The Seventh Sacrament (Nic Costa)

In the heat of a Rome summer, a seven-year-old boy vanishes in the dank catacombs beneath the city. Now fourteen years have passed, and in acclaimed author David Hewson€s stunning new crime novel the heart-wrenching case has come back to life as Detective Nic Costa and his fellow investigators search through layers of their city€s history€“for a killer leaving a trail of bodies, lust, and revenge.

When young Alessio Bramante vanished, there was plenty of blame to go around. His father, a
charismatic professor of archaeology, inexplicably left Alessio alone near a labyrinth of ancient
tunnels and excavations. Six of the professor€s university students, fueled by booze and bravado, involved the boy in their own bizarre ritual at an altar of the ancient warrior god Mithras. And then there were the police: a commanding officer left Giorgio Bramante alone with the prime
suspect, allowing Alessio€s father to beat the man to death.

After years in prison, Giorgio has been set free and, one by one, those connected to the boy€s
disappearance are dying. As Costa and his fellow detectives scramble to find Giorgio, they are thrust into a darkening web of hidden perversions and secret passions past and present.
Because at the heart of this case€“as close and as far away as Rome€s underground treasures€“is the unanswered question: what really happened to little Alessio Bramante fourteen years ago€“and why was his body never found?


From the Hardcover edition.