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"Think through the suspense espionage thrillers that remain like phantoms in the brain and likely they will have been conceived by a British Isles author. We now add another master of the medium in James Ward" - Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer and Vine Voice.

By universal consensus, there's only one exhibition worth seeing at this year's Venice Biennale. Giuditta Cancellieri's Il Timore di Dio, six paintings of something as yet undisclosed.

Don't bother buying tickets, though. A court order means no one's getting in, not even the artist's closest associates.

And just lately, the city's been crawling with felons. Most observers don't think that's a coincidence.

For Signorina Cancellieri is no ordinary artist. A 25-year-old AIDS-victim from one of the toughest districts in Naples, she's also closely linked to one of MI7's oldest foes. And she has a truckload of enemies of her own.

As the Venetian temperature rises to boiling point, agent Gavin Freedman is dispatched from London to discover whether she's biddable. Which seems unlikely. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

But Gavin has issues of his own. He recently lost his wife in a car accident and, although his psych evaluation says All Clear, deep down he's hoping he won't come back.

All of which suits Giuditta just fine. Because she already has plans for him.

I applaud this novel. I won't apologize for such praise primarily because it's rare in modern fiction to find an artist of old-world intellect and imagination that weaves tales like a master painter waves his brush. - Eli Stacco.