Windswept House

"In Biblical times they would have called him a prophet," said The Dallas Morning News of Malachi Martin. The Houston Chronicle dubbed him "one of the people most knowledgeable about the inner workings of the Vatican currently writing about the church." In Windswept House, this brilliant theologian and writer offers a gripping, provocative novel of faith and betrayal, power and conspiracy, within and without the walls of the Vatican.As the Cold War ends and the Soviet government collapses, a secret international association of political, religious, and financial leaders at last sees a clear path to a new world order--the establishment of a single global government and economy. Their modus operandi: taking control of the Roman Catholic Church by forcing the Pope's resignation and seizing power through a network of co-opted cardinals. Their perfect pawns: a pair of American brothers, one a lawyer and one a priest, scions of an old Texas family based at Windswept House, who will be placed as unknowing operatives within the Vatican. What the conspirators cannot know is that, while one brother will play along willingly, the other will become one of the Pope's closest allies--and that within their own ranks lies another, more secret group, with aims even more ambitious and deadly than their own.Complex and thrilling, set against a backdrop as broad as the world and as intimate as the most rarefied chambers of Vatican power and privilege, Windswept House is as vivid and immediate as today's headlines--and tomorrow's.