The Devil's Pope by Adrian Lumenti

“There will be the devil to pay … but what price will he demand?” It’s the year 999, and as the first millennium draws to a close, many people throughout Europe are convinced that the world is going to end along with the end of that year. A sudden spate of fearful events makes it seem as if the final end is indeed approaching. Then, in the midst of all this, a mysterious figure appears in northern Italy, giving rousing sermons all along his trip to Rome. This strange but charismatic figure, supposedly a monk from “nowhere and everywhere”, is a worker of seemingly miraculous cures. Appearing first in northern Italy, he enlists an army of devotees who follow him on his mission to Rome, the heart of the Christian world at that time. Before long, the mission of this strange holy man intertwines with the plans of 19-year-old Emperor Otto III to build the greatest empire the West has ever seen and the devoted pope who desperately seeks to reform and re-sanctify the Church that is the center of his life. This is a historical fiction that speculates what could happen when evil forces set out to corrupt absolutely and then seize power. Packed with far more solid historical facts than The Da Vinci Code, it’s also a thriller that invites us to witness a cunning battle between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil for nothing less than the fate of all humanity.