Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The Vatican Secret is not my typical read and it was so fun to step outside of my comfort zone. This book is action packed and will keep you flipping the pages to see the final outcome and piece together the mystery at hand. This is the second book in the Marco Venetti thriller series and there was a bit of backstory and piecing together what happened in the first book. While it seems to have picked up where they left off this is one I definitely think I would have liked to read the first book before the second (I have a habit of giving a book in a series a try when it comes out to see what I think about the series in general).

The steaks are high in this story with a nuclear weapon falling into the wrong hands, plans to smuggle it into the Vatican, potential spies hidden within the good guys and a plot to assassinate the pope. The schemes, twists and turns are endless in The Vatican Secret. I was highly entertained while I read this one and pleasantly surprised with several outcomes through out the book.

I really enjoyed the first book (The Vatican Conspiracy) and was looking forward to this one.
I was not disappointed. In fact, I think this one was even better than the first.
I liked how the author jumped right into the action. It felt more like a continuation of the previous book rather than the same characters in a different plot.
That continuity allowed for a direct start. The first chapter sets the groundwork for all the events to come. There’s no need to have long, drawn out descriptions or tedious backstory.
If you read the first book, you pretty much know the players and why things are happening.
Now, that’s not to say that you can’t read this as a standalone as well. Because I know someone who read this one without having read the first one.
She really enjoyed this (said it reminded her of Dan Brown, but better) and didn’t feel lost at all. The only thing she mentioned was that she could tell that previous incidents had occurred by the way the characters referenced them. But that didn’t take away or distract from the plot at hand.
And what a plot it is. Once again, the Vatican is at the center of a global power move by internal and external forces.
That’s not a spoiler. It’s essentially in the title.
I continue to be intrigued by Marco. To me, he is both a conundrum and a Renaissance Man, a little bit good at a lot of things and a lot good at other things. That makes for interesting reading because I’m never quite sure how he will react to a situation.
I don’t want to give any plot points away, but it is a quintessential thriller with secrets, betrayals, and lots of page-turning action.
As I mentioned, I think this could be read alone, but you will definitely enjoy it more if you read the first book in the series. You’ll have a better feeling for Marco, and you’ll understand the motivations of the characters that carry into this book.

Marco Venetti is back in book 2 of the Vatican series. I love books that have a historical background to them and Peter crushes this second installment. Fans of Daniel Silva and James Rollins will enjoy this new series. Can’t wait until the next one!

The Vatican secret is the second book in the series that I found interesting especially for the setting of it. 

There are so many buildings and places in the world that are exposed to violence and there’s so much behind the scenes that we won’t see, but can only imagine how everything works to protect them. 

In this fiction book, we get to read more about our priest and what happens exactly where the first book left. 

More spies are discovered, more suspenseful moments and new interesting characters are added, all of them making this book a never-ending fast-paced action that I just couldn’t stop reading. 

If you enjoy an intricate plot and a great thriller, check out this series.

Catholic priest Marco Venetti finds himself trying to save the Pope and Vatican from nuclear attack. But once again his faith is tested to the utmost as well as his humanity...
The Vatican Secret is the sequel to The Vatican Conspiracy and is the second book to feature Marco Venetti. There are some references to events in the first book so I would advise reading them in order or reading this as a stand alone. The relationships between Marco and some of the other characters also relate to developments in the previous book.
This book's premise is that the radical Pope wishes to unite Eastern and Western Catholicism but a Russian crime boss wants to prevent this from happening. Meanwhile there is a traitor within the Vatican working against the Pope. Can Marco trust those who feed him information or even those he fights beside?
Marco has problematic and mistrustful relationships with Elena and Sarah. He relies on them to save him but his emotions are in turmoil due to physical attraction and personal history. His emotions make him a more realistic and believable character, but his faith and priesthood force him to deny his feelings.
There is plenty of drama and action as Marco races against the Pope's enemies. His life is frequently in danger so the tension is high. There is also the mystery about who the traitor is and what motivates them. The settings range across the globe as political, criminal and personal actions impact on the plot.
The Vatican Secret was a fast paced and action driven novel with an engaging lead character.

The overall book was entertaining (borderline 4 star), but without having read the first in the series there was so much left unexplained.

The character development and relationship required to care about the players involved seemed to be completely dependent upon having read the first book and left me disconnected. In a similar fashion the fact that nuclear weapons were the opening threat left no room to ramp up the tension throughout the book. Orlov's motivations to use tactical nukes also may have been better explained in the first one, but the idea that reunification would results in wiping the Vatican from the earth seems... odd.

Overall, solid writing, interesting subplots, and enjoyable local descriptions... but the book did not work as a standalone. I do plan to go read the first book and hope that will improve my feelings on this one.

Having not read the first instalment in this series, I was surprised how easy it was to get on board with the story. The action scenes are stellar and I’ve never read anything as racy as this in a while. The only issue I had with the story (and why I decided to give it only 4 stars) was that the end was quite predictable. I would have rather had an alternate ending where things didn’t end well for all the characters.

The Vatican Secret is an action packed novel about a priest trying to save the Vatican. Marco has to stop an attack on the Vatican and discover who the traitor is. Marco sees two possibilities for the traitor, one that Marco is convinced is innocent and one that Marco trusts. Marco is an interesting character, and it was interesting seeing him make decisions he thought were bad but didn’t have a better option. Marco is a priest that is killing the bad guys. The Vatican Secret is the second book in the Marco Vanetti Thriller series. The book can be read as a standalone, but I think you would miss a lot. I recommend starting with The Vatican Conspiracy Theory. The characters are a big part of this book. All of my favorite characters returned. My only complaint is I wish Sarah was in the book more. The Vatican Secret is full of action that kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t figure out who the traitor was and enjoyed going on the journey with Marco. I also enjoy all the different point of views in this book even the bad guys. I recommend The Vatican Secret.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for The Vatican Secret.

Action packed and suspenseful read.  I  was a bit lost having not read the first book but really enjoyed this twisty thriller. I found the characters interesting and the story complex and riveting. I will definitely check out other books by this author.
Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

I grew up Catholic and in Italy. Catholic Church plays a relevant role in Italy and you are also used to listen to people talking about conspiracies like the one about the death of pope John Paul I or the disappearance of young girls in the 80s, the people who form the Roman Curia and their political games.
All this blah blah to say that I wasn't expecting a book that could be stranger than the reality but this story is more than I was use to expect.
It's a highly entertaining story, fast paced and action packed. It's full of twists and turns and you never know what's going to happen as the author excels at delivering surprising twists.
It's a page turner, once you start reading you keep on turning pages as you want to know what will be next and you're having a lot of fun.
The characters are interesting and fleshed, sometimes you find one of the villain quite likeable. On a general level Marco is my favorite character.
Being Itaian born and bread sometimes I had to suspend my belief but this never stopped me from throughly enjoying this story.
It's the second in a series and it starts just after the end of the previous books. I think it would be hard to read as a standalone.
I strongly recommend this highly entertaining and gripping story.
Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

4.5 Stars
Marco Venetti, the only man the pope trusts, has tracked down the traitor who nearly succeeded in his mission to kill the pope. But the traitor holds a crucial piece of information: the name of the Russian mafioso in possession of a nuclear bomb. Forced to work with a man he despises to prevent a deadly explosion, Marco sets a trap for the Russians. Inside the stone walls of an ancient castle in Portugal, surrounded by high mountains, he waits to ambush his target. But a double-cross ruins everything and he must flee, alone and without backup, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind. All Marco knows is that the attack is imminent.
This is the second book in the series & follows on from the first. I found it to be another engrossing read that I found very hard to put down. The characters are well portrayed, some are very likeable some not, also some were deeply flawed. The pace is good, the descriptions are also very good. The suspense is held all of the way through the book & there seemed to be an opening for at least one more book, I do hope so.

The Vatican Secret, by Peter Hogenkamp, is the second in the Marco Venetti series and was the first time I had read Mr Hogenkamp's work. This book would have been much more enjoyable had I read the first book in the series so I would not read this as a stand alone. There was a bit of a recap but wasn't sufficient to get the reader up to speed. I stayed lost the entire book when it came to how characters fit in and how they were connected. That being said, the book is well written and has an engaging plot. I would probably have a higher opinion of the book if I had read the previous book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review The Vatican Secret.

This has been introduced as a James Bond novel but with priests! This is quite an amusing observation, and to be fair, not far from the truth.

The story kicks off a few months after the events of the previous novel (one I haven't read) but gives enough backstory for new readers to catch the drift of what happened. This book starts to find out the real perpetrators of those events and try to stop the follow up plan to destroy the Vatican.

Pacing of the book is fantastic as it starts off a bit slow to start, but gradually ramps the pace up so that you don't want to put the book down to see how it ends.

Good book if you like twists and turns in your thrillers.

I was provided a free ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review of the book

I read the first book in this highly enjoyable series a few weeks ago. This story picks up pretty much where the previous left off. The Pope and Cardinal Lucci and of course Father Marco Venetti and his ragtag group of fighters know there is still a serious threat hanging over the Vatican. The nuclear weapons stolen from the baddies by Marco, and stolen from him by Russian Oligarch Nicolai Orlov, are still at large and there is still a plot to assassinate the Pope. Orlov is incensed by Pope John Paul III’s plan to reunite the Roman Catholic Church with the Eastern Orthodox Church after being split for hundreds of years. They also believe there is a spy in the Vatican but no one knows who it is.

Marco is sent on another mission. He is to find Giampaolo Benedetto, the former Inspector General of the Vatican, who facilitated the previous failed attck, and get him to cough up the name of the spy. But when he finds Benedetto it is Marco being held at gunpoint. Luckily Cardinal Lucci has also sent Sarah Meissner, the former CIA operative/sniper with whom he worked on the previous mission to have Marco’s back.

Benedetto then tries to squirm his way out of trouble by offering to sell the same information to the Vatican that he will sell to the Russians about the best way to smuggle to two small tactical nukes into the Vatican. Yeah I get that it would be hard to follow if you haven’t read the first book.
The story is quite complex and twisty. Some of the players suspect Lucci of being the traitor and some don’t. He is certainly a great schemer! Elena and Pietro also have major roles in this epic story which takes place in a number of European locations and the US as the good guys try to locate the nukes and stop the Vatican from being vaporised and the Pope killed. Everyone is at constant risk of death as they are always one step behind the Russians. There are double and triple crosses and plotting and scheming and the whole time Marco is still wrestling with his conscience about killing, even if it is in service of his church, and over the feelings he has for both Sarah and Elena.

So this was just as exciting as the first instalment. There was action aplenty and, as before, some brilliant and some deeply flawed characters, many of whom you can’t help but like. I’m not religious but I still really liked the Pope in the series. He seems like a really good guy who wants to do good things. It was good clean fun, I wouldn’t say a romp as it was too dangerous for that but it wasn’t a dark book by any means. This should appeal to all thriller and adventure lovers who don’t need to go into the darkness all the time. Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Peter Hogenkamp for providing a copy to review. My opinions are my own.

This book reads like you're watching a movie. Tons of action scenes, but the author takes time to beautifully paint his settings. He does this so well that I felt like I had boarded a plane and landed in Europe.

Marco is a complex and conflicted character. As a priest, he's also some sort of rogue problem solver for the Catholic church and if killing bad guys is called for, he's prepared for the job--though he does struggle with his conscience. I just wish he could have gotten together with one of his female conspirators. After all, he has blood on his hands, what's fornication, but I guess everyone has to draw the line somewhere.

There are a lot of players in this book to follow and keep straight, but it makes for a complex and intricate plot. You never know from one chapter to the next whose journey you’re going to pick back up.

I received an uncorrected proof through NetGalley from the publisher Bookouture. This review is my opinion only and was not solicited.

First off I want to say a huge thank you to the publisher Bookouture , the author Peter Hogenkamp and to NetGalley for inviting me to join the blog tour for this book as well as letting me read and review it. Wow and here I thought the first book was good but this one was even better , and non stop packed actin from the very start just like the first one, the characters seemed more alive and which each turn of the page I just couldn't put it down, and other thing I loved was how unpredictable it was and the more I read the more I grew to love the main character Marco, would say is my all time favorite character hands down. With that said I can't wait to see what happens next .

After the events in the first book of this series where Vatican City and the pope are saved from annihilation, Giampolo Benedetto fled to Crete. Cardinal Lucci sends the warrior priest Marco Venetti after him to extract the name of the Vatican mastermind traitor of the plan. He’s got the much-needed help of Elena and Sarah but Benedetto manages to escape and contacts the Russian mobsters that holds the 2 tactical nuclear weapons. At the same time Pietro is deployed to retrieve those weapons. The all have to cooperate to avoid a disaster.



The book builds strongly on the events of the first book. They’re shortly retold at the start, but to understand all the ins and outs, I advise to read the first book as well. It’s a great thriller and it is well worth your time.

The attraction between Sarah and Marco only grows stronger but Marco refuses to betray his vows a second time. Sarah isn’t happy with this decision and is bored and tired of the violence and hate that rules their lives. Marco is just as sick of all this as well and wants nothing more than to retreat back to his parish at the coast. There is hope on the horizon for them as I see it because the Nigerian born reformist pope wants reunification with the orthodox church and their priests can marry.

This reformist pope is awesome but unfortunately not very realistic. Any such progressive decisions would cause more schisms. The recent declaration that the church cannot bless same-sex marriages because they’re a sin, sets the clock back again. This came weeks after the pope declared that homosexuals had the right to live in families. So, it looks as if pope Francis was slapped on his wrists there. So other reforms as women priests and married priests are also unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Of course, the figure of the militant father Venetti is also a figment of imagination but a good one for the sake of the book.

The investigation seems to find more and more circumstantial evidence that cardinal Lucci is the traitor. I thought it all a bit too obvious for him to be the mastermind but I won’t tell if I’m right or not. He’s in dire straits though.

The story is suspenseful on several levels as so many things all happen at the same time. There are the investigation and the search for the real traitor inside the Vatican, the search for the nukes, the Russian gangsters, the antics of Benedetto, the dangerous intentions of the pope self, … The suspense jumps right off the pages and doesn’t stop until the very end. It’s a fast-paced story, but there’s also time taken to describe the environment in which all the action takes place and that goes from ancient Portuguese towns to the mountains in the US where Sarah’s father resides. All of this is written in a rich and varied language that never gets elitist.

I suspect the author to be a lover of good Italian wines. I don’t know anything about them but there are several suggestions in the narrative. If they taste anything as their descriptions, they are the most interesting finds. The wine certainly plays a key role in this story.

I thank Netgalley and Bookouture for the free ARC they provided and this is my honest and unbiased review of it.

PURE JOY! I loved the second book even more than the first which I honestly did not expect. There was no sophmore slump. Instead, thrilling from the opening to the closing which was just amazing.

I'm immediately cautious and often turned off by sub-titles with a sales pitch (which this includes on some websites -- "A totally gripping and explosive action thriller"). This one mostly delivered. It moves at a fast pace, it's unpredictable, and the characters are quite enjoyable. Those seeking a good thriller will the thrilled.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!