Fourteen years ago, a young boy went missing after his archeologist father left him in caves underneath a section of Rome; when he learns that some of his students were in the caves too, the father goes mad and kills the leading student. Now, fourteen years later, he’s out of prison and ready to finish punishing those people he holds responsible for the loss of his son - including Leo Falcone, one of the officers investigating the original disappearance. And he will stop at nothing to obtain his revenge….”The Seventh Sacrament” is the fifth book in Mr. Hewson’s Nic Costa series and it continues deepening the relationships between Nic, his partner Gianni Peroni, Leo and their respective girlfriends. As with the earlier books, there is a lot of graphic violence, some very gruesome indeed, but if the reader can deal with violence in their books, these are well worth reading both for the really well-depicted relationships and the convoluted but quite believable plots; recommended, but start with the first one (“A Season for the Dead”)! ( )

This is the 5th volume of the Nic Costa series. It was an interesting read but did not convince me as much as the other volumes.
A seven-year-old boy disappears after being taken to an underground Mithras temple by his father, the archeologist. In these underground passages students of the father are on a discovery tour.
Over the years, one student after another dies, not a natural death, but they are brutally murdered. Nic Costa and his team are challenged. On the one hand they have to stop these murders and on the other hand they want to find the missing boy after fourteen years. In doing so they, especially Leo Falcone, are in grave danger. ( )

The fifth in the Nic Costa series. I like all of the recurring characters (or at least find them interesting) and the Italian settings, and found the mystery this time around to be a solid and compelling one. Having said that, I really felt that I was slogging through it, and I think that I'm gonna blame the pacing. It just never took off. I wasn't particularly happy with the motivation(s) of one of the antagonists, either, but that bit only came to light at the very end, whereas the entire book was more of an effort than I'm used to, especially in a case where I'm enjoying the story. ( )

Het verhaal zit niet veel vaart in. Het wordt een beetje langdradig. ( )

Wat een waardeloos boek! Zielige imitatie van Dan Brown. Pseudoinformatie over Mithras, Constantijn en de slag bij de pons Milvius. Ondenkbaar onwaarschijnlijke plot. ( )