by David Liss
First published 2014
Thirteen-year-old Sebastião Raposa watches his parents disappear into Inquisition prisons, then flees Portugal to save his own life. Ten years later, he returns to Lisbon as Sebastian Foxx, an English businessman with a deadly agenda. The frightened boy has become a man skilled in weapons and deception, trained by bounty hunter Benjamin Weaver. Foxx hunts Pedro Azinheiro, the ruthless Inquisitor priest who destroyed his family. But Lisbon operates on terror and bribery, where allies betray and enemies hide behind false faces. As Foxx stalks his target, old friends and new adversaries pull him into their schemes. The Inquisition watches his every move. His carefully planned revenge begins to crumble when fate intervenes, forcing him to choose between the bloodlust that drives him and the mercy that might redeem him.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, mystery, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, revenge
Setting: Portugal, Lisbon
Period: 13th century, 23rd century
369 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: violence