of historical hogwash. The excesses of the Borgias have as much to do with today's Vatican policy as Henry the VIII's divorce by decaputation has to do with the family life of the contemporary English royalty. Moreover, making any references to Paris as a center of any actual resistance to the Nazis is an insault to any even semi-informed reader. After nearly a decade of research, Mr. Gifford should know that only serious casualties suffered by the Germans in Paris were those inflicted by French prostitutes. C.K. Tchorznicki

Rating:
Summary: A ride that only accelerates as the story proceeds...
Review: This book was worth the struggle to get through the first 100 or so pages. Slow to develop, but once the story gets going, it is tough to put down. Gifford has a gift for imagery as well as weaving an intriguing plot. I recommend this book; do not give up if you feel bored to begin with

Rating:
Summary: People who knew too much
Review: This is a reissue of a novel first published in 1990
In a way, this novel may have been over-researched, i.e., some parts seem to be more a treatise on the author's research than a novel. While the plot is generally well developed, it is complex and skips back and forth between various characters. It is an interesting story of people seeking power at any price. It some respects it is an alternate history; and it shows the Catholic church in a bad light. It is a medieval type drama, with people using assassination, blackmail, and bribery to gain control of the Vatican. A pope is dying, and factions are maneuvering for position.

The plot deals with the theft of art treasures during World War II. Readers might have an interest in "The English Assassin" by Daniel Silva, which deals with that issue and the peculiarities of Swiss Law about ownership.