The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani

  BOOK TWO OF "BEN HOPE"

  Absolutely in the spirit of the first book. Scott Mariani dives us in another death hunt where a secret society rules underhand and doesn't like... obstacles. That usually means an intruder or witness who must be taken care of(and we all know how this kind of people deal with "obstacles").
  There're at least three different covers! But I think this one is the best, it suits the series. I like the idea of the partly transparent background, it's light and nice. Besides, there'are different elements in the whole image as the running man, the eye, the cloaked figure. It makes sense and it looks good - what else can I want?
It looks like there's a new mystery for Ben Hope to solve but this time is the death of a close friend. Oliver Llewellyn has died in a very ridiculous incident back in January. Yet, neither detective Marcus Kinski nor Ben Hope thinks it's an incident at all.
I'm always impressed how the author combines the characteristics of this type of thrillers I've read and the reality at the same time. There's none of the almost fantasy stuff which I've read in some books, the subjects are pretty real and possible as well as the explanations. It may seem almost extraordinary and ancient but they're more like the conspiracy theories(well, I don't find it hard to believe them, why don't imagine that there exist some supernatural things, etc?).
  I've already read a book about another famous composer - Vivaldi. The book was called The Violinist of Venice by Alyssa Palombo and it was a historical romance. This one is more like a mystery and investigation about Mozart's death. And Oliver's death has much to do with it, too. I hardly ever find anything more amusing than a well-written crime to be uncovered.
  Am I the only one who thinks freemasons are too suspicious? I just can't believe they're so innocent. I've watched a reality of TLC and it was pretty real - a few teenagers were escaping the so-called freemasons because they're too isolated from the outside world as if everything was bad and they shouldn't allow anything in their closed society. So the teens wanted to live a normal life outside their underdeveloped small town in the US(yeah, it was in the USA). I can't believe how such narrow-minded people still exist in the 21st century! Well, it's not so hard to believe it, look at the Middle East - it's pretty real. I hate narrow-minded people because they're so absorbed in something so stupid. So, it was a little deviation from the topic but I just wanted to give reasons why I don't think this... group of people isn't as innocent at all and I trust some of the books I've read - they do have interfered in the political world, I don't think otherwise. So enough of Freemasons, that's a topic which annoys me a lot.
  I came to the conclusion that Ben isn't going to make some huge historical discovery as Atlantis or Excalibur, or something else. In fact, there's always some pretty rich and authoritative people who want power using something supposed to be unreal or mythic. Here Ben comes, the smart handsome badass who kicks the bad guys and has a pretty good sense of humour. And I like Scott Mariani's books, it's another type of thrillers and I find myself to like it pretty much.

  P.S. Highly recommended reading Ben Hope series.

  - Melly