The last pope

Already an international bestseller, The Last Pope is a terrific, fast-paced thriller about the conspiracy surrounding the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I. 1978, Vatican City: On September 29, the world awakens to news of the shocking, sudden death of Pope John Paul I, elected only thirty-three days earlier. The Vatican’s official response: His Holiness died of unknown causes, “possibly associated with a heart attack. ” The pope’s body is embalmed within twenty-four hours, preventing any possibility of an autopsy. 2006, London: Journalist Sarah Monteiro returns from vacation to find a mysterious envelope stuffed in her mailbox. Inside is a list of unfamiliar names and a coded message. At first, Sarah is merely puzzled by the strange delivery. But when a masked intruder breaks into her home, she knows that the list has put her in danger. Drawn into a vortex of double crosses and terror, Sarah soon learns that the contents of the envelope hold the key to unveiling corruption beyond anything she has investigated— a plot that implicates not only unscrupulous mercenaries and crooked politicians but also princes of the Church, and perhaps even her own father. Indeed, the appearance of the envelope signals a moment of truth that brings to light a number of long-unanswered questions: What really happened during the brief reign of John Paul I? Whose plans were cut short that fatal night in September 1978? And who really benefited from the pope’s sudden demise?

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.