The Cain Mutiny

Christy Kenneally’s latest offering, SONS OF CAIN (Hachette Books Ireland), appears to be a sequel to THE BETRAYED (2011), which was set during WWII. Ten years on from the events of that novel, the Cold War is in full freeze, which suggests that SONS OF CAIN is a spy novel with a rather unusual backdrop. Quoth the blurb elves:

The year is 1953. As the Cold War divides the world into East and West, childhood friends and old foes - Karl Hamner and Fr Max Steiger - live their lives. Karl, haunted by the past and a devastating truth he discovered about his old friend, teaches history in his home town of Hallstatt. While Max, intent on power and wealth, builds the Fratres, an extreme branch of the Catholic Church, with control of the Vatican his ultimate goal. When news of the Fratres reaches the CIA, an alliance between the two is formed, raising the stakes. But when Karl is called to Rome to expose the corruption that has infiltrated the Church, he has to face the past - and Max. From Moscow to CIA Headquarters to a Budapest prison, Sons of Cain is an epic tale of lust, power and corruption where deception is a way of life.