The men placed two towels, neatly folded, on the bench, followed by a red plastic watering can.
A title appeared.

WATERBOARDING IS NOT TORTURE.

AT 9 P.M. TONIGHT SHE WILL NOT BE TORTURED.

At the start of this book, Kat and Holly are no longer friends, with Holly having moved out after a huge row not about a frying pan, but they and Daniele are soon brought back together when a protester finds a skeleton on a new American military base that is being built near Vicenza and the teenage daughter of an American officer is kidnapped by a group who post their demands on the Carnivale website. they soon find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy involving the CIA, the American military and the CIA that seems to have it roots in the murder of a communist guerilla near the end of World War II.

You really get a good feel of the culture, politics and history of Northern Italy from this book, and the author's historical note at the end of the book makes you want to know more about it. ( )

I was thrilled to receive a copy of The Abduction by Jonathan Holt, the second book in the Carnivia trilogy. It wasn't long ago that I reviewed The Abomination, which I thought was a terrific mystery, so I was eager to see where the story went next.

The Abduction focuses again on the unlikely trio of detectives: Venetian police captain Kat Tapo, Second Lieutenant Holly Boland, and reclusive genius Daniele Barbo. Tapo has filed a sexual harassment suite against her former lover, Colonel Aldo Piola - and good for her, because the resolution of their affair was really unfair for her. There is tension between Tapo and Boland, as well as an entirely different sort of tension between Boland and Barbo. These characters are so very different and it is really interesting to see the way they interact.

The novel starts with an erotic swingers event at an upscale nightclub, which is a great way to begin a story! A young woman is abducted - a teenager who should definitely not have been at this party. Her name is Mia and she is the daughter of a US Army officer. There is no ransom demand, but there is a video - a very strange video - and eventually, the kidnappers' plans become clear. It's a chilling plan and since the kidnappers are online, it is going viral all over the globe.

And then, just like the storyline in The Abomination, the story veers off into entirely new territory. There are interesting tendrils - a secret society, hacked email, disturbing documents found in the Vatican archives. This is what I love the most about this series! No matter where the story starts, it take you places you had no idea were even on the map. It's such a refreshing change from plodding procedurals and predictable detective stories and I have been recommending this one to everyone. I am really looking forward to reading the third book in the trilogy - but I am not looking forward to the end of their stories! ( )

The Abduction – Stunning Story

The Abduction is the eagerly awaited follow up to The Abomination by the secretive Jonathan Holt the pseudonym for an already successful British author. This is the second in his Carnivia trilogy and keeps up the pace The Abomination started and brings to life some of Italy’s murky post-war past and the aid that the Americans and the Vatican gave the country not to fall in to the communist’s hands. The historical notes that Holt has drawn on a number of real conspiracies from the cold war and has used some dramatic licence in the process.

The Abduction takes that murky past and centres it on Venice and gives us a breathtaking thriller that leaves you hungry for more and glad that you have read this instalment. The Abduction carries on shining a light in to those dark corners of Italian and Papal history and gives us a high voltage, double dealing, absolutely fascinating thriller.

It is carnival time in Venice and a young girl is kidnapped from a club where one of the hottest parties is taking place. The only problem is that the girl Mia is an army brat and her dad is based just outside Venice at the local military base. The kidnappers reveal themselves to be an activist group who want an end to all military bases in Italy and to help their cause they use the CIA torture memos to inflict a living nightmare upon Mia.

With our returning heroes Captain Kat Tapo of the Venice Carabinieri and second Lieutenant Holly Boland of the liaison unit or commonly acknowledged in the USA army as an Intelligence Analyst. The kidnappers are coming across as well organised amateurs but there is something about this kidnap that does not seem to be amateur to Kat and Holly; it is this that they investigate having to use their acquaintance Danielle Barbo hacker extraordinaire and the genius behind Carnivia the virtual world of Venice where anything goes.

We see the pervasive hand of the CIA and US military always hovering in the background of the Carabinieri investigation and sometimes using the power of the mis-direct to cover their aims. As the investigate continues both Kat and Holly feel they are not being told the full story of why Mia was targeted and it is down to them to investigate this and it could endanger them both.

As the politicians and media press for the closure of Carnivia.com and the Italian anti-terrorist team attempt to shut it down it is through Carnivia and Barbo that Kat and Holly can investigate fully. Whether either of our intrepid investigators are able to save Mia and find the truth may have a very high dividend but both are equally determined to discover the truth of both the past and the present. Even though they know that it is a great risk to themselves.

This is another fantastic part of the Carnivia trilogy and no reader will be disappointed, but it will leave them breathless and gagging for the final part of the trilogy. This is a brilliant blend of the past and the present made in to a thriller and the dial has been turned up to 11. Holt again shows that he is a master of his research, while making no political statement shines a light into parts of Italian history some wish would stay in the past. This is a winner of a book with very engaging characters and you are able to see how things unravel for the kidnappers in a very believable way. Simply brilliant. ( )