| The Assassini | |
| Author: | Thomas Gifford |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Publisher: | Bantam Books |
| Release Date: | August 1990 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardback and paperback) |
| Pages: | 600 (First edition, hardback) |
| Isbn: | 0-553-05728-6 |
| Dewey: | 813/.54 20 |
| Congress: | PS3557.I284 A87 1990 |
| Oclc: | 20993214 |
The Assassini is a 1990 thriller novel by American author Thomas Gifford, published by Bantam Books.[1]
Set in 1982, while the Roman Catholic Church is preparing to elect a successor to the dying pope, Callistus IV, the book describes the attempts of lawyer Ben Driskill to solve the murder of his sibling, Sister Valentine, a nun who was an outspoken activist and a thorn in the Church's side. Driskill's world-spanning investigation leads him to the discovery of a document from a forgotten monastery in Ireland, which proves the existence of the Assassini, an age-old brotherhood of killers, once hired by princes of the Church to protect it in dangerous times; and the person who now controls them in his Machiavellian bid for power.[1]
The novel was inspired by, and wove together in its dramatic structure, numerous historical controversies about the Roman Catholic Church:
The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, Pope Callixtus I, his conflict with Hippolytus of Rome, his eventual martyrdom, Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council are also briefly mentioned.
The Assassini (Italian for "assassins"), as an archetype for a lone priest or a secret society of priests involved in the sanctioned killing of (non-supernatural) political opponents of the Roman Catholic Church or a faction within the Church, can be found in several works of fiction.