This is a crime suspense novel that will have you sitting at the edge of your seat until you have read the last page. But what is more, the story is well-structured and a joy to read.  The story is also filled with magic and suspense page after page.

The entire story revolves around the magical onyx stone. There are three main characters - the troll Vilius Vilutis and two elves Mordecai and Hazchem. Then there's Zingy who's the business foe of Villius. Do they manage to find the onyx stone and protect the world? That is a question that I will have to leave the reader with.

Posing as a papal nuncio, the troll Vilius “The Vile” Vilutis haunts the Cumbrian hills. He is in search of the magical onyx with the potential to revolutionalize smartphones worldwide. He is aiming to put his enemy, Silicon Valley gazillionaire Zingy Splitz out of business forever.  Can he do it?

Suspicious, Zingy contacts Pope Benny in Rome, where rumour has it Vilius once worked, thus discovering the troll’s current whereabouts. Meanwhile two ghastly hangings disrupt the peace. The Vatican is implicated in the crimes, its motives darker than Vilius’s vindictiveness. The troll doesn’t seem to be as vile as it first appeared.

This is the fourteenth book for Paddy Bostock.  I can’t imagine what he will come up with for another storyline. Some books are such gems that it made me think that an encore would be hard to pull off.  But Paddy Bostock can, and will, pull it off I am sure. I will certainly look out for his other books and read them too.

Rating: 5 stars

Reviewed by: Irene S. Roth