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The problem with nonfiction crime writing is exactly what the genre implies --- there's no making things up. While authors like James Patterson or Sue Grafton can decide to swap murderers on a whim if something isn't working, true crime scribes such as Ann Rule or John Berendt have no such prerogative. They transcribe just the facts, ma'am. And that is the predicament with a book like John Follain's CITY OF SECRETS.
Follain, the Rome correspondent for London's Sunday Times, is a nonfiction veteran best known for chronicling Carlos the Jackal. In his latest effort, Follain investigates the May 1998 slayings of three people connected to the Swiss Guard, the pope's protectors: the unit's commander, his wife and a lance corporal. The official Vatican explanation, released within hours of the deaths, was that young Cédric Tornay murdered Colonel Alois Estermann and his wife, Gladys Meza Romero, in a fit of madness. While the Vatican effectively canonizes Estermann, it vilifies Tornay to the point of denying his mother access to the official inquiry.
Like any good reporter, Follain smelled a story when the Vatican dismissed the case so perfunctorily. He spent three years investigating "what really happened," interviewing current and former Swiss Guard members, Catholic clergy of all levels and forensic experts. Unfortunately, Follain did not seem to realize, upon the finish of his exhaustive research, that there wasn't much of a story.
The book is billed as the untold story behind an unsolved crime. Yet there aren't many revelations in Follain's book, other than the fact that the archaically constructed Catholic Church has not changed with the times. Perhaps Follain is a victim of bad timing --- this is not a true revelation to anyone who has followed the news for the past 12 months. In fact, considering the disturbing allegations of child molestation that recently rocked the church, Follain's indictment of a Swiss Guard system that overworks and underpays its emotionally unsatisfied employees seems a little quaint. So the Vatican forces its employees to go to church on Sunday. Swiss Guard enlistment is undertaken entirely by free will. Anyone who chooses to work for the pope should expect a little religious fervor.
Of course, Follain explores other points, too. He deconstructs the on-the-job abuse Tornay tolerated during his three-plus years of service. He discusses but never draws conclusions about an alleged affair between Tornay and Estermann. He never finds the smoking gun that makes crime novels (whether fiction or nonfiction) truly worth the read. Follain finds many facts but draws few compelling conclusions. That the Vatican did not want to cast the Pope's security force as a bunch of incompetent nutcases surely is not a surprise.
Follain devotes very little of the book to Estermann, instead concentrating on Tornay. Although the idealistic young man could certainly have been better dealt with during his tour of duty --- the last-minute denial of a medal he had apparently rightly earned is seen as the catalyst for the killings --- that still doesn't justify the murders. It's hard to buy Follain's position, almost from page one, that others also bear responsibility for Tornay's actions. For all intents and purposes, there was no pre-warning for his actions. No matter how much you hate your boss, there's no excuse for killing him. The guilt is Tornay's and Tornay's alone.
CITY OF SECRETS offers some interesting insights into the workings of the Vatican and the frailty of the once-dynamic pope. Unfortunately, Follain is determined to narrate the book while revealing very little of himself. What he does reveal is either bland or, at the most, a tad self-righteous. He's a competent writer but not a creative one. He should have either kept himself out of it or made himself more of a character. Perhaps if he had explained more about his interest in the Vatican and what he has surely seen during his years on the Roman beat, he would have found his hook. Without it, this remains a collection of facts sans revelation. It's a shame --- a big revelation in the final pages could have salvaged the effort. Too bad he couldn't have invented one. That's the trouble with nonfiction.
--- Reviewed by Toni Fitzgerald
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