Louis Romano: "Intercession"
By Jacqueline Cutler
It’s unusual to finish a book full of gruesome murders and feel deeply satisfied. It’s also unusual to read a book set in the neighborhood of your youth and know the streets, stores and churches, but realize you had no idea what was going on. That’s not to suggest that Louis Romano is anything less than accurate; we moved in different worlds. Romano spins an excellent and disturbing story about pedophiles, concentrating on Roman Catholic priests. A longtime Park Ridge resident, Romano sets much of the book around the Bronx of his childhood. His hero, John Deegan, attended parochial school and tried to do right by everyone. "John Joseph Deegan was the second born of six children to Jack Joseph Deegan and Maureen Duffy. He was the shining apple of his parents’ eyes. In his mother’s heart, soul and mind, Johnny Boy was destined to be a priest from the day he was born. With John as a priest and by the grace of God, one of her daughters perhaps would join the convent, Maureen Deegan would have been happy to have closed her eyes and gone to heaven that very day. Her work on earth would have been complete as her children would work on saving souls and doing God’s work to alleviate the sins of the people." John was a perfect student and even the most severe of the nuns could not help but adore him. Though far smarter than his classmates, he was not obnoxious about his superior intellect and helped others. He was also very cute and quickly became a favorite of the parish priest.
The book opens with the murder of that priest. He’s killed with a crucifix plunged into his throat. This isn’t a spoiler since it happens immediately and we know that Deegan is the killer. Father Edward O’Gorman had his eye on Deegan since he was 7 years old. "His goal was to get John by the third grade and in the meantime win him over by being a religious role model with whom John would be proud to have a close, personal relationship for the long haul. There was no need to rush things. O’Gorman was already grooming three other boys in the third and fourth grade and having sex with another two upperclassmen." Though this is the first and most gruesome of the murders, and includes emasculating the aged priest, it’s impossible to not have compassion for Deegan. He’s hopelessly damaged from years of sexual abuse from priests. The thriller explains how the abuse, beginning in grade school and continuing through high school, by the parish priest and later by the bishop — and all he encountered at seminary — left Deegan unable to love in a traditional relationship. There’s Gjuliana, a neighborhood girl who adores him, and has since she met him when her family emigrated from Albania. Smart, beautiful and confident, Gjuliana spends her life waiting for him, but Deegan cannot commit to her until he exorcises his demons, which means murder. A special task force is assembled and Romano takes us inside the detectives’ and the victims’ worlds. Deegan’s deranged mission takes him to Ireland, Germany and Rome. We get a real feel for Detective Vic Gonnella, who is in charge of the investigation, and how local cops and the FBI, not always the fastest of friends, can work together. They know very quickly that they’re dealing with a serial killer. "John had selected twelve people to die. He understood the symbolism in his selection of that number. Twelve apostles of Christ, twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve terrestrial branches in the Chinese calendar, the twelve days of Christmas, 2012 being the last year of the world in the Mayan calendar, the twelve knights of the Round Table." For each murder, Deegan disguises himself and assumes a new persona, accent and identification. He kills methodically and quite professionally, courtesy of the government. Deegan is a highly skilled special ops officer, a wiz at languages, methodical and brilliant. Deegan does not limit himself to men in Roman Catholic collars. He also kills a Hasidic rabbi and a basketball coach. Their lowest common denominator? Preying on children. After Deegan left seminary and the Army, he made many fortunes investing. He is rich enough to have millions in offshore accounts, and not having to work allows him to do what he feels is important. He devotes himself to avenging children who were victimized by those they should have been able to trust most. By the end, which won’t be revealed, there’s a true sense of street justice, which would be appreciated on the streets of the Bronx. Jacqueline Cutler: jacquelinecutler@verizon.net
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